JOSE RIZAL, the national hero of the Philippines and pride of the Malayan race, was

born on June !, "#, in the town of $ala%ba, La&una' (e was the se)enth child in a
fa%ily of children *+ boys and ! &irls,' -oth his parents were educated and belon&ed
to distin&uished fa%ilies'
(is father, .rancisco Mercado Ri/al, an industrious far%er who% Ri/al called 0a %odel
of fathers,0 ca%e fro% -i1an, La&una2 while his %other, 3eodora Alon/o y 4uintos, a
hi&hly cultured and acco%plished wo%an who% Ri/al called 0lo)in& and prudent
%other,0 was born in Meisic, Sta' $ru/, Manila' At the a&e of 5, he learned the alphabet
fro% his %other2 at 6, while learnin& to read and write, he already showed inclinations to
be an artist' (e astounded his fa%ily and relati)es by his pencil drawin&s and s7etches
and by his %oldin&s of clay' At the a&e ", he wrote a 3a&alo& poe%, 0Sa A7in& M&a
8abata,0 the the%e of which re)ol)es on the lo)e of one9s lan&ua&e' In "::, at the a&e
of #, he obtained his -achelor of Arts de&ree with an a)era&e of 0e;cellent0 fro% the
Ateneo Municipal de Manila' In the sa%e year, he enrolled in Philosophy and Letters at
the <ni)ersity of Santo 3o%as, while at the sa%e ti%e too7 courses leadin& to the de&ree
of sur)eyor and e;pert assessor at the Ateneo' (e finished the latter course on March +,
":: and passed the Sur)eyor9s e;a%ination on May +, ":"2 but because of his a&e,
:, he was not &ranted license to practice the profession until =ece%ber 5>, ""' In
":", he enrolled in %edicine at the <ni)ersity of Santo 3o%as but had to stop in his
studies when he felt that the .ilipino students were bein& discri%inated upon by their
=o%inican tutors' On May 5, ""+, he sailed for Spain where he continued his studies at
the <ni)ersidad $entral de Madrid' On June +, ""?, at the a&e of +5, he was conferred
the de&ree of Licentiate in Medicine and on June !,""6, at the a&e of +?, he finished
his course in Philosophy and Letters with a &rade of 0e;cellent'0
(a)in& tra)eled e;tensi)ely in Europe, A%erica and Asia, he %astered ++ lan&ua&es'
3hese include Arabic, $atalan, $hinese, En&lish, .rench, @er%an, @ree7, (ebrew,
Italian, Japanese, Latin, Malayan, Portu&uese, Russian, Sans7rit, Spanish, 3a&alo&, and
other nati)e dialects' A )ersatile &enius, he was an architect, artists, business%an,
cartoonist, educator, econo%ist, ethnolo&ist, scientific far%er, historian, in)entor,
Aournalist, lin&uist, %usician, %ytholo&ist, nationalist, naturalist, no)elist, opthal%ic
sur&eon, poet, propa&andist, psycholo&ist, scientist, sculptor, sociolo&ist, and theolo&ian'
(e was an e;pert swords%an and a &ood shot' In the hope of securin& political and social
refor%s for his country and at the sa%e ti%e educate his country%en, Ri/al, the &reatest
apostle of .ilipino nationalis%, published, while in Europe, se)eral wor7s with hi&hly
nationalistic and re)olutionary tendencies' In March "":, his darin& boo7, BOLI ME
3AB@ERE, a satirical no)el e;posin& the arro&ance and despotis% of the Spanish cler&y,
was published in -erlin2 in "!> he reprinted in Paris, Mor&a9s S<$$ESSOS =E LAS
ISLAS .ILIPIBAS with his annotations to pro)e that the .ilipinos had a ci)ili/ation
worthy to be proud of e)en lon& before the Spaniards set foot on Philippine soil2 on
Septe%ber ", "!, EL .ILI-<S3ERISMO, his second no)el and a seCuel to the BOLI
and %ore re)olutionary and tra&ic than the latter, was printed in @hent' -ecause of his
fearless e;posures of the inAustices co%%itted by the ci)il and clerical officials, Ri/al
pro)o7ed the ani%osity of those in power' 3his led hi%self, his relati)es and country%en
into trouble with the Spanish officials of the country' As a conseCuence, he and those who
had contacts with hi%, were shadowed2 the authorities were not only findin& faults but
e)en fabricatin& char&es to pin hi% down' 3hus, he was i%prisoned in .ort Santia&o fro%
July #, "!+ to July 6, "!+ on a char&e that antiDfriar pa%phlets were found in the
lu&&a&e of his sister Lucia who arri)e with hi% fro% (on& 8on&' Ehile a political e;ile
in =apitan, he en&a&ed in a&riculture, fishin& and business2 he %aintained and operated a
hospital2 he conducted classesD tau&ht his pupils the En&lish and Spanish lan&ua&es, the
arts'
3he sciences, )ocational courses includin& a&riculture, sur)eyin&, sculpturin&, and
paintin&, as well as the art of self defense2 he did so%e researches and collected
speci%ens2 he entered into correspondence with renowned %en of letters and sciences
abroad2 and with the help of his pupils, he constructed water da% and a relief %ap of
Mindanao D both considered re%ar7able en&ineerin& feats' (is sincerity and friendliness
won for hi% the trust and confidence of e)en those assi&ned to &uard hi%2 his &ood
%anners and war% personality were found irresistible by wo%en of all races with who%
he had personal contacts2 his intelli&ence and hu%ility &ained for hi% the respect and
ad%iration of pro%inent %en of other nations2 while his undaunted coura&e and
deter%ination to uplift the welfare of his people were feared by his ene%ies'
Ehen the Philippine Re)olution started on Au&ust +#, "!#, his ene%ies lost no ti%e in
pressin& hi% down' 3hey were able to enlist witnesses that lin7ed hi% with the re)olt and
these were ne)er allowed to be confronted by hi%' 3hus, fro% Bo)e%ber 5, !"#, to the
date of his e;ecution, he was a&ain co%%itted to .ort Santia&o' In his prison cell, he
wrote an untitled poe%, now 7nown as 0<lti%o Adios0 which is considered a %asterpiece
and a li)in& docu%ent e;pressin& not only the hero9s &reat lo)e of country but also that of
all .ilipinos' After a %oc7 trial, he was con)icted of rebellion, sedition and of for%in&
ille&al association' In the cold %ornin& of =ece%ber 5>, "!#, Ri/al, a %an whose 56
years of life had been pac7ed with )aried acti)ities which pro)ed that the .ilipino has
capacity to eCual if not e;cel e)en those who treat hi% as a sla)e, was shot at
-a&u%bayan .ield'