RIZAL AND HIS

CHILDHOOD
YEARS IN
CALAMBA
CALAMBA AT THE TIME OF RIZAL’S BIRTH
• Calamba is an enchanted town (Palma,1949)
• - situated, as if enclosed in a valley, between
Laguna de Bay and Mt. Makiling.
• - panoramic with its landscape, as if nature
has lavished this town with all its tenderest
caresses
CALAMBA AT THE TIME OF RIZAL’S BIRTH
• Calamba at the time of Rizal’s birth was an agricultural
town (Romero et al, 1978)
• The town was virtually owned by the Dominican friars.
• Calamba became a prosperous town due to its
specialization in the production of sugar.
• Life was filled with hardships on the part of the people
who were just tenants in the Dominican hacienda.
• Life was far better than in the other towns in Laguna
during those times.
CALAMBA AT THE TIME OF RIZAL’S BIRTH
• Nature has been good to the Calambeños.
• With its fertile soil and favorable climate, the
people were able to raise and harvest different
kinds of crops.
• The picturesque beauty of the town provided the
young Rizal the inspiration and springboard to
hone his poetic and artistic sensibilities.
CALAMBA AT THE TIME OF RIZAL’S BIRTH
• The misfortunes suffered by the tenants
from the hands of the Guardia Civil and the
Dominican friars, had ingrained in his
young mind hatred of oppression and
exploitation of the weak by the strong.
BIRTH OF THE YOUNG JOSE
• Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonzo Realonda
was born on June 19, 1861 (Zaide & Zaide, 1999)
• – his mother nearly died during his delivery owing to
his very big head
• - Three days after his birth, Rizal was baptized by
Fr. Rufino Collantes at the Calamba Catholic Church,
with Fr. Pedro Casañas, as his godfather.
BIRTH OF THE YOUNG JOSE
• Rizal was the seventh child in the family of 11
children of Don Francisco and Doña Teodora.
• The children of the Rizal family in their birth order
were as follows:
• Saturnina (1850) ; Paciano (1851) ; Narcisa (1852);
• Olimpia (1855) ; Lucia (1857) ; Maria (1859) ; Jose
(1861) ; Concepcion (1862) ; Josefa (1865) ; Trinidad
(1868) ; and Soledad (1870)
 RIZAL’S ANCESTRY
• Rizal came from a mixture of races.
• His great grandfather from his father side was a Chinese merchant
named Domingo Lamco.
• He married a wealthy Chinese mestiza, Ines dela Rosa.
• In 1849, Domingo Lamco assumed the surname Mercado in
keeping the gubernatorial decree of Narciso Claveria on the use of
Spanish surnames in the Philippines by all Spanish subjects in the
colony and to free themselves and their children from the
prejudices associated with a Chinese surname (Craig, 1913).
 RIZAL’S ANCESTRY
• From the Parian in Manila, the couple moved to Biñan,
ending up as tenants in the Dominican hacienda.
• Rizal’s grandfather from his father side was Juan
Mercado who married a Chinese-Filipino mestiza, Cirila
Alejandro.
• Juan Mercado became a gobernadorcillo of Biñan.
• Juan and Cirila had 14 children, one of whom was Rizal’s
father, Don Francisco.
RIZAL’S ANCESTRY
• Rizal’s great grandfather on his mother’s side was
Manuel de Quintos, a Chinese mestizo from
Lingayen, Pangasinan (Romero et al, 1978)
• Manuel married Regina Ursua, a woman with
Japanese ancestry.
• One of there daughters, Brigida married Lorenzo
Alberto Alonso. The couple had five siblings. One
of them was Teodora, who became Rizal’s mother.
RIZAL’S IMMEDIATE FAMILY
• Rizal was reared in a typical middle class family in the 19th century
Philippines (Capino et al, 1977)
• He lived a life of comfort and affluence, considering that his family
belonged to the principalia class or ruling elite of his town (Guerrero,
1998).
• The affluence of Rizal’s family can clearly be gleaned from the following:
the family’s predilection for studies; its stone house of adobe and
hardwood; ownership of carriage and horses - the symbols of wealth
and respectability during those times; home library with numerous
volumes of books; presence of personal servants taking care of the needs
of the children, and private tutoring of children in the family.
