1.)Dr. José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda(June 19, 1861 - December
30, 1896, Bagumbayan), was a Filipino polymath, patriot and the most prominent
advocate for reforms in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era.
2.)He is considered a national hero of the Philippines, and the anniversary of
Rizal's death is commemorated as a Philippine holiday called Rizal Day.
3.)The seventh of eleven children born to a wealthy family in the town of
Calamba, Laguna, Rizal attended the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, earning a
Bachelor of Arts.
4.)He enrolled in Medicine and Philosophy and Letters at the University of Santo
Tomas and then traveled alone to Madrid, Spain, where he continued his studies
at the Universidad Central de Madrid, earning the degree of Licentiate in
Medicine.
5.)He attended the University of Paris and earned a second doctorate at the
University of Heidelberg.
6.)He was a prolific poet, essayist, diarist, correspondent, and novelist whose
most famous works were his two novels, Noli me Tangere and El filibusterismo.
7.)As a political figure, Jose Rizal was the founder of La Liga Filipina, a
civic organization that subsequently gave birth to the Katipunan led by Andrés
Bonifacio and Emilio Aguinaldo.
8.)Documented studies show him to be a polymath with the ability to master
various skills and subjects.
9.)He was an ophthalmologist, sculptor, painter, educator, farmer, historian,
playwright and journalist.
10.)Besides poetry and creative writing, he dabbled, with varying degrees of
expertise, in architecture, cartography, economics, ethnology, anthropology,
sociology, dramatics, martial arts, fencing and pistol shooting.
11.)Among his earliest writings are El Canto de los Dioses, A la juventud
filipina, Canto del viajero, Canto de María Clara, Me piden versos, Por la
educación, Junto al Pasig, etc.
12.)Rizal also tried his hand at painting and sculpture. His most famous
sculptural work was "The Triumph of Science over Death", a clay sculpture
composed of a naked, young woman standing on a skull bearing a torch upheld
high. The woman symbolized the ignorance of humankind during the Dark Ages,
while the torch she bore symbolized the enlightenment science brings over the
whole world. He sent the sculpture to his dear friend Blumentritt, together with
another one named "The Triumph of Death over Life".
13.)Rizal was implicated in the activities of the nascent rebellion and in July
1892, was deported to Dapitan in the province of Zamboanga, a peninsula of
Mindanao.
14.)While imprisoned in Fort Santiago, he issued a manifesto disavowing the
revolution and declaring that the education of Filipinos and their achievement
of a national identity were prerequisites to freedom; he was to be tried before
a court-martial for rebellion, sedition, and conspiracy. Rizal was convicted on
all three charges and sentenced to death.
15.)He was secretly buried in Pacò Cemetery in Manila with no identification on
his grave. His sister Narcisa toured all possible gravesites and found freshly
turned earth at the cemetery with guards posted at the gate. Assuming this
could be the most likely spot, there never having any ground burials, she made a
gift to the caretaker to mark the site "RPJ", Rizal's initials in reverse.
16.)Documented studies show him to be a polymath with the ability to master
various skills and subjects.
17.)Rizal was a 5th-generation patrilineal descendant of Domingo Lam-co, a
Chinese immigrant entrepreneur who sailed to the Philippines from Jinjiang,
Guangzhou in the mid-17th century.
18.)Aside from Chinese ancestry, recent genealogical research has found that
José had traces of Spanish and Japanese ancestry.
19.)Rajah Lakandula of Tondo is also regarded as ancestor of Rizal.
20.)A small version of Rizal Park with Rizal's Bronze statue was built in
Wilhelmsfeld, Germany. The street where Rizal lived was also renamed after him.A
sandstone fountain also stands in Pastor Ullmer's house garden where Rizal lived
in Wilhelmsfeld.
