100 Fun Facts About José Rizal

In which Laguna town was José Rizal born in 1861?

His parents leased a hacienda and rice farm there from the Dominican Order.

What was Rizal's profession, the one he used on his own mother's eyes?

He trained in Heidelberg under Otto Becker and used the newly invented ophthalmoscope.

Which island was Rizal banished to in 1892, to the town of Dapitan?

He spent four years there, building a school, a hospital and a water system.

Which Irish woman became Rizal's common-law wife during his exile?

She came to Dapitan so Rizal could examine her blind adoptive father's eyes.

For what crime was Rizal executed in December 1896?

A court-martial convicted him of rebellion, sedition and conspiracy.

Where was Rizal headed when he was arrested at a stopover in Barcelona in 1896?

He had volunteered to serve as a doctor treating yellow fever victims there.

Which two novels by Rizal are together taken as a national epic?

They were published in 1887 and 1891 respectively.

Which surname did the Mercado family adopt after an 1849 decree on Spanish surnames?

The family kept using Mercado as well, which is why his full name is so long.

Rizal's paternal line traced back to Lam-co, a merchant from which Chinese province?

Lam-co immigrated to the Philippines in 1697 and settled in Calamba.

Rizal was which child of Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonso?

Teodora taught him the alphabet at three; by five he could read and write.

What was the name of the pony Rizal's father gave him as a birthday gift?

Usman was his black dog; Talim was the steamboat he took home from Biñan.

In which town did the young Rizal first study under Justiniano Aquino Cruz?

He thought the town 'large and rich, but ugly and dismal' and missed Calamba badly.

Which school gave the young Rizal the class title of 'emperor'?

He graduated there on March 23, 1877 with a Bachelor in Arts and a pile of medals.

Why did Rizal switch from Philosophy and Letters to medicine at Santo Tomas?

He stayed on at Santo Tomas for four more years before leaving for Spain.

Rizal's 1879 prize-winning poem 'A La Juventud Filipina' was addressed to whom?

It won a contest held by the Artistic-Literary Lyceum of Manila.

Rizal's 1880 prize play El Consejo de Dioses is set where?

Greek gods argue in it over who is the best moral writer.

Who secretly supported Rizal's 1882 departure for Spain, which his parents knew nothing about?

Paciano woke him at dawn and also supplied most of his allowance in Europe.

Which French ship carried Rizal from Singapore to Europe in 1882?

The Salvadora was the steamship that took him only as far as Singapore.

In which German city did Rizal finish his eye specialisation under Otto Becker?

He split his days there between German lessons and diseases of the eye.

How many languages is Rizal said to have been conversant in?

His biographers complain that he switched languages mid-letter.

Which Masonic body did Rizal join in Spain, becoming a Master Mason in 1884?

Freemasonry later fed the long dispute over whether he retracted before his execution.

Who was the 14-year-old Batangueña Rizal later called his first love?

He sketched her portrait at his grandmother's house, but she was already engaged.

Which distant cousin, thought to inspire María Clara, corresponded with Rizal for eight years?

Her mother disapproved, so the two wrote to each other in code.

Henry Kipping, the Englishman who married Rizal's long-time sweetheart, had what job?

News of the marriage devastated Rizal, who had kept writing for a year without reply.

Where in Hong Kong did Rizal run his ophthalmology clinic in 1891-92?

He lived at Rednaxela Terrace and saw patients from 2 pm to 6 pm.

Why did the blind George Taufer travel to Dapitan with his adopted daughter in 1895?

Taufer was blind; after repeated visits Rizal and Josephine fell in love.

Rizal's only child, a son who lived a few hours, was named after whom?

The couple lived as husband and wife in Talisay, Dapitan.

Rizal annotated a 1609 history of the Philippines by which Spanish author?

He researched the Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas at the British Museum in London.

After his Berlin essay 'Dimanche des Rameaux', Rizal was suspected of spying for whom?

The essay read Palm Sunday as a political blow against despotism.

