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• My Hero - Biography of Jose Rizal
• CORE - Jose Rizal in Filipino Literature and History
• GlobalSecurity.org - José Rizal and the Propaganda Movement
• Library of Congress - Biography of José Rizal
• Philippine Folklife Museum Foundation - José Rizal
• National Library Board Singapore - Singapore Infopedia - José Rizal
• José Rizal - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

José Rizal (born June 19, 1861, Calamba, Philippines—died December 30, 1896, Manila) was a patriot, physician, and man of letters who was an inspiration to the Philippine nationalist movement.

The son of a prosperous landowner, Rizal was educated in Manila and at the University of Madrid . A brilliant medical student, he soon committed himself to the reform of Spanish rule in his home country , though he never advocated Philippine independence. Most of his writing was done in Europe, where he resided between 1882 and 1892.

In 1887 Rizal published his first novel , Noli me tangere ( The Social Cancer ), a passionate exposure of the evils of Spanish rule in the Philippines . A sequel, El filibusterismo (1891; The Reign of Greed ), established his reputation as the leading spokesman of the Philippine reform movement. He published an annotated edition (1890; reprinted 1958) of Antonio Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, hoping to show that the native people of the Philippines had a long history before the coming of the Spaniards. He became the leader of the Propaganda Movement , contributing numerous articles to its newspaper, La Solidaridad , published in Barcelona . Rizal’s political program included integration of the Philippines as a province of Spain, representation in the Cortes (the Spanish parliament), the replacement of Spanish friars by Filipino priests, freedom of assembly and expression, and equality of Filipinos and Spaniards before the law.

Rizal returned to the Philippines in 1892. He founded a nonviolent-reform society, the Liga Filipina , in Manila, and was deported to Dapitan in northwest Mindanao . He remained in exile for the next four years. In 1896 the Katipunan , a Filipino nationalist secret society , revolted against Spain. Although he had no connections with that organization and he had had no part in the insurrection, Rizal was arrested and tried for sedition by the military. Found guilty, he was publicly executed by a firing squad in Manila. His martyrdom convinced Filipinos that there was no alternative to independence from Spain. On the eve of his execution, while confined in Fort Santiago, Rizal wrote “ Último adiós” (“Last Farewell”), a masterpiece of 19th-century Spanish verse.

• Philippines
• The Life And Legacy Of...

The Life and Legacy of José Rizal: National Hero of the Philippines

Dr. José Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines, is not only admired for possessing intellectual brilliance but also for taking a stand and resisting the Spanish colonial government. While his death sparked a revolution to overthrow the tyranny, Rizal will always be remembered for his compassion towards the Filipino people and the country.

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Humble beginnings

José Protasio Rizal Mercado Y Alonso Realonda was born on June 19, 1861 to Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonzo in the town of Calamba in the province of Laguna. He had nine sisters and one brother. At the early age of three, the future political leader had already learned the English alphabet. And, by the age of five, José could already read and write.

Upon enrolling at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila (now referred to as Ateneo De Manila University ), he dropped the last three names in his full name, after his brother’s advice – hence, being known as José Protasio Rizal. His performance in school was outstanding – winning various poetry contests, impressing his professors with his familiarity of Castilian and other foreign languages, and crafting literary essays that were critical of the Spanish historical accounts of pre-colonial Philippine societies.

A man with multiple professions

While he originally obtained a land surveyor and assessor’s degree in Ateneo, Rizal also took up a preparatory course on law at the University of Santo Tomas (UST). But when he learned that his mother was going blind, he decided to switch to medicine school in UST and later on specialized in ophthalmology. In May 1882, he decided to travel to Madrid in Spain , and earned his Licentiate in Medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid.

Apart from being known as an expert in the field of medicine, a poet, and an essayist, Rizal exhibited other amazing talents. He knew how to paint, sketch, and make sculptures. Because he lived in Europe for about 10 years, he also became a polyglot – conversant in 22 languages. Aside from poetry and creative writing, Rizal had varying degrees of expertise in architecture, sociology, anthropology, fencing, martial arts, and economics to name a few.

His novels awakened Philippine nationalism

Rizal had been very vocal against the Spanish government, but in a peaceful and progressive manner. For him, “the pen was mightier than the sword.” And through his writings, he exposed the corruption and wrongdoings of government officials as well as the Spanish friars.

