CHAPTER 3: Early Education in Calamba and Binan

Rizal had his early education in Calamba and Binan. It was a typical schooling that a son
of an ilustrado family received during his time, characterized by the four R’s – Reading, Writing,
Arithmetic, and Religion.

The Hero’s First Teacher

 His first teacher was his mother, Dona Teodora, a remarkable woman of good character
and culture. She was the one who first discovered that her son had a talent for poetry.
 As Jose grew older, his parents employed private tutors to give him lessons at home. The
first was Maestro Celestino and the second, was Maestro Lucas Padua. Later, an old man
named Leon Monroy, a former classmate of Rizal’s father, became the boy’s tutor.

Jose Goes to Binan

 In June 1869, Jose left Calamba for Binan. He was accompanied by Paciano, who acted
as his second father.
 First Day in Binan School. On Monday, Paciano brought his younger brother to the
school of Maestro Justiniano Aquino Cruz.
 First School Braw. Jose met his bully named Pedro. He challenged Pedro to a fight but
having learned the art of wrestling from his athletic Tio Manuel, he defeated the bigger
boy. Further, he was also been challenged to an arm-wrestling match by his classmate
named Andres Salandanan.
 Painting Lessons in Binan. Jose and his classmate, Jose Guevarra who also loved
painting, became apprentices of the old painter. The old painter Juancho, was the father-
in-law of the school teacher.
 Daily Life in Binan. Jose led a methodical life in Binan, almost Spartan in simplicity.
Such a life contributed much to his future development.
 Best Student in School. In academic studies, Jose beat all Binan boys. He surpasses
them all in Spanish, Latin, and other subjects.
 End of Binan Schooling. Before the Christmas season in 1870, Jose received a letter
from his sister Saturnina, informing him of the arrival of the streamer Talim that would
take him from Binan to Calamba. On December 17, 1870, he left Binan on Saturday
afternoon. A Frenchman named Arturo Camps, a friend of his father, took care of him.

Martyrdom of Gom-Bur-Za

 On the night of January 20, 1872, about 200 Filipino soldiers and workmen of the
Cavite arsenal under the leadership of Lamadrid, a Filipino sergeant, rose in violent
mutiny because of the abolition of their usual privileges including exemption from
tribute and polo by the reactionary Governor Rafael de Izquierdo.
 Unfortunately, due to this event Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto
Zamora, leaders of the secular movement to Filipinize the Philippine parishes were
implicated in this revolution. They were executed at sunrise, on February 17, 1872,
by order of Governor General Izquierdo.
  The martyrdom of Gom-Bur-Za in 1872 truly inspired Rizal to fight the evils of
Spanish tyranny and redeem his oppressed people. In 1891, he dedicated his second
novel, El Filibusterismo to Gom-Bur-Za.

Injustice to Hero’s Mother

 Before June of 1872, tragedy struck to the Rizal Family. Dona Teodora was suddenly
arrested on a malicious charge that she and her brother, Jose Alberto, tried to poison the
latter’s perfidious wife. Jose Alberto, a rich Binan ilustrado, had just returned from a
business trip in Europe.
 She was forced to walk from Calamba to Santa Cruz, a distance of 50 kilometers. Upon
arrival at Santa Cruz, she was incarcerated at the provincial prison, where she languished
for 2 years and a half until the Manila Royal Audiencia (Supreme Court) acquitted her of
the alleged crime.

CHAPTER 4: Scholastic Triumphs at Ateneo de Manila (1872 - 1877)

Jose was sent to Manila before his eleventh birthday. He studied in the Ateneo Municipal,
a college under the supervision of the Spanish. It was formerly known as Escuela Pia, a school
for poor boys in Manila which was established by the city government in 1817.

Rizal Enters the Ateneo

 On June 10, 1872, Jose together with Paciano went to Manila. He took the entrance
examinations on Christian doctrine, arithmetic, and reading, at the College of San Juan de
Letran, and passed them.
 Father Magin Ferrando, who was the college registrar, and Manuel Xerez Burgos was
the nephew of Father Burgos.
 Jose was the first of his family to adopt the surname “Rizal”.

Jesuit System of Education

 It trained the character of the student by rigid discipline and religious instruction. It
promoted physical culture, humanities, and scientific studies.
 Students were divided into 2 groups, namely: the “Roman Empire” consisting of the
internos (boarders) and the “Carthaginian Empire” composed of the externos (non-
boarders).
 They have distinct banners such as red for the Romans and blue for the Carthaginians.
 The Ateneo students wore a uniform that consisted of “hemp-fabric trousers” and a
“stripped cotton coat”. The coating material was called rayadillo.