In which city was El filibusterismo published in 1891?

Rizal paid for it with money borrowed from friends.

Which Austrian-born professor was Rizal's closest friend and translated Noli into German?

A devout Catholic, he still wrote the preface to El filibusterismo.

'Dimasalang' and 'Laong Laan' were pen names Rizal used in which newspaper?

The reformist paper was published in Barcelona.

Who beat Rizal in 1890 for leadership of the reform movement's newspaper in Europe?

Most of the Filipino expatriates in Europe backed del Pilar.

Spanish writer Wenceslao Retana, whom Rizal challenged to a duel, later did what?

He apologised publicly and wrote Vida y Escritos del José Rizal.

In whose house in Tondo was La Liga Filipina founded on July 3, 1892?

Rizal was arrested three days later and shipped to Dapitan.

Rizal's boys' school in Dapitan unusually taught which foreign language?

One graduate became a datu and another Governor of Zamboanga.

'Haec Est Sibylla Cumana', written in Dapitan, was what kind of work?

Players spun a wooden top to pick questions and answers.

Where was Rizal imprisoned in Manila while awaiting his court-martial?

From his cell he issued a manifesto disavowing the revolution in its current form.

Which governor-general replaced the sympathetic Ramón Blanco shortly before Rizal's trial?

The friars pressured the Queen-Regent to install him, sealing Rizal's fate.

What were Rizal's reported last words before the firing squad?

The army surgeon who took his pulse beforehand found it normal.

Where did Rizal hide the poem later titled Mi último adiós?

Something else was hidden in his shoes, but it had disintegrated by the 1898 exhumation.

How many stanzas does Mi último adiós have?

Each stanza has five lines; the poem was unsigned, untitled and undated.

Which US congressman recited Rizal's poem to Congress while pushing the Philippine Bill of 1902?

The bill became the Philippine Organic Act, laying the basis for self-government.

Soldiers of which country recited Rizal's farewell poem before battle in their independence war?

Rosihan Anwar made the Indonesian translation.

What initials did Narcisa have inscribed on the marble slab marking Rizal's secret grave?

They were his initials in reverse, placed at Paco Cemetery.

The Rizal Monument at Luneta was designed by a sculptor of what nationality?

Richard Kissling's 'Motto Stella' had actually placed second in the design contest.

Who decreed December 30, 1898 a national day of mourning for Rizal?

The decree was signed in Malolos, Bulacan, on December 20, 1898.

Which Philippine law requires schools to teach Rizal's life and novels?

Passed in 1956 over fierce Catholic Church opposition, it is known simply as the Rizal Law.

Which senator sponsored the Rizal bill and was branded a communist by Church leaders?

Rodrigo was one of only three senators who opposed it.

Of Rizal's 56 known sculptures, how many were known to survive as of 2021?

His favourite medium was baticuling wood; his best-known piece is The Triumph of Science over Death.

José Rizal was born on June 19, 1861, in which town in Laguna?

The town's seal shows a water jar with Rizal's profile, and its hot springs make it the 'Spring Resort Capital of the Philippines'.

Rizal was which child of Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonso Realonda?

He was baptized on June 22 by Father Rufino Collantes; his older brother Paciano became his early intellectual guide and financier.

What was Rizal’s medical profession, the trade he practised in Dapitan and abroad?

He switched to medicine at Santo Tomas after learning his mother was going blind, and later operated on her eye.

The Mercado family adopted 'Rizal' as a surname after an 1849 decree by which governor-general?

Clavería's decree made Filipinos pick Spanish surnames from an official catalogue; Rizal later joked it made him look illegitimate.

Rizal owned a black dog named Usman and a pony named what?

The pony was a gift from his father for his seventh birthday.

Rizal's first formal schooling was under Justiniano Aquino Cruz in which town?

He disliked the town, calling it 'large and rich, but ugly and dismal', and left by steamboat in 1870 to study in Manila.