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While in Barcelona, Rizal contributed essays, poems, allegories, and editorials to the Spanish newspaper, La Solidaridad. Most of his writings, both in his essays and editorials, centered on individual rights and freedom, specifically for the Filipino people . As part of his reforms, he even called for the inclusion of the Philippines to become a province of Spain.

But, among his best works , two novels stood out from the rest – Noli Me Tángere (Touch Me Not) and El Filibusterismo ( The Reign of the Greed).

In both novels, Rizal harshly criticized the Spanish colonial rule in the country and exposed the ills of Philippine society at the time. And because he wrote about the injustices and brutalities of the Spaniards in the country, the authorities banned Filipinos from reading the controversial books. Yet they were not able to ban it completely. As more Filipinos read the books, their eyes opened to the truth that they were suffering unspeakable abuses at the hands of the friars. These two novels by Rizal, now considered his literary masterpieces, are said to have indirectly sparked the Philippine Revolution.

Rizal’s unfateful days

Upon his return to the Philippines, Rizal formed a progressive organization called the La Liga Filipina. This civic movement advocated social reforms through legal means. Now Rizal was considered even more of a threat by the Spanish authorities (alongside his novels and essays), which ultimately led to his exile in Dapitan in northern Mindanao .

This however did not stop him from continuing his plans for reform. While in Dapitan, Rizal built a school, hospital, and water system. He also taught farming and worked on agricultural projects such as using abaca to make ropes.

In 1896, Rizal was granted leave by then Governor-General Blanco, after volunteering to travel to Cuba to serve as doctor to yellow fever victims. But at that time, the Katipunan had a full-blown revolution and Rizal was accused of being associated with the secret militant society. On his way to Cuba, he was arrested in Barcelona and sent back to Manila to stand for trial before the court martial. Rizal was charged with sedition, conspiracy, and rebellion – and therefore, sentenced to death by firing squad.

Days before his execution, Rizal bid farewell to his motherland and countrymen through one of his final letters, entitled Mi último adiós or My Last Farewell. Dr. José Rizal was executed on the morning of December 30, 1896, in what was then called Bagumbayan (now referred to as Luneta). Upon hearing the command to shoot him, he faced the squad and uttered in his final breath: “ Consummatum est” (It is finished). According to historical accounts , only one bullet ended the life of the Filipino martyr and hero.

His legacy lives on

After his death, the Philippine Revolution continued until 1898. And with the assistance of the United States , the Philippines declared its independence from Spain on June 12, 1898. This was the time that the Philippine flag was waved at General Emilio Aguinaldo’s residence in Kawit, Cavite.

Today, Dr. Rizal’s brilliance, compassion, courage, and patriotism are greatly remembered and recognized by the Filipino people. His two novels are continuously being analyzed by students and professionals.

Colleges and universities in the Philippines even require their students to take a subject which centers around the life and works of Rizal. Every year, the Filipinos celebrate Rizal Day – December 30 each year – to commemorate his life and works. Filipinos look back at how his founding of La Liga Filipina and his two novels had an effect on the early beginnings of the Philippine Revolution. The people also recognize his advocacy to achieve liberty through peaceful means rather than violent revolution.

In honor of Rizal, memorials and statues of the national hero can be found not only within the Philippines, but in selected cities around the world. A road in the Chanakyapuri area of New Delhi (India) and in Medan, Indonesia is named after him. The José Rizal Bridge and Rizal Park in the city of Seattle are also dedicated to the late hero.

Within the Philippines, there are streets, towns/cities, a university (Rizal University), and a province named after him. Three species have also been named after Rizal – the Draco rizali (a small lizard, known as a flying dragon), Apogania rizali (a very rare kind of beetle with five horns) and the Rhacophorus rizali (a peculiar frog species).

To commemorate what he did for the country, the Philippines built a memorial park for him – now referred to as Rizal Park, found in Manila . There lies a monument which contains a standing bronze sculpture of Rizal, an obelisk, and a stone base said to contain his remains. The monument stands near the place where he fell during his execution in Luneta.

