Rizal Memory Lives in Hearts of People

Out of the galaxy of Filipino he­ roes there em erges one whom histo ry has garlanded as “the grea test genius ever produced by the Malay rac e ”—Dr. Jose Rizal. W riters and eulogists on both sides of the Pacific acclaim him as “the g rea tes t F ilipino of a ll tim es. ” H e was an exquisite poet and nov­ e list, a renow ned sc ien tis t and lin­ guist, a sage educator and reform er, d a crusading p a trio t and prophet. above all these am azing achieve­ m ents, he ranks as “one of the world’s noblest m arty rs . ” The life of Riza l is a saga of nge adventures , a symphony of hero ic sacrifices., Born beneath P h ilippine skies a t the lakeshore tow n of Calamba, Laguna, on the nigh t of June 19, 1861, he w as chrised in accordance w ith Spanish w ith the k ilom etric name of P ro ta cio R izal Mercado y Alonzo Realonda. He w as the sev­ e n th child of Francisco R izal Mer­ cado and Teodora Alonzo Realonda, middle-class, God-fearing, in te lligen t paren ts. R izal w as a typical F ilipino of m ixed ancestry . In h is v eins coursed th e blood of the m aritim e Malays, the en terprising Chinese, the like Japanese, the m ystic Hindus, th e ha rdy Arabs, the classic Greeks, and the ch ivalric Spaniards. A n in te llectual prodigy like Lord M acaulay, he won an enviable nam e in h is early education. U nder h is m o the r’s tutorsh ip , he m astered th e a lphabet a t the age of th ree ; and before he w as five years old he could, read the Spanish version of the Vulgate Bible. H e w as taugh t Spanish and L atin by private teach­ e rs. A t the age of eleven he w as s e n t to M anila to pursue h is studies a t th e fam ous Je su it college of “A teneo de Manila. ” -He obtained h is bachelor of a r t’s degree from th is school in 1876 w ith the highest honors. The following year he m a­ tricu lated a t the ancien t D ominican U niversity of Santo Tomas, tak ing up m edicine. A fter com pleting the four-year course he sailed to Spain and continued his studies' a t Central U niversity in Madrid. H ere he fin­ ished h is m edical course in 1885 w ith excellent ra tings; he also obtained the degree of bachelor of philosophy and le tte rs and licen tiate in the sam e scholastic field w ith the high­ e s t honors. The finishing touches to h is varied education consisted of extensive trave l throughout Europe, America and the O rient; post-gradu­ a te studies In E uropean universities, a t Berlin, Leipzig, and H eidelberg; andcollaborative researches w ith world-famed scientists, such as Dr. L. de W eckert, Dr. Meyer, Dr. Vir, Dr. Jagor, and P rofessor Blumentritt. Scientist R iza l w as a g rea t scientist, and he was recognized by foreign scientists a s a n au thority in opthalmology, b o t any, zoology, ethnology, linguistics and medicine. H is skill as an was dram atically evidenced uring h is m other’s failing eye­ sigh t a fte r it was pronounced hopel e s s by Spanish physicians in Ma­ nila. L ike m any other Filipinos, he was a bom linguist. In his childhood He spoke Tagalog and Spanish. And in GREATEST FILIPINO OF THEM ALL