Rizal’s First Year in Ateneo (1872 - 73). In June 1872, Rizal first heard Mass at the
college chapel and prayed fervently to God for guidance and success.

Fr. Jose Bech, was the first professor of Rizal in Ateneo whom he described as a “tall,
thin man, with a body slightly bent forward, a harried walk, an ascetic face, sever and inspired,
small deep-sunken eyes, a sharp nose that was almost Greek, and thin lips forming an arc whose
ends fell toward the chin.”

Summer Vacation (1873). At the end of the school year in March 1873, Rizal returned
to Calamba for summer vacation. Without telling his father, he went to Santa Cruz to visit his
mother in prison and told her about his brilliant grades at the Ateneo.

When he returned to Manila, he boarded inside Intramuros at No.6 Magallanes Street. His
landlady was an old widow named Dona Pepay, who had a widowed daughter and four sons.

Second Year in Ateneo. At the end of the school year, Rizal received excellent grades in
all subjects and a gold medal. With scholastic honors, he triumphantly returned to Calamba in
March 1874, for the summer vacation.

Prophecy of Mother’s Release. Dona Teodora told her son of her dream the previous
night and Rizal interpreted her dream that she would be released from prison in three months’
time. Her mother thinks that it is a mere attempt to console her. However, Rizal’s prophecy came
true.

Teenage Interest in Reading

 The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas

 Cesar Cantu’s historical work entitled Universal History
 Travels in the Philippines by Dr. Feodor Jagor

Third Year in Ateneo. Rizal grades remain excellent in all subjects, but he won only one
medal in Latin. He failed to win the medal in Spanish because his spoken Spanish was not
fluently sonorous.

Fourth Year in Ateneo (1875-76). On June 16, 1872, he became an interno in the Ateneo.
Father Francisco de Paula Sanchez, inspired young Rizal to study harder and to write poetry.
Hence, Rizal considered him as his best professor in the Ateneo.

Last Year in Ateneo (1876-77). He was the most brilliant Atenean of his time. Thus, he was
known as “the pride of the Jesuits”. He even finished his last year at the Ateneo in a blaze of
glory.

Graduate with Highest Honors. Rizal graduated at the head of his class. On
Commencement Day, March 23, 1877, he being 16 years old, received his Alma Mater at Ateneo
Municipal, his degree of Bachelor of Arts with the highest honor.

Extra-Curricular Activities in Ateneo

 He was an active member, later secretary, of a religious society, the Marian

Congregation. He was also a member of the Academy of Spanish Literature and the
Academy of Natural Sciences.
 Father Jose Vilaclara, advised Rizal to pay more attention to more practical studies such
as philosophy and natural sciences.
  He further studied painting under the famous Spanish painter, Augustin Saez, and
sculpture under Romualdo de Jesus, a noted Filipino sculptor. Moreover, he even
engaged himself in gymnastics and fencing.

Sculptor Works in Ateneo

 The Virgin Mary on a piece of batikuling

 Sacred Heart of Jesus

Poems Written in Ateneo

In 1875, inspired by Father Sanchez, he wrote more poems as such:

 Felicitation
 The Departure: Hymn to Magellan’s Fleet
 And he is Spanish: Elcano, the First to Circum-navigate the World
 The Battle: Urbiztondo, Terror of Jolo

In 1876, Rizal wrote poems on various topics – religion, education, and childhood memories.
And war. They were as follows:

 In Memory of My Town
 Intimate Alliance Between Religion and Good Education
 Through Education the Country Receives Light
 The Captivity and the Triumph: Battle of Lucena and the Imprisonment of Boabdil
 The Triumphal Entry of the Catholic Monarchs into Granada

A year later, in 1877, he wrote more poems. It was his last year in the Ateneo. Among the
poems written that year were:

 The Heroism of Columbus

 Columbus and John II
 Great Solace in Great Misfortune
 A Farewell Dialogue of the Students

His other poems are:

 My First Inspiration
 Through Education Our Motherland Receives Light
 The Intimate Alliance Between Religion and Good Education
 To the Child Jesus
 To the Virgin Mary

Drama Work in Ateneo

 San Eustacio, Martir (St. Eustace, the Martyr)

First Romance of Rizal

 Segunda Katigbak, a pretty fourteen-year-old Batanguena from Lipa.