All About Dr. Jose Rizal

National hero

Introduction: Rizal has always been considered as a national hero created in part by the American government in the past. The present government has no formal declaration of who our national hero is, but they do recognized special days in commemoration of the heroes in history like Rizal and Bonifacio. Let us examine the government effort in recognizing the possible national heroes of history in order to serve as an example for us. What is heroism? What does it take to be a hero? According to the dictionary: - a hero is a man admired for his achievements and noble qualities and regarded as an ideal or model - the central figure in an event, period or movement, honored for outstanding qualities - he/she is someone who shows great courage in an important event According to Dr. Esteban de Ocampo, a known Filipino historian, as stated in his book about Rizal that: “ a hero means a prominent or central personage taking an admirable part in any remarkable action or event; a person of distinguished valor or enterprise in danger, or fortitude in suffering; and a man honored after death by public worship because of exceptional service to mankind.”

Criteria of a national hero

Who will set the criteria for the recognition of the national hero? No law, executive order or proclamation has been enacted or issued officially proclaiming any Filipino historical figure as a national hero. However, because of their significant roles in the process of nation building and contributions to history, there were laws enacted and proclamations issued honoring these heroes. But according to historians, heroes, should not be legislated. Their appreciation should be better left to academics. Acclamation for heroes, they felt, would be recognition enough. On March 28, 1993, President Fidel V. Ramos issued Executive Order No.75 entitled “Creating the National Heroes Committee under the Office of the President”. The principal duty of the Committee is to study, evaluate and

