FAMILY

Unlike other Filipino families under the Spaniard's regime, the family of Rizal does not experience torture. I think one of the possible reasons was because they were mestizos, which means half Filipino and half Chinese. Thus, it became an advantage to them and gave them the privilege to receive the treasure that no one can get an education.

Rizal was the 7th child among the 11 children of Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonso. He was born on June 19, 1861. Unlike the typical christening nowadays which took a lot of time before the baby was to be baptized, he was baptized on the 3rd day after he was born, June 22. The priest that baptized him was Fr. Ruffino Collantes and his godfather was Fr. Pedro Casanas. His siblings from oldest to youngest were Saturnina, Paciano, Narcisa, Olimpia, Lucia, Maria, Concepcion, Josefa, Trinidad and Soledad.

Rizal’s family was very family-oriented especially when it comes to their religion. In fact, they prayed the Angelus daily together at their altar. Also, because of the influence of his mother, Rizal also joined the church’s activities such as novena, and procession and has read the Spanish bible at the age of 5. These activities of Rizal were very uncommon for ordinary children nowadays who are known to be inattentive in Sunday's mass and their attention was only on toys and gadgets. Therefore, I adore how her mother disciplined them. Like other children, Rizal’s first teacher was her mother, where the famous story also began as “The Story of the Moth.”