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RIZAL

Todo Rizal. A Collection of Articles and Trivias pertaining to Philippines' Greatest Hero,  Jose Rizal

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Did You Know?

There are three animals named after Rizal. These species of animals were the ones he collected while he was an exile in Dapitan and include Apogonia Rizali (Heller), a type of small beetle; Draco Rizali (Wandolleck), a species of flying dragon; and Rachophorous Rizali (Boetger), a species of toad.

Contrary to popular belief, the Rizal monument in Luneta was not made by a Filipino artist. The design was the work of Swiss sculptor named Richard Kissling who won second prize in an art competition that was held in 1907 to find the best scale model for the future Rizal monument. The first prize went to Italian sculptor Carlo Nicoli of Carrara but for some reason, the contract to build the monument was given to the second-prize winner.

He was already a terrific sculptor even at a very young age. In fact, Rizal carved a 9-inch statuette of the Sacred Heart out of batikuling wood when he was only 14 years old. The Jesuit fathers brought this statuette in Fort Santiago when they visited Rizal in December 1896. Aside from wood sculptures, Rizal also carved 40 amazing masterpieces out of plaster, terra-cotta, wax, and clay.

A descendant of one of the executioners of Rizal, Adolfo Pastor Quetcuti, revealed that only one of the rifles was loaded with bullets. He explained that this is to ease their guilt as they already knew in the beginning that Rizal was innocent.

Rizal played a key role in the identification of Oncomelania cuadrasi, a Philippine snail that harbors the parasite that causes schistosomiasis. The said snail was named after a certain Mr. Cuadrasi, a known naturalist in Manila and to whom Rizal sent his specimens of animals and insects for identification.

When he was studying in Spain, Rizal had to pawn a ring owned by his sister Saturnina just to pay for his exams. But he didn’t want his family to get worried, so he only mentioned his victories and excellent grades in the letters addressed to his family.

Rizal, a man of medium height and small built, was a great lover. He was romantically involved to numerous women of different nationalities which include Gertrude Becket, Nelly Bousted, Usui Seiko, Segunda Katigbak,Leonora Rivera, Leonor Valenzuela, Consuelo Ortiga y Rey, Suzanna Jacoby, and Josephine Bracken.

Rizal is regarded by many as the “Father of Philippine Comics” because of some humorous illustrations he made in Germany. The said drawing, entitled “The baptism of two brothers”, was inspired by the German cartoon “Max and Moritz” and was made by Rizal to entertain the children of his landlord, Pastor Ulmer. The original copy is now preserved in the National Library of the Philippines.

Rizal had psychic abilities. On his journal entry dated January 1, 1883, he shared about a “frightful nightmare” he had two nights before (i.e. December 30). In this dream, Rizal was imitating a dying actor and felt his “breath was failing” and his vision became very dim. Interestingly, Rizal would be executed 13 years later at the exact same date. 

Due to having short-stature for his age, Rizal was a victim of bullying during his childhood school days, in which he answered with wrestling techniques he learned from his Uncle Miguel.

Little known fact of the El Filibusterismo novel is that it could have been based from Alexandre Dumas’ “The Count of Monte Cristo”, which has a relatively similar plot and character stereotypes. This is strengthened by the fact that the aforementioned Dumas’ work was one of Rizal’s favorite stories of all time.

Rizal won the lottery once, with the winning ticket 9736, during his Dapitan exile. The prize money: Php 6,200, which was already considerably a large amount back then (in some sources it was Php 18,000).

Guillermo Tolentino, a Rizal historian, allegedly made spiritual contact with the National Hero. According to him, Rizal did not like how Filipinos have abandoned their native tongue, as referenced by his earlier quote: “Ang hindi magmahal sa sariling wika, daig pa ang hayop at malansang isda”. (He who does not love his own language is worse than an animal and smelly fish).  This is quite the irony, as Rizal knows and speaks more than 20 languages throughout his life.

Rizal had a third, unfinished novel. Known among historians as “Makamisa”, this unfinished work was started by Rizal in Hongkong in 1892. Makamisa was not actually the title of Rizal’s work, but only the title of a single chapter of the unfinished Tagalog novel.

Rizal once sent a love letter written in invisible ink to Leonor Valenzuela, a tall girl from Pagsanjan. The message could only be deciphered if you put the letter over a lamp or candle. Leonor Valenzuela was one of Rizal’s first sweethearts. Unfortunately, they parted ways when Rizal had to leave for Spain.

References

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