Jose Rizal Biography

Jose Rizal, The National Hero Of The Philippines

Jose Rizal is a man with tremendous intellectual strength, with exceptional artistic talent as well. He excelled for the broad field of thought such as medicine, poetry, sketches, architecture, sociology and others. Thus, the death of Rizal by colonial rulers Spain when she was very young is a big loss for the Philippines and the world at large. Nowadays, the people of the Philippines honored him as their national hero.

On June 19, 1861 Francisco Rizal Mercado and Teodora Alonzo y Quintos welcomed the birth of their seventh child in Calamba, Laguna. They named the boy: Jose Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda. Family is wealthy farmer Mercado rented land from the Dominican religious order. As a descendant of Chinese immigrants named Domingo Lam-co, they changed their name to Mercado under pressure from anti-China by colonialists Spain.

From an early age, Jose Rizal Mercado showed intelligence adulthood prematurely. He learned to recognize the letters from his mother at the age of 3 years, and could read and write at the age of 5 years. Jose Rizal Mercado studied at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, then graduated at the age of 16 years with the highest value. She took a graduate program there to survey land expertise. Rizal Mercado finish training his surveyor in 1877, and graduated licensing exam in May 1878, but cannot receive a license to practice because he was only 17 years old. (He was given a license in the year 1881, when he reached the age of majority.) In 1878, young men were also enrolled in the University of Santo Tomas as a medical student. He then quit school and accused the existence of discrimination against students of the Philippines by the Dominican Professor.

In may 1882, Jose Rizal's boat to Spain without telling her parents. He enrolled in the Universidad Central de Madrid in June 1884, he received the title of doctor at the age of 23 years and in the following year, he was also a graduate of the Faculty of literature and philosophy.

Inspired by the desire to heal the blindness of her mother, Rizal next went to the University of Paris and then the University of Heidelberg to complete further studies in the field of ophthalmology. In Heidelberg, he studied in Professor Otto Becker. Rizal completed his doctorate in Heidelberg in 1887.

Jose Rizal lived in Europe for 10 years. During that, she studied a number of languages and then he can communicate with more than 10 different languages. In Europe, everybody was impressed against the charismatic Filipino youth, have the intelligence, and has an incredible range of mastery of the various fields of study. Rizal is known to have talent in martial arts, kerajiann, sculptures, paintings, pedagogical, anthropological, and journalism. During his stay in Europe, he also began writing novels. Rizal completed his first book, Noli Me Tangere, when lived in Wilhemsfeld with Reverend Karl Ullmer.

Rizal wrote Noli Me Tangere in both Spain and published in 1887 in Berlin. This novel contains criticism of the Catholic Church and Spain's colonial Government in the Philippines. This book caused Jose Rizal went into the list cause not serve Inari by the colonial Government of Spain. Therefore, he received a summons from the Governor General and had to defend himself from accusations of spreading subversive ideas. Although the Governor of Spain receives an explanation of Rizal, the Catholic Church is less willing to forgive. In 1891, Rizal published his next series of books, entitled El Filibusterismo.

In both the novel as well as the editorial of the newspaper, Jose Rizal called for numerous reforms of the system of colonial Spain in the Philippines. He advocated freedom of speech and of Assembly, equal rights before the law for the Philippines, and the appointment of priests in the Philippines. In addition, Rizal asked the Philippines to become a province of Spain, with legislative representation in Spain (Cortes generales). Rizal never called for independence for the Philippines. Even so, the colonial authorities considered him dangerous, radical and declared him as an enemy of the State.

In 1892, Rizal returned to the Philippines. He was immediately accused of being involved in the rebellion brewing, and exiled to Dapitan, Mindanao Island. Rizal lived there for 4 years, teaching in schools and encourage agricultural reform. During the same period, growing the spirit of nationalism among the people of the Philippines and later rebelled against the colonial presence of Spain. Partly inspired by Rizal, La Liga, rebel leaders such as Andres Bonifacio started to press the military action against the regime in Spain.

While undergoing punishment in Dapitan, Rizal met and fell in love with Josephine Bracken, who brought his stepfather to him for cataract surgery. The couple applied for a marriage license, but was rejected by the Church (which has been excommunicated Rizal).

The Philippine Revolution broke out in 1896. Rizal condemned the violence, and received permission to travel to Cuba. Bonifacio and two of his colleagues slipped into a ship to Cuba before leaving the Philippines, trying to convince Susan to escape with them, but Rizal was refused. Rizal captured by Spain in that trip and taken to Barcelona, and then extradited to Manila for trial. Jose Rizal was tried by a military court, charged with conspiracy, incitement and insurrection. Despite the lack of evidence of his involvement in the revolution, Rizal remained was sentenced to death. He was allowed to marry Josephine 2 hours before the execution by firing squad on December 30, 1896. Jose Rizal while it was only 35 years old.

Jose Rizal is remembered today in the entire Philippines for intelligence, courage, peaceful resistance to tyranny, and the suggestion of affection. Students in the Philippines studying his work in poetry called Mi Ultimo Adios as well as two other famous novels. Driven by the heroism of Rizal, Philippine Revolution continued until 1898. With help from the United States, the Philippines was able to defeat the army of Spain. The Philippines declared independence from Spain on June 12, 1898. By that time the Philippines became the first Democratic Republic in Asia.