The Mercado - Rizal Family

The Rizals is considered one of the biggest families during their time. Domingo Lam-co, the family's
paternal ascendant was a full-blooded Chinese who came to the Philippines from Amoy, China in the
closing years of the 17th century and married a Chinese half-breed by the name of Ines de la Rosa.
Researchers revealed that the Mercado-Rizal family had also traces of Japanese, Spanish, Malay and
Even Negrito blood aside from Chinese.
Jose Rizal came from a 13-member family consisting of his parents, Francisco Mercado II and Teodora
Alonso Realonda, and nine sisters and one brother.

FRANCISCO MERCADO (1818-1898)

Father of Jose Rizal who was the youngest of 13 offsprings of Juan and Cirila Mercado. Born in Bian,
Laguna on April 18, 1818; studied in San Jose College, Manila; and died in Manila.
TEODORA ALONSO (1827-1913)
Mother of Jose Rizal who was the second child of Lorenzo Alonso and Brijida de Quintos. She studied
at the Colegio de Santa Rosa. She was a business-minded woman, courteous, religious, hard-working
and well-read. She was born in Santa Cruz, Manila on November 14, 1827 and died in 1913 in Manila.
SATURNINA RIZAL (1850-1913)
Eldest child of the Rizal-Alonzo marriage. Married Manuel Timoteo Hidalgo of Tanauan, Batangas.
PACIANO RIZAL (1851-1930)
Only brother of Jose Rizal and the second child. Studied at San Jose College in Manila; became a
farmer and later a general of the Philippine Revolution.
NARCISA RIZAL (1852-1939)
The third child. married Antonio Lopez at Morong, Rizal; a teacher and musician.
OLYMPIA RIZAL (1855-1887)
The fourth child. Married Silvestre Ubaldo; died in 1887 from childbirth.
LUCIA RIZAL (1857-1919)
The fifth child. Married Matriano Herbosa.
MARIA RIZAL (1859-1945)
The sixth child. Married Daniel Faustino Cruz of Bian, Laguna.
JOSE RIZAL (1861-1896)
The second son and the seventh child. He was executed by the Spaniards on December 30,1896.
CONCEPCION RIZAL (1862-1865)
The eight child. Died at the age of three.
JOSEFA RIZAL (1865-1945)
The ninth child. An epileptic, died a spinster.
TRINIDAD RIZAL (1868-1951)
The tenth child. Died a spinster and the last of the family to die.
SOLEDAD RIZAL (1870-1929)
The youngest child married Pantaleon Quintero.

