1.

Chapter 2 Childhood Years in Calamba Biñan

2. Calamba, the Hero’s Town • Calamba was an hacienda town which belonged to the Dominican Order,
which also owned all the lands around it. It is a picturesque town nestling on a verdant plain covered with
irrigated ricefields and sugar-lands.
3. Mount Makiling
4. Laguna de Bay • An inland lake of songs and emerald waters beneath the canopy of azure skies.
5. Island of Talim
6. Antipolo • Famous mountain shrine of the miraculous Lady of Peace and Good Voyage.
7. Earliest Childhood Memories • The first memory of Rizal was his happy days in the family garden when he
was 3 years old. • Second childhood memory of Rizal was the daily Angelus Prayer. • Third childhood
memory was the nocturnal walk in the town, when there was a moon.
8. The Hero’s First Sorrow • In 1865, Concha (Concepcion) died of sickness at the age of three. Devoted
Son of the Church • At the age of three, he began to take part in the family prayers. • When he was five
years old, he was able to read haltingly the Spanish family Bible.
9. • He loved to go to church, to pray, to take part in novenas, and to join the religious processions. • He was
so seriously devout that he was launghingly called Manong Jose by the Hermanos and Hermanas Terceras.
• The scholarly Father Leoncio Lopez, the town priest that he used to visit and listen to his stimulating
opinions on current events and sound philosophy of life.
10. • Jose learned to write and read thru a private tutor Maestro Celestino and the second Maestro Lucas
Padua. • Leon Monroy a former classmate of Rizal’s Father became the boy’s tutor
11. Pilgrimage to Antipolo • On June 6, 1868, Jose and his father left Calamba to go on a pilgrimage to
Antipolo, in order to fulfill his mother’s vow which was made when Jose was born. • After praying at the
shrine of the Virgin of Antipolo, Jose and his father went to Manila. They visited Saturnina, who was then a
boarding student at La Concordia College in Santa Ana.
12. Artistic Talent • Since early childhood Rizal revealed his God- given talent for art. • At the age of five, he
began to make sketches with his pencil and to mould in clay and wax objects which attracted his fancy.
13. First Poem by Rizal • Since early boyhood he had scribbled verses on loose sheets of paper and on the
textbooks of his sisters. • At the age of eight, Rizal wrote his first poem in the native language entitled Sa
Aking Mga Kababata (To My Fellow Children)
14. Rizal as Boy Magician • Since early manhood Rizal had been interested in magic. He learned various
tricks such as making a coin appear or disappear in his fingers and making a handkerchief vanish in thin air.
• He entertained his town folks with magic-lantern exhibitions. • He also gained skill in manipulating
marionettes (puppet show).
15. • In later years when he attained manhood, he continued his keen predilection for magic. He read many
books on magic and attended the performances of the famous magicians of the world. • In chapter XVII and
XVIII of his second novel, El Filibusterismo (Treason), he revealed his wide knowledge of magic.
16. Influences on the Hero’s Boyhood 1. Heredity Influence: • Malayan ancestors- love for freedom, innate
desire to travel and indomitable courage. • Chinese ancestors- serious nature, frugality, patience and love
for children. • Spanish ancestors- elegance of bearing, sensitivity to insult and gallanty to ladies.
17. • Father- Profound sense of respect, the love for work and the habit of independent thinking. • Mother-
religious nature, the spirit of self- sacrifice and the passion for arts and literature. 2. Environmental
Influences: • The scenic beauties of Calamba and the beautiful garden of the Rizal family- inborn artistic and
literary talents of Jose Rizal.
18. • The religious atmosphere at his home- religious nature. • Brother, Paciano- love for freedom and
justice. • Sisters- courteous and kind to women. • Aya (Nurse Maid)- interest in folklore and legends. • Tito
Jose Alberto- artistic ability. • Tito Manuel- frail walking and wrestling. • Tito Gregorio- voracious reading of
good books.
19. • Father Leoncio Lopez- love for scholarship and intellectual honesty. • Sorrows in his family- character,
enabling him to resist blows of adversity in late years. 3. Aid of Divine Providence: • God- versatile gifts of a
genius, the vibrant spirit of nationalism and the valiant heart to sacrifice for a noble cause.
20. Biñan Laguna
21. Biñan Laguna • First Teacher in Biñan of Pepe Maestro Justiniano Aquino Cruz • Pepe lived in a small
hut about 30 meters from the home of the aunt. • Jose used to wear a sinamay shirt,woven by the skilled
hands of the women of Batangas. • Jose challenged Pedro to a fight • First Painting lesson by a painter
Juancho
22. Injustice to Hero’s Mother • Before June of 1872,tragedy struck the Rizal family.Dona Teodora was
suddenly arrested on a malicious charge that she and her brother. • Jose Alberto wife was poison • Jose
Alberto ,a rich Binan ilustrado ,had just returned from a business trip in Europe. • After arresting Dona
Teodora, the sadistic Spanish Lieutenant forced her to walk from Calamba to Santa Cruz a distance of 50
kilometers.