Bibliography: (Part 1) Introduction: Rizal’s personal background is an important part of our study; for Rizal’s time reflects not only the culture but also the prevailing system of his period. His experiences, failures and successes as a child helped in his total development as a person of courage, strength and ideals. The Rizal-Mercado Family • The Rizal family is considered as one of the biggest family during their time • Domingo Lam-co, the family 's paternal ascendant was Chinese who came to the Philippines from Amoy, China in the closing years of the 17th century and married a half-Chinese by the name of Ines de la Rosa. • Jose was born on June 19, 1861 • He was the seventh of eleventh children, the younger of two boys and with nine sisters all in all FRANCISCO MERCADO (1818-1898) Father of Jose Rizal who was the youngest of 13 off springs of Juan and Cirila Mercado. Born in Biñan, Laguna on April 18, 1818; studied in San Jose College, Manila; and died in Manila. TEODORA ALONSO (1827-1913) Mother of Jose Rizal who was the second child of Lorenzo Alonso and Brijida de Quintos. She studied at the Colegio de Santa Rosa. She was a business-minded woman, courteous, religious, hard-working and well-read. She was born in Santa Cruz, Manila on November 14, 1827 and died in 1913 in Manila. Saturnina (1850-1913), eldest of the Rizal children, became the wife of Manuel T. Hidalgo of Tanauan, Batangas Paciano, the second child in the family and Rizal 's only brother. Narcisa (1852-1939), third Rizal, was married to Antonio Lopez of Morong, Rizal Olympia (1855-1887), fourth Rizal child, was married to Silvestre Ubaldo. She died of childbirth in 1887. Lucia (1857-1919), fifth Rizal child, was the wife of Mariano Herbosa. Maria (1859-1945), the sixth Rizal child, became the wife of Daniel Faustino Cruz of Biñan, Laguna Trinidad (1868-1951), the tenth Rizal child. Soledad (1870-1929), the youngest Rizal child became the wife of Pantaleon Quintero • Jose had few recollections of his childhood, which suggests that it was happy. • When he was four years old he lost his little sister Concha, born next after him • His mother was his first teacher who taught him the basics. • As he grows older, his father will employ private tutors to teach him at home The Young Atenean • Jose’s formal education started in Ateneo Municipal at the age of eleven under the tutelage of Spanish Jesuits • The curriculum of the five-year secondary course leading to the degree of Bachiller en Artes or bachelor of arts was even tougher than your present high school and college • His subjects includes Christian doctrine, Sacred history, Latin, Spanish, Greek, French, English, Algebra, Trigonometry, Geometry, Universal history, Spanish history, Latin literature, rhetoric and poetics, Social ethics, Psychology, Logic and other branches of Philosophy. • He proved to be an outstanding student, capturing many honours in literary and artistic competitions. In fact, his report cards were usually marked with sobresaliente (excellent) • On the spiritual side, he was a pious child, fervently praying and he was a Prefect of the Sodality of Our Lady with Fr. Pablo Pastells, S.J. as the Director. • He received his bachelor’s degree in Arts on March 14, 1877 with highest honors in Ateneo As a Thomasian Student • The following year, he took his philosophy course at the University of Santo Tomas and agriculture in the Ateneo. • His course in Ateneo was completed with highest honors but his credentials were issued two years later because he was not of legal age; he was deemed as an “agricultural expert and surveyor” • He continued his studies in the University of Santo Tomas taking up medicine (due to his mother’s illness) along with arts and letters • He excelled in poetry esp. in 1879 when his poem “A La Juventud Filipina” won first prize in a contest sponsored by Manila’s Liceo Artistico-Literario. He also won the following year for his prose entitled “Consejo de los dioses (Council of the Gods)" against peninsular Spaniards writing in their own language • In the latter part of his stay in UST, in confidential consultation with Paciano, he realized he had to go abroad to fulfill his mission • Rizal left on May 3, 1882 boarding on a Spanish ship that took him first to Singapore then France and a train going to Spain • In September he left for the Spanish capital to enroll in Universidad Central de Madrid. Rizal in Europe Introduction: Rizal’s stay in Europe not only focuses on his studies but also on his struggle for the people’s rights and privileges as a citizen of the colony. He tried to live a life for his people through peaceful means by publishing the evils of the Philippine society and exposing the cancer that prevails in the colony. Objectives: Examine the personal experiences of Rizal in Europe in lieu of the development of his philosophy and ideals. Rizal in Europe • It was in May 5, 1882 when Rizal embarked on a journey to Spain • When he reached Barcelona, Spain, he came in contact with some Filipinos who were plotting a revolution which did not appealed to him for he favors education rather than revolution. • He received his first letter from Paciano informing him how his father learned their plans. "When the telegram was received in Calamba telling us of your departure, our parents were distracted, but especially our old father, who became silent, staying in his room, and wept, and refused to be consoled by his family, the priest, or anybody else… Seeing this and fearing that his silence might develop into an illness, I told him the whole story, but to him alone, asking him to keep the secret, which he promised to do; then he seemed to become a little content and returned to his usual activities. . . . “As for your other friends, acquaintances, and strangers in the community, for many days you were the theme of their conversation; they conjectured and prophesied, but nobody guessed the truth. . . It is rumored here that you will finish your course in medicine in Barcelona and not in Madrid; as I