• José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda was born on June 19, 1861, in the town of Calamba, Laguna.
• He was baptized JOSE RIZAL MERCADO at the Catholic of Calambaby the parish priest Rev. RufinoCollantes with Rev. Pedro Casañas as the sponsor.
• 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.
• SATURNINA RIZAL (1850-1913)Eldest child of the Rizal-Alonzo marriage. Married Manuel Timoteo Hidalgo of Tanauan, Batangas.
• PACIANO RIZAL (1851-1930)Only brother of Jose Rizal and the second child. Studied at San Jose College in Manila; became a farmer and later a general of the Philippine Revolution.
• NARCISA RIZAL (1852-1939)The third child. married Antonio Lopez at Morong, Rizal; a teacher and musician.
• OLYMPIA RIZAL (1855-1887)The fourth child. Married Silvestre Ubaldo; died in 1887 from childbirth.
• LUCIA RIZAL (1857-1919)The fifth child. Married MatrianoHerbosa.
• MARIA RIZAL (1859-1945)
The sixth child. Married Daniel Faustino Cruz of
Biñan, Laguna.
• JOSE RIZAL (1861-1896)
The second son and the seventh child. He was executed
by the Spaniards on December 30,1896.
• CONCEPCION RIZAL (1862-1865)
The eight child. Died at the age of three.
• JOSEFA RIZAL (1865-1945)
The ninth child. An epileptic, died a spinster.
• TRINIDAD RIZAL (1868-1951)
The tenth child. Died a spinster and the last of the family
to die.
• SOLEDAD RIZAL (1870-1929)
The youngest child married Pantaleon Quintero.
• Jose Rizal’s first teacher was his mother, who had taught him how to read and pray and who had encouraged him to write poetry. Later, private tutors taught the young Rizal Spanish and Latin, before he was sent to a private school in Biñan.
• Rizal first studied under Justiniano Aquino Cruz in Biñan, Laguna before he was sent to Manila. As to his father's request, he took the entrance examination inColegio de San Juan de Letran and studied there for almost three months. The Dominican friars asked him to transfer to another school due to his radical and bold questions.
• When he was 11 years old, Rizal entered the
Ateneo Municipal de Manila. He earned
excellent marks in subjects like
philosophy, physics, chemistry, and natural
history. At this school, he read novels; wrote
prize-winning poetry (and even a
melodrama—“Junto al Pasig”); and practiced
drawing, painting, and clay modeling, all of which remained lifelong interests for him.
• Rizal eventually earned a land surveyor’s
and assessor’s degree from the Ateneo
Municipal while taking up Philosophy and
Letters at the University of Santo Tomas.
Upon learning that his mother was going
blind, Rizal opted to study ophthalmology at
the UST Faculty of Medicine and Surgery.
He, however, was not able to complete the
course because “he became politically
isolated by adversaries among the faculty
and clergy who demanded that he assimilate
to their system.”
• Without his parents' knowledge and consent, but secretly supported by his brother Paciano, he traveled alone to Madrid, Spain in May 1882 and studied medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid where he earned the degree, Licentiate in Medicine. Also, he also attended medical lectures at the University of Paris and theUniversity of Heidelberg. In Berlin he was inducted as a member of the Berlin Ethnological Society and the Berlin Anthropological Society under the patronage of the famous pathologist Rudolf Virchow.
• José was designed by nature to be an
artist. This he revealed before he was five
years of age, for without any assistance
from others he began to draw with his
pencil and to mould in wax or clay any
object he saw about him. Fortunately, his
mother, father, and uncles recognized this
unusual talent and gave him every
encouragement.
• There was a also a time when Rizal was able to draw a bird flying nearby without lifting the pencil he was using from the paper till the picture he drew was finished. He can also draw a running horse and a chasing dog.
• Jose Rizal also owned a pony and used it to have long rides into the surrounding country which was rich in scenery. He also took long walks together with his big black dog named Usman. He also loved to play with the doves in his neighborhood. He learned about the myths and legends in Laguna after sleeping through the nut in a little straw hut used by Laguna farmers during the harvest season. Rizal was also good in hand tricks which he perfected to amaze the simple folk and performed magic lantern exhibitions.
• The little boy spent also much of his time
in the church, which was conveniently
near, but when the mother suggested that this
might be an indication of religious
inclination, his prompt response was that
he liked to watch the people.
• Even in his childhood, Rizal already knew how
to respect the rights of others and requested
his elders to reason with him rather than get
mad at him for small offenses. He became a
welcome companion for adults even at his
young age since he respected their moods
and was never a hindrance to their activities.
• Three uncles who were brothers of his
mother also had much influence on the early
childhood of Jose Rizal. The youngest uncle
named Jose, took care of teaching regular
lessons to Rizal. His huge uncle Manuel
developed his physique until he had a body
of silk and steel and no longer a skinny and
sickly boy. The last uncle, Gregorio instilled
in the mind of Rizal that it was not easy to
obtain something until you put effort into it.
• The childhood of Jose Rizal can be characterized by his desire to learn, even frequenting the church nearby his home to watch and observe people but not to be religiously inclined. Jose Rizal was not a physically blessed or strong child however, he had a strong will guided and taught by his mother, his first teacher. He learned almost without the use of books. His mother was the one who laid the foundation of his great knowledge achieved in such a short time. His brilliance was also the character of the young Jose Rizal.