Rizal graduated from the Ateneo Municipal de Manila in 1877 with which certificate?

He was considered the most brilliant student in the school and also took a vocational course in land surveying there.

Why did Rizal switch to medicine in his second year at the University of Santo Tomas?

He had enrolled in Philosophy and Letters in April 1877 and stayed at Santo Tomas four more years after the switch.

In 1882 Rizal sailed for Spain without his parents' knowledge, secretly backed by whom?

Paciano woke him before dawn on May 1 for the journey via Biñan and Manila, and later sent the allowance he lived on in Madrid.

At the Universidad Central de Madrid, Rizal enrolled in medicine and which second course?

He also took private lessons in French, German and English while practising painting, sculpting, fencing and shooting.

Rizal completed his eye specialization in 1887 in which German university city?

He studied under Otto Becker and used Helmholtz's new ophthalmoscope, later operating on his mother's eye.

The 1884 Madrid party Rizal toasted celebrated Juan Luna and which other Filipino painter?

Luna's Spoliarium took a gold medal and Hidalgo a silver at the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes.

Noli Me Tángere, the Latin title of Rizal's first novel, translates as what?

The words come from John 20:17, spoken by Jesus to Mary Magdalene after the resurrection.

In which city was Noli Me Tángere printed in 1887?

Rizal had it printed at the Berliner Buchdruckerei-Aktiengesellschaft after a friend lent him the money.

Who loaned Rizal 300 pesos to print 2,000 copies of Noli Me Tángere?

Viola arrived in Berlin in December 1886; by March 21, 1887 Rizal was mailing a copy to Ferdinand Blumentritt.

Which early English translation of Noli Me Tángere was published in 1912?

An Eagle Flight came out in 1900; modern English editions have returned to the original Latin title.

Crisóstomo Ibarra returns to San Diego after how many years of study in Europe?

He comes home to find his father dead and the parish priest Padre Dámaso set against him.

Which boatman in Noli Me Tángere declares himself indebted to Ibarra after a crocodile incident?

Elías later warns Ibarra of a plot to kill him at the cornerstone-laying ceremony during the fiesta.

Which woman is thought to have inspired the character María Clara?

Rivera, a distant cousin from Camiling, Tarlac, had an eight-year relationship with Rizal, largely by letter.

El filibusterismo was first published in 1891 in which Belgian city?

It is the sequel to Noli Me Tángere and is also known in English as The Reign of Greed.

In El filibusterismo, Ibarra returns after thirteen years disguised as a wealthy jeweler named what?

His aim is to push the government into ever greater abuses so the people will rise in revolution.

In El filibusterismo, what is hidden inside the pomegranate-shaped lamp meant as a wedding gift?

Raising the wick would trigger fulminated mercury and blow up the mirror-walled hall; Isagani hurls the lamp into the river.

Rizal annotated and republished which 1609 history by Antonio de Morga?

He worked on it in London and finished in Paris in 1890, criticising its Eurocentric bias while valuing its first-hand account.

Rizal wrote for La Solidaridad under the pen names Laong Laan, May Pagasa and what else?

Plaridel was Marcelo H. del Pilar, Taga-Ilog was Antonio Luna and Jomapa was José María Panganiban.

La Solidaridad was first published on February 15, 1889, in which city?

Graciano López Jaena edited it first, and Marcelo H. del Pilar took over a year after arriving in the city.

Rizal's closest European friend, Ferdinand Blumentritt, was a schoolmaster in which town?

Born in Prague, Blumentritt wrote extensively about the Philippines yet never visited the islands.

Which clay sculpture did Rizal send to Blumentritt, a woman with a torch standing on a skull?

He sent it with a companion piece, The Triumph of Death over Life; the original is now at the Rizal Shrine in Fort Santiago.

Rizal was reportedly conversant in how many languages?

His habit of switching languages mid-text has made his writings a headache for biographers and translators.

In which British colony did Rizal run an eye clinic from 2 pm to 6 pm in 1891 and 1892?