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Complete Works of Rizal

Jose Rizal was a polymath who excelled in different fields. The following is a list of known works (novels, essays, poems, plays, sculptures, and paintings) by Rizal.

Novels and Essays

• Noli Me Tángere , novel, 1887
• El Filibusterismo, (novel, 1891), sequel to Noli Me Tángere
• Alin Mang Lahi (“Whate’er the Race”), a Kundiman attributed to Dr. Jose Rizal
• The Friars and the Filipinos (Unfinished)
• Toast to Juan Luna and Felix Hidalgo (Speech, 1884), given at Restaurante Ingles, Madrid
• The Diaries of José Rizal
• Rizal’s Letters is a compendium of Dr. Jose Rizal’s letters to his family members, Blumentritt, Fr. Pablo Pastells and other reformers “Come se gobiernan las Filipinas” (Governing the Philippine islands)
• Filipinas dentro de cien años essay, 1889–90 (The Philippines a Century Hence)
• La Indolencia de los Filipinos, essay, 1890 (The indolence of Filipinos)[51]
• Makamisa unfinished novel
• Sa Mga Kababaihang Taga Malolos, essay, 1889, To the Young Women of Malolos
• Annotations to Antonio de Moragas, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (essay, 1889, Events in the Philippine Islands)
• A La Juventud Filipina (English translation:  To The Philippine Youth )
• El Canto Del Viajero (English translation:  Song of the Wanderer )
• Briayle Crismarl
• Canto de María Clara (English translation:  Song of Maria Clara )
• Himno Al Trabajo (Dalit sa Paggawa)
• Felicitación  [ Felicitation (English Translation) ]
• Kundiman (Tagalog) [ Kundiman (English Translation) ]
• Me Piden Versos (English translation:  They Ask Me for Verses! )
• Mi Primera Inspiracion
• Mi Retiro  (English translation:  My Retreat )
• Mi Ultimo Adiós  (English translation:  My Last Farewell )
• Por La Educación (Recibe Lustre La Patria)  (English translation:  Education Gives Luster to Motherland
• Sa Sanggol na si Jesus (English translation:  Child Jesus )
• A Mi Musa (English translation: To My Muse)
• Un Recuerdo A Mi Pueblo (English translation:  Memories of My Town )
• A Man in Dapitan
• El Consejo de los Dioses (The Council of Gods)
• Junto Al Pasig (Along the Pasig)
• San Euistaquio, Mártyr (Saint Eustache, the Martyr)
• The Triumph of Science over Death
• Saturnina  Rizal  in oil now being displayed in Rizal Shrine in Fort Santiago
• Dapitan church curtains  in oil made in Dapitan in 1984.
• An oil painting on  a pair of mother-of-pearl  shells painted in Dapitan and given as a token to Doña Leonor Valenzuela and later passed on to Doña Margarita Valenzuela
• Water color painting of the  Spanish coat of arms  done during San Rafael fiesta in Calamba in 1867
• Allegory on a pair of porcelain bases of the new year celebration  in oil painted in Berlin in 1886
• Crayon painting of  Christ crucified  done in 1875
• Crayon painting of  Immaculate Conception  made in Manila, 1974
• Crayon painting of  Portrait of Morayta  made in Barcelona, 1885

See also  Rizal’s Paintings .

Leah’s Substack

Rediscovering Rizal, the Reformist

A brief study on his life and works..

National heroes are often unequivocally exalted and revered for their remarkable contributions in the fight for social justice throughout history to a point where questioning their integrity is taboo—but is that really the reasonable way of honoring their legacy?

Jose Rizal was a household name long before I was born. With that, came my preconceived notions of the man. A standard model of the ideal Filipino whom I looked up to by default. No questions asked. However, spending a semester at university learning about his life and works humanized him. He was a testament to how a person is more than the ideology they subscribe to. He was a martyr to the cause of national liberation whose contemporary relevance is a constant reminder of a quest we, as a nation, must accomplish. But what does that exactly mean? 

Context of the period 

To understand Rizal impartially, one must consider the political, cultural, social, and economic context of the period he grew up in. Let’s zoom out around Rizal to see the bigger picture. It was a time of political instability from the side of mainland Spain. During the start of the 19th century, the French army led by their emperor Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Spain. This was part of the Peninsular War between France and much of Europe. With Spain being in a turbulent political situation, their colonies were left to fend for themselves. There was a lack of concrete plan as to how to get going with all the turmoil. The inconsistencies of the Rigodon System only worsened the injustices it inflicted to the Philippine colony—which was an even more contributing ground for the people’s strengthening resistance. 

