There is no other Filipino like Jose Protacio Rizal. He was the greatest Filipino of the 19th century and possibly of the past and future generations as well. He was a shining example of the height and glory to which a Filipino could possibly rise.
Rizal was born in Calamba, Laguna on 19 June 1861. He came from a very well-known and respected family of traders and farm owners.
He obtained his first education from his mother, Doña Teodora Realonda Alonso. He was a fast learner having learned to read at the age of three. He was also sent to study the basics in Biñan under a strict teacher. He secured his formal education at the Ateneo de Manila where he continuously displayed his intelligence, leadership, and above all, literary talent. It was in this school where he mastered Spanish, composed most of his poems, wrote his autobiography and his plays, and sculpted in wood.
Interested in taking up medicine, Rizal studied at the University of Sto. Tomas. Although he won major prizes for his plays, Junta al Pasig El Consejo de los Dioses in this Dominican institution, Rizal was not satisfied with the way the priests treated him and other Filipino students. He decided to finish his course in Spain, instead.
In Madrid, Rizal studied literature in addition to being an eye doctor. He also took up courses in languages and other cultural subjects. It was from the Facultad de San Carlos de Madrid where Rizal got his license to practice medicine and surgery.
While in Spain, Rizal came in contact with a group of young and energetic Filipinos including Marcelo H. del Pilar, Graciano Lopez-Jaena, Antonio Luna, Juan Luna, and Mariano Ponce. Together, they worked for reforms and established a nationalistic movement abroad. Rizal became their leader.
Rizal was no man of the sword, although he know how to fence and could fire a pistol accurately. Instead, he used the instruments of reason and peace, the pen and oratory. To carry out his objective, Rizal traveled to other countries to write and publish his books and also to get support from the leading thinkers and scientists of Europe.
On 19 February 1887 Rizal completed Noli Me Tangere, his first novel exposing the ignorance, cruelty, and greed of most Spaniards in the Philippines as well as the weaknesses of his own people. Unfortunately, he lacked money at this time to publish his own book, and had to borrow from Dr. Maximo Viola the money he needed to publish some 2,000 copies of his novel in Germany. The amount was not enough, Rizal took coffee and biscuits for weeks and omitted the entire chapter of “Elias and Salome”, to be able to publish his book.
Rizal sold many copies of the book, and also sent some to both friends and enemies. “This is the first impartial and daring book”, he wrote to Dr. Ferdinand Blumentritt of Bohemia, “on the life of the Tagalogs. Filipinos will find in it their history during the past decades. I hope you will notice how different my descriptions are from those other writers of our time.”
In a short time, Rizal became famous. However, the publication of Noli Me Tangere angered the Spanish authorities. The University pf Sto. Tomas, upon the prodding of Father Salvador Font, banned Rizal's novel. One of Rizal's close friends, Dr. Felipe Zamora advised him to assume another citizenship. Paciano, his older brother was outraged and wrote to him in anger: “You decided of your departure, now let me decide of your return”.
Inspite of the warnings of his brother and close friends, Rizal left Europe and returned to the Philippines. After staying in the country for a year, Rizal packed his personal belongings, and again left for Europe by way of North America.
Rizal proved to be success in Europe. In 1889, he followed his early literary success by publishing in Ghent Belgium, El Filibusterismo, a sequel of Noli Me Tangere. He dedicated it to the martyrs of Bagumbayan, Fathers Burgos, Gomez, and Zamora.
The hero also got as far as England to gather important historical materials. It was there where he discovered the invaluable work of Don Antonio de Morga, an early Spanish historian. Rizal rushed to printer’s shop in Paris, and ordered the printing of the historical records there. In 1890, Morga's Sucesos de Las Islas Filipinas came out. In 1892, Rizal decided to return to the Philippines for the second time despite the fact that he had many influential and powerful enemies there. Rizal was accompanied by his sister, Saturnina when he left for Hongkong to ask permission from Governor Eulogio Despujol for the peaceful resettlement of his family and relatives. What Rizal got instead was banishment to Dapitan in Mindanao where he lived for four years. He made good use of his stay in the far-flung island by teaching young boys, improving the lot of the people through numerous projects and continuing his medical practice. He also met and married Josephine Brachen in Dapitan.
Governor-General Blanco agreed on 01 July 1896, to let him leave the country on a medical mission to Cuba. He was, however, arrested in Spain before he even got to Cuba, and was shortly transferred to another ship bound for Manila where charges of sedition and treason were already prepared by his enemies.
In a mock trial, Rizal was soon found guilty of high crime, treason, and rebellion. Governor-General Camilo Polavieja, who succeeded Governor-General Blanco, at once decreed the execution of Rizal on 30 December 1896.The night before his death, the hero wrote Mi Ultimo Adios in his cell at Fort Santiago. The poem remains to be one of the greatest poems of our time.
In Bagumbayan, Dr. Jose P. Rizal shed his blood, his supreme sacrifice in testimony of the profoundness and depth of his love for his suffering country and people.