He lived with his family at Rednaxela Terrace and saw patients at 5 D'Aguilar Street in the Central district.

Rizal founded La Liga Filipina on July 3, 1892, at a house on Ilaya Street in which Manila district?

The house belonged to Doroteo Ongjunco; three days later Rizal was arrested and sent to Dapitan.

Rizal was exiled to Dapitan, a town in which part of the Philippines?

He spent four years there, building a school, a hospital and a water supply system while farming and treating patients.

The seaside barangay where Rizal farmed and taught during his exile was called what?

The site is now the Rizal Shrine in Dapitan, a protected landscape of 439 hectares first set aside in 1940.

Josephine Bracken, Rizal’s common-law wife, was born to parents of what origin?

She came to Dapitan in 1895 with her blind adoptive father, who was seeking treatment from Rizal.

A flying lizard Rizal collected in Dapitan was named Draco rizali by which German zoologist?

It turned out George Albert Boulenger had already described the species in 1885 as Draco guentheri, so the older name stands.

Where was Rizal bound in August 1896 when he left Dapitan with Governor-General Blanco's permission?

He had volunteered as a doctor to treat yellow fever victims, but was arrested en route and jailed in Barcelona on October 6.

The 1892 Katipunan, which made Rizal honorary president, was founded by Bonifacio and whom?

Arellano, Valentin Diaz, Ladislao Diwa, José Dizon and Teodoro Plata were co-founders; Rizal publicly condemned the uprising.

Before his execution Rizal was imprisoned in which Manila fortress, built in 1571?

Bronze footsteps embedded in the ground at Intramuros trace his final walk from his cell toward the execution ground.

Rizal's last poem was smuggled out of prison hidden inside what?

He told his sisters in English 'there is something inside it'; the 14-stanza poem was unsigned, untitled and undated.

How many five-line stanzas does Mi último adiós contain?

Rizal gave it no title; Mariano Ponce printed it in Hong Kong in 1897 as 'Mi último pensamiento', a name that did not stick.

Which US congressman recited Rizal's farewell poem in 1902 while pushing the Philippine Organic Act?

His peroration asked 'Under what clime or what skies has tyranny claimed a nobler victim?' and the bill passed.

On what date was Rizal executed at Bagumbayan?

A squad of Filipino soldiers in the Spanish Army fired, with regular Spanish troops standing ready behind them.

Immediately after the execution, Rizal was secretly buried where?

The grave was left unmarked and deliberately mislabelled to discourage martyrdom; his sister Narcisa found it by spotting the guards.

Who signed the December 1898 decree that first declared December 30 a national day of mourning?

The decree was issued in Malolos; the first Rizal Day was held in Manila under the Club Filipino.

Which American governor-general suggested in 1901 that Rizal be named a national hero?

Critics such as Renato Constantino argue Rizal was chosen over Bonifacio, seen as too radical, and Mabini, seen as unregenerate.

Has any Philippine law or proclamation ever officially declared Rizal the national hero?

Historian Ambeth Ocampo and the NHCP note that no Filipino has been formally proclaimed national hero, though many laws honour them.

The Rizal Monument at Luneta was designed by which Swiss sculptor?

His entry 'Motto Stella' had placed second; it was unveiled on December 30, 1913, and Rizal's remains are interred in its base.

What do the three stars on the Rizal Monument's obelisk represent?

The obelisk itself is usually read as a nod to Rizal's masonic background.

Rizal Park in Manila, formerly Bagumbayan, covers roughly how many hectares?

US recognition of Philippine independence was formalized there on July 4, 1946.

The 1956 Rizal Law, requiring courses on Rizal in all schools, was opposed by which institution?

Church leaders called its proponent, Senator Recto, a communist; the final bill let Catholic students opt out on conscience grounds.

Rizal's brother Paciano, who joined the revolution after José's death, had lived with which priest?

Burgos was executed with Gómez and Zamora in 1872; Paciano later became a general under Aguinaldo.