Jose Rizal’s Love for Francisco Mercado Rizal, His Father

Copyright © Jensen DG. Mañebog

When Jose was seven years old, his father provided him the exciting experience of riding a ‘casco’ (a flat-bottomed boat with a roof) on their way to a pilgrimagein Antipolo, and to visit afterward Saturnina at the La Concordia College in Manila. As a gift, the child Jose also received a pony named ‘Alipato’ from his father (Bantug and Ventura).          

One of Jose Rizal’s childhood tutors, Don Leon Monroy, was Don Francisco’s friend whom the father personally chose to teach his son the basics of Spanish and Latin.When Monroy died after five months of tutoring Rizal, Don Francisco sent his son to a school in Biñan. (On Rizal’s chilshood, read: Rizal’s Childhood (Jose Rizal’s Childhood Days Summary))

After sometime, Jose told his father that he had already learned all there was to be taught at Biñan. Teniente Kiko firmly scolded Jose and hustled him back to the school.

Check out: Jose Rizal’s Collaborations with Other Heroes by Jensen DG. Mañebog

Maestro Justiano Aquino Cruz, Jose’s teacher in Biñan, later confirmed nonetheless that Jose had indeed finished already all the needed curricular works.       

Against his wife’s reluctance, Don Francisco then sent Jose to enroll at the Ateneo Municipal in Intramuros, Manila. When Jose was in his third year in Ateneo, he became indulge in reading novels. Because Jose requested for it, his loving father bought him an expensive set of the Universal History by Cesar Cantu.

Read: Jose Rizal: The First Filipino Phenom by Jensen DG. Mañebog

While boarding in a small house on Calle Caraballo, Jose was once persuaded by his landlady Tandang (Old) Titay to play the card game ‘panguingue’ for her.

But Don Francisco suddenly arrived from Calamba and caught Jose at the ‘panguingue’ table. The father scolded the young Rizal and the respectful son wholeheartedly accepted his father’s reprimand (Bantug and Ventura).           

After the Cavite mutiny and the martyrdom of the Gomburza in 1872, Jose, for the first time, heard of the word ‘filibustero’ (subversive).

But Don Francisco then forbade the members of his family to utter the word. And when Rizal, upon his return to the country from Europe in 1887, wanted to visit his girlfriend Leonor Rivera in Pangasinan, his father strongly opposed the idea.

Read: The Colorful Love Affairs of Dr. Jose Rizal by Jensen DG. Mañebog

Don Francisco believed that the visit would put Leonor’s family in danger since at the time Jose had already earned the label ‘filibustero’ for writing the controversial Noli Me Tangere. Later in his life, Jose would use the derivative of the term (filibusterismo) to name his more ‘subversive’ second novel.         

In 1891, Don Francisco, along with Paciano and son-in-law Silvestre Ubaldo, had escaped from the clutch of their Spanish persecutors and opted to join Jose in Hong Kong. The Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) were not that many in Hong Kong yet, but it is said that the 73-year old Don Francisco loved the climate in the place where he stayed with his beloved son.

Rizal’s love for his father

Rizal’s affection for his father may have not been given much emphasis by many biographies. But Jose, no doubt, adored Don Francisco.

In 1881, Jose made a clay bust of his father. About six years later, he carved a life-size wood sculpture of Don Francisco. Perhaps, Jose even spent a lot of time finishing the life-size sculpture—because Don Kiko, unlike the national hero, was above average in height. In honor of his father, Jose named his premature son (by Josephine Bracken) ‘Francisco.’ The infant ‘Francisco’ unfortunately died three hours after birth.          

Check Out: The Colorful Love Affairs of Dr. Jose Rizal by Jensen DG. Mañebog

Before his death on December 30, 1896, Jose wrote this to his brother, Paciano: 

“Tell our father I remember him, and how! I remember my whole childhood, of his affection and his love. Ask him to forgive me for the pain that I have unwillingly caused him.” To his father, Jose directly wrote:My beloved Father,Pardon me for the pain with which I repay you for sorrows and sacrifices for my education. I did not want nor did I prefer it.Goodbye, Father, goodbye ….

Don Francisco died in Manila on January 5, 1898 at the age of 80, approximately a year after his son’s martyrdom in Bagumbayan. Jose Rizal considered Teniente Kiko as ‘model of fathers.’ Whenever we study the life of Don Francisco, we remember our respective father whom we likewise subjectively call ‘the best Dad in the world’. 

*If you want to know more about Rizal or history (e.g. Rizal’s mother or girlfriends), search here:

Copyright © 2014 by Jensen DG. Mañebog

Read Also:
The Interesting Tales of the Jose Rizal Family by Jensen DG. Mañebog

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