Oh how beautiful to fall to give you flight, To die to give you life, to rest under your sky; And in your enchanted land forever sleep. - José Rizal

About José Rizal

José Rizal (June 19 1861 – December 30 1896) or known as José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda was a Filipino nationalist, doctor, writer, and polymath whose works and martyred death made him a hero of the Philippine Revolution. His mother was Teodora Alonso and his father is Francisco Mercado. Rizal studied highschool at Ateneo De Manila University and then went to University of Santo Tomas in Manila. He did his post graduate work at the University of Madridin 1882. He was a prolific writer who produced many influential works in different genres. His most notable works were his two novels Noli Me Tangere, published in 1887 and El Filibusterismo, published in 1891, which exposed the injustices of Spanish rule and inspired nationalism. Since he was still young he grew up in a cultured home, with a sizeable library. He learned to read and write. It was his mother who introduced him into the world of books and literature until then he started his literary works and poems that is well known in the Philippines He was killed by execution by the Spanish Colonial Government on December 30, 1896 at the age of 35 in Bagumbayan, Manila, for the crime of rebellion after the Philippine Revolution broke out, which was inspired by his writings.

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