Jose Rizal’s Love for Teodora Alonzo, His Mother

September 16, 2020September 1, 2021MyInfo Basket.com 8 Comments‘Mi Primera Inspiracion’ (My First Inspiration) was dedicated to his mother on her birthday. It is believed to have been written in the year 1874, The most known poem written by Rizal in Ateneo, upon the release from prison of his mother.

One known thing about Rizal is that he loved his mother very much. At the end of his first year at the Ateneo, Rizal visited her mother in Santa Cruz prison without telling his father. Doña Teodora joyfully embraced her son who told her of his outstanding school grades.

The next summer vacation, Rizal did not forget to see again and brighten up her mother with news of his academic successes. On her part, Doña Teodora had mentioned of her dream the previous night. Rizal interpreted the dream as portending that she would be released from prison in three month’s time. Rizal’s ‘prophecy’ proved true as Teodora was set free barely three months after her son’s visit.

The most known poem written by Rizal in Ateneo, ‘Mi Primera Inspiracion’ (My First Inspiration) was dedicated to his mother on her birthday. It is believed to have been written in the year 1874, upon the release from prison of his mother.

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Upon learning that Doña Teodora was going blind, Rizal decided to take medicine at the University of Santo Tomas. He nonetheless transferred to the Universidad Central de Madrid where he obtained the degree of Licentiate in Medicine.

And because he really wanted to cure his mother’s advancing blindness, Rizal went to the University of Paris and then the University of Heidelberg to complete further study in ophthalmology.

After earning the fury of the Spaniards in the Philippines for writing the Noli, Rizal decided to return to Calamba in 1887 despite his loved ones’ strong warnings. His major reason for standing by his decision is to perform an operation on Doña Teodora’s eyes.

Mother and son in Dapitan

Newly released from prison in 1891, Doña Teodorajoined Rizal in Hong Kong where the Rizal family had a happy Yuletide celebration together. And when Rizal was exiled in Dapitan, Doña Teodora did not hesitate to leave the peaceful life in Hong Kong in August 1893 just to keep house for her son.

The son operated on his mother’s cataract in Dapitan. The whole ophthalmic treatment was successful despite her being a difficult patient, removing at least once the bandages from her eyes against her son’s prescription.

In 1895, Doña Teodora left Dapitan for Manila to be with Don Francisco who was getting weaker. Attesting to his mother’s being a loving wife, Rizal wrote in his letter to Blumentritt: “My father is well again and my old mother does not want to separate from him – like two friends in the last hours of farewell, knowing that they are going to separate, they do not like to be far from each other.” In October 1895, Rizal sent her mother his now widely acclaimed poem ‘Mi Retiro’ which he wrote upon her request.

After Doña Lolay left Dapitan, Josephine Bracken came to Rizal’s life. The son wrote her mother about Josephine. Aware that the priests refused to marry the couple, Doña Teodora told her excommunicated son that loving each other in God’s grace was better than being married in mortal sin (Bantug, p. 120).

In 1896, when the revolution broke out while Rizal was on his way to Cuba, he wrote to his mother these meaningful sentences: “Don’t worry about anything; we are all in the hands of the Divine Providence. Not all who go to Cuba die, and when finally one has to die, at least one may die doing some good” (as quoted in Bantug, p. 136).

Doña Teodora’s share of martyrdom

When Rizal was sentenced to death after a mock trial, the aged Doña Teodora fervently plead to the governor general for her son’s life, but to no avail. In Rizal’s last hours, his sorrowful mother came to see her sentenced son. Teodora Alonso was not permitted a last embrace by the guard though her beloved son, in quiet grief, managed to press a kiss on her hand.

Captain Rafael Dominguez, the special Judge Advocate appointed to institute the court’s action against Rizal, was said to have been moved with compassion at the sight of Rizal’s kneeling before his mother and asking pardon.

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What greater grief could dwell in a mother’s heart than to see the day come when her dearly loved son would be executed just for wishing the best for his family and country. On December 30, 1896, Doña Teodora indeed tragically lost her much-loved son.

More than ten years after, the Philippine government offered her a lifetime pension as a sign of gratefulness. With sincere dignity, she refused the offer, courteously explaining that her family had never been patriotic for money. She suggested that if the government had plenty of funds, it better reduce the citizens’ taxes.

At the age of 80, our Lola Lolay died in Manila on August 16, 1911. Appropriate honors were accorded to her funeral. Her memories teach us to love our respective mothers and grandmas while they are still alive.

*If you want to know more about Rizal (e.g. Rizal girlfriends), search here:

Jose Rizal’s Love for Teodora Alonzo, His Mother

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