Jose Rizal: A Biographical Sketch

BY TEOFILO H. MONTEMAYOR

JOSE RIZAL, the national hero of the Philippines and pride of the Malayan race, 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). Both his parents were educated and belonged to distinguished families.
His father, Francisco Mercado Rizal, an industrious farmer whom Rizal called "a model of fathers,"
came from Bian, Laguna; while his mother, Teodora Alonzo y Quintos, a highly cultured and
accomplished woman whom Rizal called "loving and prudent mother," was born in Meisic, Sta.
Cruz, Manila. At the age of 3, he learned the alphabet from his mother; at 5, while learning to
read and write, he already showed inclinations to be an artist. He astounded his family and
relatives by his pencil drawings and sketches and by his moldings of clay. At the age 8, he wrote
a Tagalog poem, "Sa Aking Mga Kabata," the theme of which revolves on the love of ones
language. In 1877, at the age of 16, he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree with an average of
"excellent" from the Ateneo Municipal de Manila. In the same year, he enrolled in Philosophy and
Letters at the University of Santo Tomas, while at the same time took courses leading to the
degree of surveyor and expert assessor at the Ateneo. He finished the latter course on March 21,
1877 and passed the Surveyors examination on May 21, 1878; but because of his age, 17, he
was not granted license to practice the profession until December 30, 1881. In 1878, he enrolled
in medicine at the University of Santo Tomas but had to stop in his studies when he felt that the
Filipino students were being discriminated upon by their Dominican tutors. On May 3, 1882, he
sailed for Spain where he continued his studies at the Universidad Central de Madrid. On June 21,
1884, at the age of 23, he was conferred the degree of Licentiate in Medicine and on June
19,1885, at the age of 24, he finished his course in Philosophy and Letters with a grade of
"excellent."
Having traveled extensively in Europe, America and Asia, he mastered 22 languages. These
include Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese,
Latin, Malayan, Portuguese, Russian, Sanskrit, Spanish, Tagalog, and other native dialects. A
versatile genius, he was an architect, artists, businessman, cartoonist, educator, economist,
ethnologist, scientific farmer, historian, inventor, journalist, linguist, musician, mythologist,
nationalist, naturalist, novelist, opthalmic surgeon, poet, propagandist, psychologist, scientist,
sculptor, sociologist, and theologian.
He was an expert swordsman and a good shot. In the hope of securing political and social
reforms for his country and at the same time educate his countrymen, Rizal, the greatest apostle
of Filipino nationalism, published, while in Europe, several works with highly nationalistic and
revolutionary tendencies. In March 1887, his daring book, NOLI ME TANGERE, a satirical novel
exposing the arrogance and despotism of the Spanish clergy, was published in Berlin; in 1890 he
reprinted in Paris, Morgas SUCCESSOS DE LAS ISLAS FILIPINAS with his annotations to prove that
the Filipinos had a civilization worthy to be proud of even long before the Spaniards set foot on
Philippine soil; on September 18, 1891, EL FILIBUSTERISMO, his second novel and a sequel to the
NOLI and more revolutionary and tragic than the latter, was printed in Ghent. 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. As a consequence, he and those who had contacts with him,
were shadowed; the authorities were not only finding faults but even fabricating charges to pin
him down. Thus, he was imprisoned in Fort Santiago from July 6, 1892 to July 15, 1892 on a
charge that anti-friar pamphlets were found in the luggage of his sister Lucia who arrive with him
from Hong Kong. While a political exile in Dapitan, he engaged in agriculture, fishing and
business; he maintained and operated a hospital; he conducted classes- taught his pupils the
English and Spanish languages, the arts.

The sciences, vocational courses including agriculture, surveying, sculpturing, and painting, as
well as the art of self defense; he did some researches and collected specimens; he entered into
correspondence with renowned men of letters and sciences abroad; and with the help of his
pupils, he constructed water dam and a relief map of Mindanao - both considered remarkable
engineering feats. His sincerity and friendliness won for him the trust and confidence of even
those assigned to guard him; his good manners and warm personality were found irresistible by
women of all races with whom he had personal contacts; his intelligence and humility gained for
him the respect and admiration of prominent men of other nations; while his undaunted courage
and determination to uplift the welfare of his people were feared by his enemies.
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 and these were
never allowed to be confronted by him. Thus, from November 3, 1986, to the date of his
execution, he was again committed to Fort Santiago. 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 heros great love of country but also that of all Filipinos. After a mock
trial, he was convicted of rebellion, sedition and of forming illegal association. 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 shot at Bagumbayan Field.
SSC104
The immediate goal of sociology is to acquire knowledge about society like all the sciences.....,
as Samuel Koenig has pointed out the ultimate aim of sociology is " to improve man's adjustment
to life by developing objective knowledge concerning social phenomena which can be used to
deal effectively with social problems".
'Sociology' which had once been treated as social philosophy, or the philosophy of the history,
emerged as an independent social science in 19th century. Auguste Comte, a Frenchman, is
traditionally considered to be the father of sociology. Comte is accredited with the coining of the
term sociology (in 1839). "Sociology" is composed of two words : socius, meaning companion or
associate; and 'logos', meaning science or study. The etymological meaning of "sociology" is thus
the science of society. John Stuart Mill, another social thinker and philosopher of the 19th
century, proposed the word ethology for this new science. Herbert Spencer developed his
systematic study of society and adopted the word "sociology" in his works. With the contributions
of Spencer and others it (sociology) became the permanent name of the new science.