Economically, this was a time when the Manila Galleon Trade ended—which ran from 1562 to 1815—because a Filipino representative in the Spanish Cortes won the vote to its abolishment. Its operation lasted for two and a half centuries in the port of Manila, but it did not bring economic prosperity for the locals as Spain was really only interested in trading with China. Spain lost its complete monopoly of trade in the country and local traders finally had the opportunity to succeed, made a fortune for themselves, and became the new middle class. 

In a social context, friars are still Spain’s puppets to its religious hold on the people of the colony. Those who dare to question the authority of the Church are expected to face grim punishments. A prime example was the Cavite Mutiny which the friars took as a warning to never let the people organize by themselves. Prior to that, a liberal movement was formed as an inevitable response to the unbearable injustices by the colonizers to the people. This movement was led by a committee of reformers composed of priests, businessmen, professors, and their student front. Their goal was to secularize the parish and to have equal opportunity for Filipinos in the Church, the military, and the government.  Threatened, the reactionary friars hunted down the members of the movement. This led to the execution by garrote of the priest professors: Fathers Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora.  

The period’s influence on Rizal 

Zooming back into Rizal begs the question as to how he was related to all those major events in the period. It starts with Paciano Rizal, his brother, who was a member of the student front of the liberation movement. He was a student and a friend of Father Burgos. The executions of the GomBurZa prompted him to retreat deep into the province for his own safety.

Rizal, Paciano and their nine sisters belonged to an affluent family. Their parents were Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonso. The Mercados came from a long line of farmers, merchants, professionals, and local politicians. The family rents agricultural property in Calamba from the Dominican friars and this was the source of their wealth. Despite having a higher social status, they were known to treat their community and farmhands as equals. And despite being sure of their faith, the Mercados were secular sympathizers. However, to preserve their family livelihood, they chose to stay silent regarding the GomBurZa executions. This was the point when they were forced to change their surname to Rizal. Around this time, their mother was unjustly incarcerated for an alleged involvement in a murder case. The poor woman was made to walk a grueling 50 kilometers from Calamba to a jail in Santa Cruz, Laguna which left a huge emotional toll on the young Jose Rizal. This is proof that even the noble class was not free from injustice by the Spaniards. When all that was happening in 1872, young Rizal was in Manila attending Ateneo Municipal for his secondary education.

From here, one can already get a sense of where Rizal was coming from. The events of the period were significant on how Rizal developed consciousness of the society and history around him. His brand of nationalism came from witnessing social injustices both closely within his family, and through what he digested from the bigger picture of these injustices in the government level at the time of his formative years, and with a principalia class upbringing. This is why he is perceived more as a political activist rather than a socioeconomic one. He was generally viewed as a rationalist, anti-racist, and anti-clerical—relative to the period.

In a way, these historical events were happening around him closely, and he was wealthy enough that he could engage in it directly. He also happened to be someone who was brilliant and educated enough to process the events with much depth and can connect the dots better than most of his peers. To a certain extent, the circumstances of the society and Rizal’s personality conspired. As Renato Constantino puts it in his book Veneration Without Understanding: “They [heroes] set their tasks in conformity with the given conditions of their time. The closer the correspondence between a man’s perception of reality and reality itself, the greater the man.” This made him an expert of the general reality of his time in a noble class perspective. That is also why Constantino refers to Rizal as a “limited” Filipino.  “The role and the contribution of Rizal like that of the ilustrado class, must be evaluated in the context of his particular reality within the general reality of his time,” adds Constantino.

Rizal’s influence on the period 

Rizal’s education centered on Spanish standards and of the greater north-western world although he has been all over Asia as well. He was an intellectual as he showed great regard to education and the educated. Christian and colonial themes recurred in his early works and writings.  

