He learned the alphabet from his mother at 3, and could read and write at age 5. Upon enrolling at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, he dropped the last three names that made up his full name, on the advice of his brother, Paciano and the Mercado family, thus rendering his name as “José Protasio Rizal”.
Why Rizal has 4 surnames?
This seemed to be a common practice, so that each family ended up with four surnames: each of the old and new family names of both the mother and the father. For Rizal, the compounds were his father’s double surname: Mercado and Rizal, plus his mother’s surname: Alonso and Realonda.
Who was the savior of Noli?
Viola, aged 76, died in Barrio San Jose in his hometown. Although not acknowledged in the book, Dr. Maximo S. Viola will constantly be remembered as the man who saved the Noli Me Tangere for posterity.