RIZAL’S IMMEDIATE FAMILY
• The family’s thriving business in rice and sugar and its ability to send their
children for education in Manila further indicate their socio-economic
status in Calamba.
• Rizal’s father, Don Francisco Mercado, was an educated man.
• His father took courses in Latin and Philosophy in Colegio de San Jose in
Manila.
• Rizal described him a model father owing to his honesty, frugality and
industry.
• Rizal inherited a profound feeling of dignity, self-respect, serenity and
poise and seriousness (De Ocampo, 1960)
 RIZAL’S IMMEDIATE FAMILY
• Doña Teodora was an educated woman. She completed her
education at the Colegio de Santa Rosa, a prestigious college for
girls in Manila then.
• Rizal described her as a disciplinarian, a woman more than
average education, a woman of culture and religion, a
sacrificing and industrious housewife.
• From his mother, Rizal learned the values of warmth and virtue.
He also inherited a practical temperament, stoicism, self-
sacrifice, temperament of a dreamer and fondness for poetry.
(Villa Abrille, 1969)
CHILDHOOD DAYS AND MEMORIES
• Owing to happy and comfortable life Rizal had, he had good memories of his
childhood days in Calamba.
• He could not forget the times when the family stayed in the garden to exchange
stories.
• He always treasured the care demonstrated to him by his parents due to his poor
health. It was in this garden where he experienced closeness to nature.
• Another is experience that he was not able to forget was the daily family prayer
during Angelus, where all the members of his family gather and pray together.
• Even the times when his personal servant narrated to him legends and fairy tales
at the azotea, after the Angelus, was something Rizal treasured.
• These imaginary tales narrated to Rizal by his personal servant aroused in him an
enduring interest in legends and folklores (Zaide, 1999)
CHILDHOOD DAYS AND MEMORIES
• He grew up a pious Catholic owing to the training
provided him by his mother. At three years old, he
learned how to pray and even read the Bible.
• This training he had at home was strengthened by his
frequent visit to Fr. Leoncio Lopez, the parish priest of
Calamba, who made the young Rizal the need to
develop a sound philosophy of life. It was also from
him that Rizal learned the value of scholarship and
intellectual honesty.
CHILDHOOD DAYS AND MEMORIES
• At the age of four, Rizal experienced his first sorrow. This was when his younger
sister Concepcion, whom he fondly called Concha, died. It was the first time he cried
as a young boy, since it was from her that Rizal learned the importance of sisterly
love.
• As a young boy, he spent many hours down the shore of Laguna de Bay, thinking of
what was beyond, dreaming of what might be over on the other side of the waves
(Craig, 1918).
• He even witnessed everyday acts of violence and excesses committed against
the Calambeños by the Guardia Civil and the Gobernadorcillo.
• As his young age, he was always asking himself if these incidents in Calamba were also
happening in the lands across the Laguna de Bay.
• From the usual activity of Rizal, it can be noted that he was a good observer, noting
every detail of what he actually saw.
THE STORY OF THE MOTH AND THE FLAME
• One of the stories Rizal never forgot, narrated to him by his mother was
the fable entitled “The Moth and the Flame” (Jose Rizal Centennial
Commission, 1961)
• This story left a deep impression on Rizal. For Rizal the moth died a
victim of its illusion in search for the light. Nevertheless, he came to
realize the sweetness of dying in search for the light. This story can be
considered as Rizal’s biography.
• Just like the moth that died a victim of its illusion, Rizal died a martyr
in search of the lights of truth, freedom and justice.
• From the story, Rizal came to realize that one has to sacrifice and to
suffer the consequence of one’s action for the attainment of a goal.
 EARLY DEMONSTRATION OF
INBORN TALENT
• As a young boy, there were indications that Rizal was intellectually gifted (De
Ocampo, 1960)
• He was able to master the alphabet when he was three years old. At a very
young age, he showed great interest in reading. He enjoyed reading the books
in their library at home, with Doña Teodora, as his reading teacher and critic.
• The young Rizal also showed his knack in sketching, painting, sculpture and
literature. According to Romero (1978), the panoramic beauty of Calamba, and
Rizal’s admiration of his mother led him to hone his skills in art forms.
• Owing to the constant prodding by Doña Teodora for Rizal through verses, Rizal
was able to write his first poem, when he was eight years old. This poem was
entitled Sa Aking Kabata or To My Fellow Children (Laubach, 1936).