His own desire for assimilation occurred as he realized that the level of education that he receives is a privilege that only few natives from wealthy families can experience. Being an advocate of education by western standards, Rizal became a victim of the western thought that subscribes to their own idea of development only. That those who are not to their level of development are inferior when in fact cultures around the world, including our own, have their own pace and idea of development that are retrofitted to their own culture and tradition. What works for one may not work for another. What the colonizers were doing to the colonies were exploitation and manipulation—basic ingredients of slavery. They were not helping the country advance economically since they were not even trying to understand what the best approach would be based on our early history due to their grand delusions of superiority.

Rizal soon realized that the rest of his countrymen were being robbed of the equality that they deserve, but he was not spared from the brainwashing of the west and understandably so as they were his educators. He had idolized the part of Spain that was far from the atrocities of those that handled the colony. 

Human beings tend to gravitate towards the true, the good, and the beautiful. It is in that concept that I relate Rizal’s refusal to separate from Spain because, as patriotic a man as he was, it was not hard for him to see the beauty in Spain as well, especially that he has seen the greater part of their world with his own eyes. This was the start of his reformist ideals and his quest for the liberation and Hispanization of the people of the country.  

Rizal continued to adore Spain as a motherland until he experienced first-hand discrimination himself. The two major events of discrimination were (1) after winning an essay competition with his entry “Tears and Laughter” where he was booed for being an Indio, and (2) when he was unjustly assaulted by a civil guard lieutenant in which the corrupt system failed to grant him justice. There must have been more that I do not know of or was not documented. Such events brought him closer to the numerous injustices that his fellow countrymen experienced under colonial rule. 

Perhaps the last straw of Rizal’s patience with Spain came during the Calamba land problem of 1888 where his family was among the 300 people who voiced out complaints regarding the unreasonable increase in their land leases from the Dominican friars. Having lost the chance of a fair trial from the Supreme Court in Madrid and punished with deportation for defending their rights, Rizal chose to abandon the assimilation project which of course was favored by the propaganda movement. He was radicalized and admitted that aspiring for assimilation was a mistake. According to him in his letter to Blumentritt, “The Filipino has long wished for Hispanization and they were wrong in aspiring for it.” He considered separation from Spain after that but even his idea of separation here did not include armed struggles, contrary to the ways of the propaganda. He must have valued order so much that he would rather move out of the country to North Borneo if that was what it took to not endanger the lives of their tenants furthermore.

Rizal expressed his understanding of his reality through his fictional books Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo with his other writings and letters. These works provided literary perspectives to the people who were in desperate need of someone or something ironically revolutionary to relate to about their struggles. Disguised in a work of fiction, the characterizations and rational views highly portrayed the current reality which further validated their sentiments. In Constantino’s words “As a social commentator, as the exposer of oppression, he performed a remarkable task. His writings were part of the tradition of protest which blossomed into revolution, into a separatist movement. His original aim of elevating the indio to the level of Hispanization of the peninsular so that the country could be assimilated, could become a province of Spain, was transformed into its opposite.” Regarded by Constantino as a consciousness without movement, it was uncharacteristic of Rizal to embrace the methods of the revolutionaries, however, he still played his special role as a seed for a budding eventual revolution. He deserved merits for that.

Rizal repudiated the revolution. This led some historians to believe that he has always been a reformer, never a separatist . In his manifesto of December 15, 1898, he declared that “I do condemn this uprising—which dishonors us Filipinos and discredits those that could plead our cause. I abhor its criminal methods and disclaim all part in it, pitying from the bottom of my heart the unwary that have been deceived into taking part in it.” This goes to show that until the very end of his life, he believed that Spain could be negotiated with. While Rizal was trying to be optimistic about it, the propaganda movement was not and thus, pushed through for separation from Spain through revolution. To continue Constantino’s words: “Instead of making the Filipino closer to Spain, the propaganda gave root to separation. The drive for Hispanization was transformed into the development of a distinct national consciousness.” 

Rizal’s tragic execution by firing squad in Bagumbayan, Manila in 1896 fueled the propaganda’s desire for separation even more—for despite their different ways to achieve freedom, he was continuously revered by the people. He became part of the driving force for the eventual revolution just like his writings were. That’s his legacy. Here’s a man whose noble desires for reform became his ticket to his untimely demise. Here’s a man who died with his principles intact.