see it, the principal purpose of your going was not to perfect yourself in this profession, but in other things of greater value to you, or to which you are more inclined. This is why I believe you should go on to Madrid, the center of all the provinces. . . . it is better for you to be there with your countrymen, who will be able to advise you while you are not yet in the current of things. . . ." • In June 1882 he wrote an article entitled “El amor patrio” (love of country/patriotism) for the Diariong Tagalog (a short-lived Manila newspaper) published by Basilio Teodoro • When he arrived in Madrid, he became a member of Circulo Hispano-Filipino founded by Juan Atayde (a Spaniard from Manila) • The club published a review where Rizal and the other expatriates like Lopez Jaena contributed some articles • He left Barcelona for Madrid where he enrolled at the Universidad Central for a course leading to a licentiate in medicine and also took up the course in philosophy and letters. • Not contented with his courses, he also enrolled in painting and sculpture at the Academia de San Fernando, plus more lessons in French, English and German at the Madrid Ateneo, and still more lessons in fencing at the schools of Sanz and Carbonell. • In January 1883, he informs his family that “I am now studying Italian and have made a bet that I shall be able to speak it in two months.” • In year or two, Rizal’s money dwindled for his father was having a hard time sending him money directly for fear of being questioned by the Dominican Order for which his family was a tenant of a land owned by the religious order. "There came a time when he reduced his daily expenses for food to thirty-five centavos. On June 24, 1884, the day on which he won a prize in a competition in Greek, he did not eat at all, because he lacked money. He used second-hand clothes which he bought from a pawnshop." The next day he wrote in his diary: "I am hungry and I have nothing to eat and no money." • His way of relieving himself of homesickness was in devoting his time to study. In Medicine he received "fair" in two subjects, "good" in four, and "excellent" in two. In his course in Philosophy and Letters he received "good" in one (History of Spain), "very good" in one, "excellent" in four, "excellent with prize" in one (Greek and Latin Literature), and "excellent with free scholarship" in two (Spanish Literature and the Arabic language). • In 1884, the expatriates in Madrid received a great news. Juan Luna won the first gold medal in the Madrid Exposition in his work Spolarium, and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo a silver medal in his Christian Virgins Exposed to the Mob • There was a banquet given in honor of the two painters where Rizal was asked to give a speech which will be interpreted as an open challenge to the regime that will eventually reached the Philippines • He received his licentiate in 1885 but had no money to pay for his Doctor’s degree. He waited three more years before his brother could send him enough, and at 24 years old he became Dr. Rizal • While studying, he will also encounter books which will leave a deep imprint on his ideals - Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Eugene Sue’s The Wandering Jew that will motivate him to write his own book • He received his licentiate in 1885 but had no money to pay for his Doctor’s degree. He waited three more years before his brother could send him enough, and at 24 years old he became Dr. Rizal • In June 1885, he went to Paris to study under the famous Dr. Louis de Wecker where he had mastered the technique of eye operation. • In the middle of the year, he will go to Germany and attend lectures at the University of Heidelberg. He lived with Pastor Dr. Karl Ullmer, a Lutheran minister, with whom he took delightful walks nearly every afternoon, learning much about German religious ideas. • After 3 months of finishing his short course, he will transfer to the University of Leipzig to study psychology and history. Here he will meet a historian friend Prof. Friedrich Ratzel, one of the historians who helped change the methods of historical research. • He continued to write Noli Me Tangere with great inspiration which will be finished in Berlin on Feb. 22, 1887 "I did not believe that Noli Me Tangere would ever be published. I was in Berlin, heartbroken, weakened, and discouraged from hunger and deprivation. I was on the point of throwing my work into the fire as a thing accursed and fit only to die; . . . ." • His friend Maximo Viola, a rich young Filipino will send him a telegram saying he was on his way to Berlin that will give hope to Jose. • "It revived me," said Rizal. "It gave me new hope. I went to the station to receive him and spoke to him about my work. He said he might be able to help me. I reflected and then decided to shorten the book, and eliminated whole chapters. . . . but these will have a place in the continuation. . . . I plan to publish seven volumes about Philippine conditions." • It was Maximo Viola who financed the publication of Noli Me Tangere • Bound copies were sent to Barcelona and Madrid • Dr. Viola will also bring Jose in a hiking trip to Germany, Switzerland, and Austria where they will also visit Dr. Adolph Meyer and Ferdinand Blumentritt • After a visit to Vienna, Rome, and a few other cities of Italy, Dr. Rizal took a ship from Marseilles and started home on July 5, 1887, at last ready to operate upon the cataracts in his mother 's eyes. Conclusion: Rizal’s life in Europe focuses on the ff. points: 1. That the other Filipino youth in Spain became lax in their studies, that made him disappointed; 2. That he focused so hard on his studies – taking up as many possible subjects as he can get 3. That he loved learning so much esp. on the languages that interests him 4. He found the liberal ideas in Europe that inspired him to write the Noli Me Tangere 5. He also experienced hardships particularly on the finances but he did not lose hope instead he focused on his tasks and studies.