The question 'what is sociology' is indeed , a question pertaining to the definition of sociology. No
student can rightfully be expected to enter on a field of study which is totally undefined or
unbounded. At the same time, it is not an easy task to set some fixed limits to a field of study. It
is true in the case of sociology. Hence it is difficult to give a brief and a comprehensive definition
of sociology.

Sociology has been defined in a number of ways by different sociologists. No single definition has
yet been accepted as completely satisfactory. In fact, there are lot of definitions of sociology as
there are sociologists. For our purpose of study a few definitions may be cited here.

Auguste Comete, the founding father of

sociology, defines sociology as the science of
social phenomena "subject to natural and

invariable laws, the discovery of which is the

object of investigation".

Kingsley Davis says that "Sociology is a

general science of society".
Harry M. Johnson opines that "sociology is
the science that deals with social groups".
Emile
Durkheim:
institutions".

"Science

of

social

Park regards sociology as "the science of

collective behavior".
Small defines sociology as "the science of
social relationships".
Marshal Jones defines sociology as "the study
of man-in-relationship-to-men".
Ogburn and Nimkoff : "Sociology is the
scientific study of social life".
Franklin Henry Giddings defines sociology as
"the science of social phenomena".
Henry Fairchild: "Sociology is the study of
man and his human environment in their
relations to each other".

Max Weber defines sociology as " the science

which
attempts
the
interpretative
understanding of social action in order
thereby to arrive at a casual explanation of
its course and effects".
Alex Inkeles says, "Sociology is the study of
systems of social action and of their interrelations".
Kimball Young and Raymond W. Mack say,
"Sociology is the scientific study of social
aspects of human life".
Morris Ginsberg: of the various definitions of
sociology the one given by Morris Ginsberg
seems to be more satisfactory and
comprehensive. He defines sociology in the
following way: "In the broadest sense,
sociology is the study of human interactions
and inter-relations, their conditions and
consequences

".
A careful examination of various definitions cited above, makes it evident that sociologists differ
in their opinion about definition of sociology. Their divergent views about the definition of
sociology only reveal their distinct approaches to its study. However, the common idea
underlying all the definitions mentioned above is that sociology is concerned with man, his social
relations and his society.
The science of society, social institutions, and social relationships; specifically : the systematic
study of the development, structure, interaction, and collective behavior of organized groups of
human beings
SOCIOLOGY IN THE PHILIPPINES
Fr. Valentin Marin introduced sociology in the Philippines in 1896 as a course on
criminology at the University of Santo Tomas.
In 1919, Sociology were introduced at Siliman University and the Theological Seminary.
Serafin Macaraig first Filipino to receive a doctorate degree in sociology in 1939.
Introduction to Sociology became the first text in the University of the Philippines written
by Serafin Macaraig.
SOCIOLOGISTS after Macaraig were:
Juan Ruiz offered courses in social work in the University of the Philippines.
Prof. Marcelo Tangco succeeded Dr. Macaraig.
Flora Diaz Catapusan invited to teach sociology at the Centro Escolar University in 1946
Dr. Benicio Catapusan invited to serve as a professional lecturer in sociology at the
University of the Philippines in 1948
Philippine Sociological Society was organized by a group of Filipino educators and
visiting professors in the different regions.
Its objectives are:
To increase knowledge about social behavior
To gather data on social problems for their possible solutions
To train teachers and researches in the field of sociology
To develop cooperation and unity among social scientists in the Philippines.
1960 the Research Foundation of Philippine Anthropology and Archeology was
established
Philippine Social Science Council in 1968 it was formed to consolidate the Philippine
social science resources whose objectives are:
To promote the quality and relevance of social science researches
To improve teaching skills in social science
To finance researches along the social sciences
To encourage social science publications
Factors and Stages in the development of
sociology in the Philippines in the words of
Catapusan and Catapusan:
Considerable efforts have been made to define and to determine the fields of sociology
There are considerable specializations in subject matter and in approach
Sociological principles are being employed in the analysis of an increasing number of social
situations
The study of various problems led to discovering, refining, and perfecting new methods of
sociological investigations.
1960s and 1970s researches were undertaken along different aspects of social and
cultural life