Paciano Rizal has always been perceived in the national consciousness as almost like a footnote, overshadowed by the prominence of his young brother, Jose Rizal. But if there’s anything history offers, it is a nuanced and complex take on figures of the Past that are often relegated to the periphery. Paciano Rizal was anything but peripheral.
As second of the eleven children of Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonso and the eldest male among the siblings, Paciano Rizal would prove to be the very guiding hand that pushed Jose Rizal to his career in Europe and his ascent to prominence & heroism. Perhaps it is because of Paciano’s deep convictions that have earlier on been inculcated in him.
Learning from the very skilled teachings of his mother Teodora Alonso, Paciano would learn the rudimentaries of Latin from Maestro Justiniano Cruz, but he would soon become a housemate, and ardent follower of the famed secularization advocate, Fr. Jose Burgos. At the time, the issue was the demand of fair treatment to secular priests (native priests) who were often set aside in favor of the regulars (Spanish priests). As the Rizal family was served by a Filipino secular priest in Calamba, a Dominican turf, the issue was fairly close to the family. But what was then a purely ecclesiastical issue would soon spill over to issues that touched on liberal ideals—equality, meritocracy, fairness. Paciano Rizal’s association with Burgos and his outspokenness against the abuses on Filipinos cost him his studies in Colegio de San Jose in Manila when he was prohibited from taking his final examinations. With the execution of the secular priests Jose Burgos, Mariano Gomes, and Jacinto Zamora in 1872, Paciano had to leave schooling to avoid the ire of the friars.
Answers & Comments
Paciano Rizal has always been perceived in the national consciousness as almost like a footnote, overshadowed by the prominence of his young brother, Jose Rizal. But if there’s anything history offers, it is a nuanced and complex take on figures of the Past that are often relegated to the periphery. Paciano Rizal was anything but peripheral.
As second of the eleven children of Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonso and the eldest male among the siblings, Paciano Rizal would prove to be the very guiding hand that pushed Jose Rizal to his career in Europe and his ascent to prominence & heroism. Perhaps it is because of Paciano’s deep convictions that have earlier on been inculcated in him.
Learning from the very skilled teachings of his mother Teodora Alonso, Paciano would learn the rudimentaries of Latin from Maestro Justiniano Cruz, but he would soon become a housemate, and ardent follower of the famed secularization advocate, Fr. Jose Burgos. At the time, the issue was the demand of fair treatment to secular priests (native priests) who were often set aside in favor of the regulars (Spanish priests). As the Rizal family was served by a Filipino secular priest in Calamba, a Dominican turf, the issue was fairly close to the family. But what was then a purely ecclesiastical issue would soon spill over to issues that touched on liberal ideals—equality, meritocracy, fairness. Paciano Rizal’s association with Burgos and his outspokenness against the abuses on Filipinos cost him his studies in Colegio de San Jose in Manila when he was prohibited from taking his final examinations. With the execution of the secular priests Jose Burgos, Mariano Gomes, and Jacinto Zamora in 1872, Paciano had to leave schooling to avoid the ire of the friars.