Chapter 2

A. LIGHT OF A NEW DAY: BIRTH OF A HERO

His father Francisco Mercado was a descendant of Domingo Lam-co, Chinese immigrant.
Rizal’s great grandfather adopted the name “Mercado” in compliance with the Decree of Gov.
General Narciso Claveria to adopt new surnames for taxation purposes. Don Francisco lived in
Binan until he married Doña Teodora Alonso y Realonda. The Mercados leased farmland from its
Dominican owners and built a house made of stone (bahay na bato). The family belonged to the
leading citizens of the town. As principales they accommodated all visitors including priests,
Spanish officials, and the guardia civil.
June 19, 1861 in Calamba, Laguna Doña Teodora gave birth to the seventh child and the
second son, Jose Protasio Mercado. In his autobiography entitled, Memoria de un Estudiante de
Manila with the pen-name of P. Jacinto recounted that on the day of his birth Doña Teodora made
a vow to take on a pilgrimage to Antipolo as a gratitude for surviving a difficult childbirth.
Mercado family was full of joy coupled with reverence as described in his autobiography, his
father as a model of fathers who had given his children an education. He considered his mother as
a cultured woman of Manila who knew literature and was also a mathematician.
He was baptized at a Catholic Church of Calamba, June 22, when he was only three (3)
days old, by a priest, Rev. Rufino Collantes. The name Jose was chosen by his mother who was a
devotee of the Christian Saint San Jose (St. Joseph). Protacio, from the name of another saint, Saint
Protasius of Milan. Father Pedro Casanas- Rizal’s godfather, native of Calamba and close friend
of the Rizal family.

Family Background
The Rizal Family, Don Francisco Mercado (1818-1898), the hero’s father was born in
Binan, Laguna on May 11, 1818. He studied Latin and Philosophy at the College of San Jose,
Manila. He was a hardworking and progressive farmer who became well-to-do through industry
and with the assistance of his cultured and talented wife. Rizal affectionately called him “a model
of fathers”. He died in Manila on January 5, 1898 at the age of 80, a year after the hero’s execution.
Dona Teodora Alonzo Realonda (1826-1911), Rizal’s mother was born in Manila on
November 8, 1826. A remarkable woman, possessing refined culture, literary talent, business
ability, and the fortitude of Spartan women, educated at the College of Santa Rosa, a well-known
college for girls in the city. She died in Manila on August 16, 1911 at the age of 85.
The union of Teodora Alonso Realonda and Francisco Mercado was blessed with 11
children – two boys and nine girls. These were as follows:
Saturnina – oldest of the Rizal children, nicknamed Neneng; she married Manuel T.
Hidalgo of Tanaua, Batangas.
Paciano – was a revolutionary general and retired to farming, was influential in the
formation of Rizal’s nationalists view.
Narcisa –married Antonio Lopez who was a teacher from Morong, Rizal.
Olimpia –married Silvestre Ubaldo who was a telegraph operator.
Lucia –married Mariano Herbosa of Calamba.
Maria –married Daniel Faustino Cruz of Binyan, Laguna.
Jose –married Josephine Bracken.
Concepcion –died at the age of 3.
Josefa – was the women’s Katipunan chapter leader
Trinidad – was a Katipunan member
Soledad – married Pantaleon Quintero of Calamba.

