I.

TIMELINE of JOSE RIZAL June 19, 1861 Jose Protacio Mercado Rizal y Alonzo Realonda, the 7th child of the Rizal children, was born in Calamba, Laguna, a hacienda town owned by the Dominican Order. Joses parents were Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonzo Realonda. The Rizal family belonged to a Principalia class a town aristocracy during Spanish Philippines. June, JOSe Rizal matriculated at Ateneo de Municipal where he finished his Bachelor of arts (equivalent to present high school) in 1877 with a rating of Excellent. It was also at this time that he met his first love named Segunda Katigbak. His love for poetry deepen especially after the release of his mother from prison, in honor of her, he wrote Mi Primera Inspiracion. His professors particularly Fr. Francisco Paula de Sanchez inspired him to write poems. February 1886, he transferred to another European city in Berlin, Germany for several reasons. July 1886, Jose Rizal wrote his first letter to Ferdinand Blumentritt, an Austrian who was interested with Philippine languages that started a beautiful friendship. On March 21, 1887 his first novel, Noli Me Tangere came off the press. The novel was dedicated to the Fatherland. It was through the help of Maximo Viola that the printing costs were defrayed. The main character in the novel was Crisostomo Ibarra who arrived from his study abroad. A chapter entitled Elias and Salome was deleted due to printing costs.

He then enrolled at University of Sto. Tomas in April 1877. During his first year he took up Philosophy and Letters and shifted to Medicine in his second year. He joined the literary contest sponsored by the Artistic Literary Lyceum in 1879, his entry was entitled A La Juventud Filipina. The following year he joined another literary contest with his entry entitled El Consejo de los Dioses and won first place. He also fell in love with his cousin Leonor Rivera. Jose Rizal and other Filipino students founded Compaerismo because of frequent fights against Spanish students.

1861
Teodora was Rizals first teacher then tutors were hired to look after his education, the first was Maestro Celestino. Rizal took interest in painting, sculpture, and poetry. His first poem was entitled Sa Aking Mga Kabata written when he was eight years old.

1869
June, Jose was enrolled in a private school in Bian, Laguna. His teacher was Justiniano Aquino Cruz.

1872
When Jose was 11 years old, his brother Paciano witnessed the martyrdom of GOMURZA on February 17, 1872 which Paciano recounted to Rizal. This incident left a mark in Rizals consciousness. Teodora was also arrested on charge on attempt to poison her sister-in-law.

1877

1882

1887
Jose had his grand tour of Europe then finally decided to return to the Philippines in August 1887. He practiced medicine and came to be known as Doctor Uliman. Governor-General Terrero after reading the novel sent the copy to the Faculty of University of Sto. Tomas and then to the Permanent Commission of Censorship for examination and recommendation. He also assigned Jose Taviel de Andrade, a Spanish lietenant to look after Jose Rizals safety. In February 1888, Jose left the Philippines for his second sojourn abroad.

May 3, 1882 to continue his medical studies he left for Europe boarding Djemnah. He settled in Madrid, Spain. He completed his Licensure in Medicine at Central University of Madrid. He also took part in the Propaganda Movement and started writing for it. His first article written in Spanish soil was entitled Amor Patrio. March 1883, Jose Rizal joined Masonry intending to use this as a shield to combat friars. He had written Science, Virtue and Labor as a Mason.

November of 1885 Jose Rizal moved to Paris, France to specialize in ophthalmology and worked as an assistant in Dr. Louis de Weckerts clinic until February 1886. Music played a part in Filipino reunions, Jose was said to composed Alin Mang Lahi.

Jose Rizal left for Hong Kong in 1888 after 6 months in the Philippines. He observed noisy Chinese new years. He also visited Macao.

He finally decided to settle in London, United Kingdom for reasons of safety, learning English and to annotating Antonio Morgas book Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas. The first article of Rizal in La Solidaridad was Los Agricultores Filipinos. While in London he had a romantic interlude with Getrude Beckett.

He moved to Madrid, Spain. He encountered misfortunes in Spain. One was his rivalry with Marcelo H. del Pilar for Propaganda leadership. He also received sad news from Leonor Rivera of breaking their engagement. His family in Calamba was also ejected due to the Agrarian Problem. To seek solace for his disappointments, Rizal took a vacation in Biarritz, France. Rizal also proposed marriage to Nellie Boustead. He then left for Ghent, Germany where he published his second novel entitled El Filibusterismo.

He arrived in the Philippines in 1892. He was arrested and was exiled in Dapitan.

1888

1889

1890

1891

1892

1896
He volunteered as a military doctor in Cuba. Upon his arrival in Madrid he learned that he was charged of Rebellion, a case was awaiting him in the Philippines. He was defended by his counsel Luis Taviel de Andrade. He became a victim of Spanish injustice finding him guilty of the crime. His execution papers were signed by Governor-general Camilo de Polavieja. He was to be executed by a firing squad on December 30, 1896 in Bagumbayan.

He stayed in Japan for more than a month. He had favourable impressions of the place except the mode of transportation. He also met Seiko Usui or O-se-San. He then proceeded to United States of America. His observations were favourable except the lack of racial equality.

He moved to Paris, France for the Universal Exposition. He joined several organizations to include Kidlat Club, Indios Bravos, and Sociedad R.D.L.M. while in Paris. In Paris Rizal's article entitled Filipinas de cien aos he expressed his views on Spanish colonization of the Philippines and predicted the tragic end of Spain's sovereignty in Asia. He defended the alleged indolence of the Filipinos in the article LA INDOLENCIA DE LOS FILIPINOS. He left Paris because the gay life in Paris was hampering his writing. He moved to Brussels, Belgium. He had an affair with Suzzane Jacoby. He advocated the Filipinization of Tagalog Orthography, in his article Sobre la Nueva Ortografia de la Lengua Tagala" he had laid down the new rules.

He stayed in Hong Kong from 1891-1892 and practiced Medicine. He drafted the constitution of La Liga Filipina, a civic society calling for instituting reforms in the Philippines.

He was exiled for four years. Although in exile he was able to achieve much. He constructed a water system to furnish clean water to the townspeople. He discovered some rare species like frog, bettle and dragonfly. He engaged in business, agriculture, invented a machine making bricks. He also found a new love with Josephine Bracken.