 EARLY DEMONSTRATION OF
INBORN TALENT
• The above poem clearly reveals that Rizal, even during his tender years had a concept
of nationalism. Here, he associated love for the native language bestowed by God
with the desire for freedom, which according to him was on mortgage.
• As a young boy, he was already aware that his people had a language of their own,
This language, just like other languages, had its own alphabet and system writing, which
according to Rizal disappeared because they were swallowed up by tidal waves.
• We can see a young lad describing his native language or Tagalog as comparable to
Latin, English and Spanish.
• Young Jose calling on his fellow children to love their native tongue.
 THE FIRST TASTE OF INJUSTICE
• As a young boy Rizal witnessed how his town mates were tortured, treated rudely and
brutally by the Spanish officials and the Guardia Civil. In fact, he spent a lot of time
thinking way why the people had to suffer such brutality and unfair treatment.
• An incident, which opened his eyes to the injustice of the regime, was the arrest and
incarceration of his mother in 1871 due to alleged complicity in the attempted murder of his
uncle’s unfaithful wife.
• This happened right after the arrival of his uncle, Jose Alberto from Europe. Upon arriving at
Biñan, his uncle discovered the infidelity of his wife and decided to divorce her. Being a
devout Catholic and to avoid public scandal, Doña Teodora advised and convinced his
brother to forgive his wife and forget what happened and start anew.
• Jose Alberto was persuaded and the family break up was averted. Nonetheless, Jose Alberto’s
wife conspired with the Spanish Lieutenant of the Guardia Civil by filing a suit against
Doña Teodora for attempting to poison her.
• Doña Teodora was arrested and made to walk a distance of 50 km from Calamba to Santa
Cruz, the capital of Laguna.
 THE FIRST TASTE OF INJUSTICE
• She was jailed for almost two and one-half years. Attempts were made by Rizal’s
family to absolve her from the case, to the point of pleading at the Royal Audiencia.
She was freed later by Gov. General Rafael de Izquierdo as a result of the request of
the young Soledad, whose graceful dancing charmed the governor-general and his guests.
• This incident was something that Rizal never forgot. The injustice suffered by her
mother created in him hatred of the Spanish Regime. Moreover, Rizal lost
confidence in friendship and developed mistrust of his fellowmen. This was
because the men who arrested Doña Teodora were frequent visitors in their home.
• An incident that greatly influenced Rizal’s goal and life work was the martyrdom
of Gomburza (Capino, 1977)
• Rizal was then 11 years when his older brother Paciano narrated to him the injustice
suffered by the three Filipino priests for crusading for justice in the parochial
administration in the Philippines, particularly the struggle waged by Father Jose
Burgos, his teacher at Colegio de San Jose.
 THE FIRST TASTE OF INJUSTICE

• This particular event was something that Rizal remembered as a young boy
and inspired him to redeem the oppressed Filipinos.
• If it were not for the unjust execution of the three priests, Rizal would have been a
member if the Society of Jesuits in the Philippines.
• The influence of the aforementioned event in his dedication of the El
Filibusterismo to the memory of Gomburza.
 PREPARATIONS FOR FORMAL
SCHOOLING
• Rizal’s first teacher was his mother. Owing to her patience, conscientiousness, and
understanding, the young Rizal at the age of three was able to learn the alphabet and
prayers. Eventually, Doña Teodora discovered that Rizal had an aptitude in poetry.
• To develop this talent, Doña Teodora encouraged him to write verses. Later on,
Rizal’s mother realized that he needed a private tutor who shall teach him at home.
• His first private tutor was Maestro Celestino, followed by Maestro
Lucas Padua (Zaide & Zaide, 1999). The third tutor, however, was Leon
Monroy, a former classmate of his father. It was from Leon Monroy where
Rizal’s skill in reading, writing, and the rudiments of Latin were honed.
 PREPARATIONS FOR FORMAL
SCHOOLING
• Rizal, just like other children from the principalia class, was trained to
become a middle-class intellectual or ilustrado (Guerrero. 1998).
• First, he was subjected to education under private tutors. Then, he was
sent to a private secondary school and went to a university for college
degree and completed studies in Europe.
• His trainings as an ilustrado could explain why Rizal did not have any real
social consciousness. As he grew up detached from the people, he did
not understand their needs and aspirations at the very start.