Life of rizal family
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He gave him lessons in drawing and painting. She studied at the Colegio de Santa Rosa. His mother, Teodora Alonso, was one of the most educated women of her generation. Their contributions form one of the most moving aspects of the family story.
Saturnina (“Neneng”) helped manage finances and later facilitated the Tagalog translation of Noli Me Tangere — expanding its reach among Filipinos.
Narcisa tracked down Rizal’s unmarked grave after his execution, identifying it through the reversed initials “RPJ.” Her persistence ensured that his remains were preserved for future generations.
Lucia, whose husband Mariano Herbosa was denied a Christian burial due to suspected association with Rizal’s ideas, inspired the essay “Una profanación.” Her daughter, Delfina Herbosa de Natividad, later helped sew the first Philippine flag in Hong Kong.
Trinidad (“Trining”) secured Rizal’s final poem, Mi Último Adiós, hidden in an alcohol stove given to her the night before his execution.
He was the product of a household that valued learning, defied injustice, nurtured emotional resilience, and practiced civic responsibility. This resulted jealousy on the part of his classmates.
Paciano escorted him to Biñan and Manila, supported him financially during his studies in Europe, managed family matters in his absence, and after 1896 joined the revolution as a general. After a year and a half, he came back to Calamba. The family traces its ancestry to Domingo Lam-co, a Chinese immigrant from Amoy, China, who settled in the Philippines in the late 17th century and married Ines de la Rosa, a Chinese mestiza.
As a result, she went into premature labor and gave birth to an eight-month-old baby boy, Francisco Rizal y Bracken. The Mercados had built their status through hard work, careful land management, and service within the principalia. MAESTRO CELESTINO The Private Tutor MAESTRO LUCAS PADUA The Private Tutor LEON MONROY The Private Tutors Former classmate of Don Francisco Mercado and lived at the ancestral house of the Rizals.
His writings and martyrdom echo with the voices of the household that nurtured him — a family whose sacrifices and strengths became inseparable from the birth of a nation.
To read Rizal’s full life story, see Jose Rizal: A Complete Biography.
(José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda)
"The Voice of Nation, the Soul of Revolution"
José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda was part of a prominent 13-member family, including his parents, Francisco Mercado II and Teodora Alonso Realonda, along with nine sisters and one brother.
The students where laughing at him due to his scarce knowledge of Latin and Spanish. Witnessing his mother’s endurance taught him the meaning of justice violated and courage upheld.
A Household of Means, Books, and Conscience
The Rizal home in Calamba was large, active, and unusually sophisticated for its time. Ten years older, Paciano had lived with and worked for Father Jose Burgos, one of the priests executed after the 1872 Cavite Mutiny.
She was a woman of intelligence, culture, and literary talent, with strong business and mathematical skills. PAINTING LESSONS IN BIÑAN JOSE’S LOVE FOR PAINTING Rizal loves painting. By 1890, the Mercado-Rizals were ordered to vacate the lands they had farmed for generations. Paciano introduced him to MAESTRO JUSTINIANO AQUINO CRUZ on his first day.
On December 29–30, 1896, they retrieved, copied, and preserved Mi Último Adiós, located his secret grave, carried his final messages, and safeguarded papers that would later become essential national documents.
What happened in Fort Santiago did not remain a family secret; it became part of the nation’s archive. He is excellent in academics, he surpassed his classmates in Spanish, Latin and othe subjects.