Hero of Philippines
Remit2Home Blog – Proudly Pinoy – Jose Rizal
How much Do You Know About Jose Rizal?
JOSE RIZAL, the national hero of the Philippines, was born on June 19, 1861, in the town of Calamba, Laguna. He was the seventh child in a family of 11 children (2 boys and 9 girls). Because of his fearless exposures of the injustices committed by the civil and clerical officials, Rizal provoked the animosity of those in power. This led himself, his relatives and countrymen into trouble with the Spanish officials of the country during the time and the authorities were not only finding faults but even fabricating charges to pin him down and he was imprisoned in Fort Santiago. When the Philippine Revolution started on August 26, 1896, his enemies lost no time in pressing him down. They were able to enlist witnesses that linked him with the revolt. In his prison cell, he wrote an untitled poem, now known as “Ultimo Adios” which is considered a masterpiece and a living document expressing not only the hero’s great love of country but also that of all Filipinos.
Timelines of Rizal
• At the age of 3, he learned the alphabets
• At 5, while learning to read and write, he already showed inclinations to be an artist
• At 8, he wrote a Tagalog poem, “Sa Aking Mga Kabata” the theme of which revolves on the love of one’s language.
• At 16, he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree with an average of “excellent” from the Ateneo Municipal de Manila; enrolled himself in Philosophy and Letters at the University of Santo Tomas, and also took courses to a degree of surveyor and expert assessor at the Ateneo, passed the Surveyor’s examination but because of his age, 17, he was not granted license to practice the profession until December 30, 1881
• At 20, he sailed for Spain where he continued his studies at the Universidad Central de Madrid • At the age of 23, he was conferred the degree of Licentiate in Medicine
• At 24, he finished his course in Philosophy and Letters with a grade of “excellent”
• He mastered 22 languages which includes Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Sanskrit, Spanish, Tagalog, and other native dialects
• At 25, he completed his eye specialization under the renowned professor, Otto Becker in Heidelberg
• His daring book, NOLI ME TANGERE, a satirical novel exposing the arrogance and despotism of the Spanish clergy, was published in Berlin
• EL FILIBUSTERISMO, his second novel and a sequel to the NOLI and more revolutionary and tragic than the latter, was printed in Ghent.
• At 31, he formed a civic movement called La Liga Filipina. The league advocated these moderate social reforms through legal means, but was disbanded by the governor. At that time, he had already been declared an enemy of the state by the Spanish authorities because of the publication of his novel.
• At 35, in the cold morning of December 30, 1896, Rizal, a man whose 35 years of life had been packed with varied activities which proved that the Filipino has capacity to equal if not excel even those who treat him as a slave, was executed at Bagumbayan Field. He was executed by firing squad and his last words were those of Jesus Christ: “consummatum est” — it is finished.
Remit2Home Blog – Philippines Hero – Jose Rizal
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