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 In our Filipiniana library is a treasure trove of images of Philippine life, history and culture from the 15th century to the early seventies. The 4" x 5" black and white photos include reproductions of engravings, lithographs, drawings, and other modes of visual representation, as well as original photos gathered and annotated by the Ayala Museum research department over several years.
We have over 35,000 photos at the moment and are expanding the collection.
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![[ Monthly Feature ]](images/monthly/SC00217.jpg)
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Rizal’s Teacher
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How did Teodora Alonso raise Jose Rizal to become the great Filipino?
Teodora Morales Alonso Realonda y Quintos was born on November 9, 1827, in Meisic (from “may-intsik”), Tondo. One of the few educated women of her time, she attended Colegio de Santa Rosa, a convent school.
Alonso grew up and spent most of her life in Calamba, Laguna. There she started her family with Francisco Rizal Mercado, who managed a sugar plantation. Alonso ran a sari-sari store on the ground floor of their house, as well as a small rice-and-flour mill and a dye factory. She also kept a stall in the town tiangge.
Before the Rizal Mercado children were sent to school, they were educated at home by their mother. She taught them how to read and write, and encouraged them to draw and stage little plays at home.
As Rizal wrote his friend Blumentritt: “My mother is a woman of extraordinary culture. She knows literature and speaks better than I do. She even corrected my poems and gave me wise advice when I was studying rhetoric. She is a mathematician and has read many books. Her father, who was Philippine representative to the Cortes, had been her teacher.” She was so effective as her children’s first teacher that Rizal was led to say years later: “The education that I received since my earliest infancy was perhaps what has shaped my habits.”
At first, his mother did not want Rizal to study in Manila. “He already knows enough,” she objected. “If he learns more, he will only end up on the scaffold.” Finally Alonso was persuaded to allow her son to attend the Ateneo Municipal and then the University of Santo Tomas.
A devout and religious woman, she impressed upon her children the love of God and loyalty to country. To her, the fulfillment of one’s “duties as a true Christian is sweeter than acquiring great knowledge which sometimes leads to greater dangers.”
Rizal paid her the greatest tribute when he wrote in his memoirs: “Ah! Without her what would have become of my education and what would have been my fate? Oh, yes! After God the mother is everything to man.”
References:
Ocampo, Ambeth. Great Lives: Teodora Alonso. Tahanan Books for Young Readers,
Manila, 1995.
National Historical Institute, Teodora Alonso. www.nhi.gov.ph, accessed June 5,
2009.
Dr Jose Rizal Childhood. www.scribd.com, accessed June 8, 2009.
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