ABOUT JOSE RIZAL

• Jose Protacio Mercado Rizal Alonzo y Realonda had various meanings in his name.
• Jose Rizal was born on June 19, 1861 in the lakeshore town of Calamba, Laguna.
• Jose Rizal was baptized three days after his birth on June 22, 1861 by Father Rufino Collantes, a Batangueño, the parish priest who baptized Rizal.
• Jose Rizal's godfather was Father Pedro Casanas, a native of Calamba and close friend of the Rizal family.
• Lieutenant-General Jose Lemery was the governor general of the Philippines when Jose Rizal was born.
• Rizal never proposed marriage to any of his romantic partners.
• Rizal's fourth romance was with Leonor Valenzuela, a charming daughter of Capitan Juan and Capitana Sanday Valenzuela from Pagsanjan, Laguna.
• Rizal's third romance was with Miss L, a young woman in Calamba.
• Rizal's second romance was with Segunda Katigbak, a sixteen-year old from Dampalit, Los Baños, Laguna.
• -Rizal never proposed marriage to Consuelo.
• Rizal's fifth romance was with Leonor Rivera, his cousin from Camiling, Tarlac.
• Rizal's sixth romance was with Consuelo Ortiga y Perez, a young woman in Madrid, prettier of Don Pablo Ortiga y Rey’s daughters.
• Rizal was a great hero because he possessed in himself "excellent qualities and merits" as recognized by Palma.
• Rizal's first romance was with Julia, a fourteen-year old Batangueña from Lipa.
• Jose Rizal's parents were Don Francisco Mercado, born in Biñan, Laguna on May 11, 1818, and Doña Teodora Alonso Realonda, born in Manila on November 8, 1826.
• Jose Rizal had eleven children, two boys and nine girls.
• Saturnina, the oldest of the Rizal children, was nicknamed Neneng and married Manuel T. Hidalgo of Tanawan, Batangas.
• Rizal reached Rome, the “Eternal City” and also called the “City of the Caesars” on June 27, 1887.
• Rizal spent his 26th birthday in Geneva with Viola.
• Rizal returned to Calamba, where he established a medical clinic and opened a gymnasium for young folks, where he introduced European sports.
• Rizal was thrilled by the sights and memories of the Eternal City, describing to Blumentritt the “grandeur” of Rome.
• Msgr. Pedro Payo, a Dominican, sent a copy of Noli to Father Rector Gregorio Echavarria of the University of Santo Tomás.
• Rizal visited the Vatican, the “City of the Popes” and the capital of Christendom, on June 29, 1887.
• Don Jose Taviel de Andrade, a young Spanish lieutenant assigned by Governor General Terrero to pose as bodyguard of Rizal, accompanied Rizal to the Palace.
• Rizal suffered one failure during his six months of sojourn in Calamba—his failure to see Leonor Rivera.
• Governor General Emilio Terrero requested Rizal to come to Malacañang Palace.
• Rizal was outraged by the degradation of his fellow countrymen, the Igorots of Northern Luzon, at the Exposition of the Philippines in Madrid, Spain.
• On June 23, 1887, Viola and Rizal parted ways, with Viola returning to Barcelona while Rizal continued the tour to Italy.
• Paciano, the older brother and confident of Jose Rizal, was immortalized in Rizal’s first novel Noli Me Tangere as the wise Pilosopo Tasio and was regarded by Rizal as the "most noble of Filipinos".
• Paciano became a combat general in the Philippine Revolution and died on April 13, 1930, an old bachelor aged 79.
• Narcisa, nicknamed Sisa, married Antonio Lopez, a school teacher of Morong.
• Olimpia, nicknamed Ypia, married Silvestre Ubaldo, a telegraph operator from Manila.
• Lucia, nicknamed Biang, married Mariano Herbosa of Calamba, who was a nephew of Father Casanas.
• Father Mariano Dacanay, a Filipino priest-patriot, gave the title "Ultimo Adios" (Last Farewell) and the poem was published for the first time in La Independencia (General Antonio Luna’s newspaper) on September 25, 1898.
• Rizal is our greatest hero because, as a towering figure in the Propaganda Campaign, he took an "admirable part" in that movement which roughly covered the period from 1882-1896.
• Rizal is the greatest Filipino hero that ever lived because he is "a man honored after death by public worship, because of exceptional service to mankind".
• Rizal becomes the greatest Filipino hero because no Filipino has yet been born who could equal or surpass Rizal as "a person of distinguished valor or enterprise in danger, or fortitude in suffering."
• Rizal also made a bust of Father Guerrico, a statue of a girl called “the Dapitan Girl”, a woodcarving of Josephine Bracken, and a bust of St. Paul which he gave to Father Pastells.
• Rizal himself, his own people, and the foreigners all together contributed to make him the greatest hero and martyr of his people.
• Rizal wrote Tagalog grammar, made a comparative study of the Bisayan and Malayan languages, and studied Bisayan (Cebuan), and Subanum languages.