Doña Teodora was the first teacher of Rizal. In fact, Rizal learned the alphabet from his
mother at the age of three (3). At an early age Lolay taught Pepito how to read as the family had a
large collection of books which led to the love of reading and thirst for knowledge. One of the
memorable anecdotes between Pepe and his mother was when Doña Lolay was reading to him, El
Amigo de los Niños (The Children’s Friend), noticing him not paying attention for Jose was
attracted to a pair of moths circling the flame of the oil lamp. The smaller got so attracted to the
flame that it flew too close, and its wings got burned and died.
Aside from his mother, Pepe’s three uncles also contributed to the formation of the young
mind from thinking to physical development. At a young age, Moy demonstrated a superior
intelligence, leading to hire tutors. Among them were Lucas Padua and Leon Monroy. His
inclination to poetry ignited him to compose his first nationalist poem entitled Sa Aking Mga
Kababata (To My Fellow Children) in which some historians doubt the credibility or veracity of
the claim.
 Sorrowful Years
An incident that carved an indelible mark on Jose Rizal’s mind, when Doña Teodora was
being accused as an accomplice of trying to poison his uncle’s wife. His uncle, after a business
trip in Europe returned and found out that his wife abandoned their home and children. Jose
Alberto planned to divorce her, but with the intervention of Jose’s mother the pending separation
was averted. However, the unfaithful wife connived with the lieutenant to fabricate unfounded
pieces of evidence that her husband attempted to poison her with the help of Doña Teodora. In his
letter to Ferdinand Blumentritt, he recalled about the impact of the event saying, “I don’t want to
tell you our resentment and profound sorrow. Since then, though still a child, I have distrusted
friendship and doubted men. We are in brothers (brother –and sisters) and our mother was unjustly
snatched away from us and by who? By some men who had been our friends and whom we had
treated as sacred guests”. The case dragged on for two years until it reached the Supreme Court.
Another remarkable event in his early years was during the February 17, 1872 when three
priests were executed. The event awakened him that years later, he dedicated his book “El
Filibusterismo” to the memory of Marciano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora who were
executed on the scaffold at Bagumbayan where thousands of people coming from Pampanga, La
Laguna, and Bulakan witnessed the execution. In his book, he wrote: “As long, therefore, as it is
not clearly shown that you took part in the uprising in Cavite, I have the right, whether or not you
were patriots and whether or not you were seeking justice and liberty, to dedicate my work to you
as victims of the evil I am trying to fight. And while we wait for Spain to clear your names
someday, refusing to be a party to your death, let these pages serve as a belated wreath of withered
leaves on your forgotten graves.”

 In summary, the bitter experiences of Rizal were as follows:

 The death of her younger sister, Concepcion, at the age of three (3)
 When her mother, Doña Teodora, was accused as an accomplice trying to
poison his Uncle Jose Alberto’s wife. He witnessed how the guardia civil
dragged his mother to the prison cell.
  When he personally witnessed the execution of the three martyr priests,
Marciano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, using the “garrote”.
This incident was believed that the three priests were members of the Cavite
Mutiny in which they organized a movement called Secularization
Movement. They were executed on February 17, 1872. Rizal dedicated his
novel El Filibusterismo to the three martyr priests.

Cavite Mutiny
The 1872 mutiny marked the beginning of a new stage in the escalating unrest. It started
when Rafael de Izquierdo abolished the privilege enjoyed by the workers in the arsenal and in the
artillery barracks and engineer corps of Fort San Felipe in Cavite. Although the mutiny was
suppressed in less than a day and no other actions followed, Izquierdo proclaimed it as part of a
widespread separatist conspiracy.
The Cavite Mutiny provided the reason for the conservatives to eliminate liberals, took
advantage of the incident and arrested several known liberals, among them were Jose Ma. Basa,
Antonio Regidor, Balbino Mauricio, and accused Fathers Jose Burgos, Mariano Gomez and
Jacinto Zamora of being leaders of the mutiny. All three protested their innocence to the end. The
unjust execution of Fathers Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora, accused of conspiracy of the Cavite
Mutiny and publicly garroted on February 17, 1872, opened the deep wounds. The execution
awakened the nationalism of the Filipinos, yet at the same time, they became aware to the fact
anyone or anything threatening Spanish superiority could be severely dealt with.
The Cavite mutiny would have ended just like any other uprisings in the past had the
government been less precipitate and had acted more rationally. But in condemning three priests,
who were innocent based on supporting documents, it added a significance which the officials in
the administration had not foreseen. Rizal himself had written that, had it not been for the events
in Cavite in 1872, he would have become a Jesuit and would not have written Noli Me Tangere.