José Rizal, novelist, poet, polemicist, translator, scholar, artist, scientist, eye-surgeon, national hero, was born in Calamba, south of Manila, in the Philippines, then a Spanish colony, on 19 June 1861. During his life, he became celebrated – in Europe as well as at home – as a writer and defender of Filipino rights. Following a kangaroo court martial, he was publicly put to death by a Spanish-commanded firing squad at Bagumbayan, Manila, on 30 December 1896.
Born José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda, the mestizo son – seventh of 11 children – of well-to-do parents of a small Filipino middle class, the young boy was brought up speaking Tagalog. Well tutored by his exceptionally cultured mother, Teodora Alonso, José was a precocious child who soon outgrew the
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Citation: Ross, Ian Campbell. "José Rizal". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 September 2015 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=13466, accessed 20 April 2024.]