Both Rizal and the propaganda came from different perspectives but were in a quest for one goal: Freedom. But of two different kinds, the former with liberation, and the latter with independence. He has witnessed and experienced the faults in the system thus, his demand for reforms; but Spain was not ready to give up their desire for dominion. And till the very end, Rizal was a reformist. And his death was an act of protest to symbolize what he believed in.

Rizal’s influence on the present  

Majority of people’s understanding of Rizal today is distorted by American propaganda which paints him as the martyr deserving of the title “National Hero”. They gave him the reputation of a Saint. But Rizal was a human being, too. Humanizing him would allow us to evaluate which part of him we should still emulate based on the context of our period. This way, we can objectively understand him and assess if we really were standing on a solid foundation and not one paved with lies. We need to study Rizal because our country is still wallowing in social injustices. Different versions of the same issue keep on repeating itself. Not much has really changed since his time. For a country who is still establishing and reclaiming its own identity and who is now being interrupted by globalization, historical figures like Rizal can serve as a “mirror of our past” so we may navigate smarter for our present and future.

From a mere name in history books that I usually take for granted, Rizal has become a person I can connect with, among others in his rank. As Constantino expressed in his Our Task: To Make Rizal Obsolete, “Rizal’s personal goals were always in accordance with what he considered to be in the best interest of the country.” Despite his education and brilliance, Rizal remained humble and did not use his abilities to exploit the people for his own benefit. In a country full of Basilios in power, one can learn to be Rizal.

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José Rizal: The Life of the National Hero

• January 2023
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• De La Salle University-Dasmariñas

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What is the importance of studying Rizal's life, his writings and other heroes

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Advent of a National Hero Jose Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines and pride of the Malayan race, was born on June 19, 1861, in the town of Calamba, Laguna. He was the seventh child in a family of 11 children (2 boys and 9 girls). Both his parents were educated and belonged to distinguished families. His father, Francisco Mercado Rizal, an industrious farmer whom Rizal called "a model of fathers," came from Biñan, Laguna; while his mother, Teodora Alonzo y Quintos, a highly cultured and accomplished woman whom Rizal called "loving and prudent mother," was born in Meisic, Sta. Cruz, Manila. At the age of 3, he learned the alphabet from his mother; at 5, while learning to read and write, he already showed inclinations to be an artist. He astounded his family and relatives by his pencil drawings and sketches and by his moldings of clay. At the age 8, he wrote a Tagalog poem, "Sa Aking Mga Kabata," the theme of which revolves on the love of one's language. In 1877, at the age of 16, he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree with an average of "excellent" from the Ateneo Municipal de Manila. In the same year, he enrolled in Philosophy and Letters at the University of Santo Tomas, while at the same time took courses leading to the degree of surveyor and expert assessor at the Ateneo. He finished the latter course on March 21, 1877 and passed the Surveyor's examination on May 21, 1878; but because of his age, 17, he was not granted license to practice the profession until December 30, 1881. In 1878, he enrolled in medicine at the University of Santo Tomas but had to stop in his studies when he felt that the Filipino students were being discriminated upon by their Dominican tutors. CHAPTER 2 Childhood Years in Calamba Jose Rizal, like many Filipino boys, had many beautiful memories of childhood. His was a happy home, filled with parental affection, impregnated with family joys, and sanctified by prayers. In the midst of sue peaceful, refined, God-loving family, he spent the early years of his childhood. The beauties of Calamba impressed him as a growing child and deeply influenced his mind and character. The happiest period of his life was truly his childhood days in his natal town.

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Leon Maria Guerrero y Francisco was born on March 24, 1915, in Manila. He was a Filipino author and a diplomat. He is such a well-known writer for his successful translations of Jose Rizal's Noli Me Tangere, El Filibusterismo and a biography of Rizal. The author of "The First Filipino" believed that Jose Rizal is the First Filipino that shows great patriotism and fondness for his compatriots. The book is a biography of Jose Rizal it completely and creatively covers the various life of Jose Rizal starting from his childhood and education, political and literary activities wherein Guererro explores Rizal's involvement in political movements, his literary works and his impact on Philippine society. It also wholly examines Rizal's tragic end and the enduring influence he left behind.

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A summarization of Dr. Jose Rizal's biography containing his life' work, journeys and upbriniging.

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