HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Trinidad Rizal y Alonso (June 6, 1868 – May 9, 1951), commonly known as Trinidad Rizal, was a Filipina feminist leader and co-founder of the Philippines' first feminist organization, the ''Asociación Femenista Filipina''. She was the younger sister of the national hero, physician and writer, Dr.
José Rizal José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (, ; June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896) was a Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath active at the end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is considered the national he ...
.


Life and work

Trinidad was born in
Calamba, Laguna Calamba, officially the City of Calamba ( fil, Lungsod ng Calamba), is a 1st class Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city in the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Laguna (province), Laguna, Philippines. According ...
on June 6, 1868. She was the tenth child of
Francisco Rizal Mercado Francisco Engracio Rizal Mercado y Alejandro (May 11, 1818 – January 5, 1898) was the father of the Philippines' national hero Jose Rizal. He was born in Biñan, Laguna. He had a wife named Teodora Realonda y Quintos and had 11 children alto ...
and
Teodora Alonso Realonda Teodora Alonso Realonda y Quintos (November 9, 1827 – August 16, 1911) was a wealthy woman in the Spanish colonial Philippines. She was best known as the mother of the Philippines' national hero Jose Rizal. Realonda was born in Santa Cruz, M ...
. Trinidad helped found the first
Masonic lodge A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered ...
for women in the Philippines.Estrada-Claudio, S. (2006). If I were an ASEAN woman ... Talking Points. ''Talking Points, 3'', 67-73. http://feministarchives.isiswomen.org/isispub/wia/wia2006-3/WIA20063_09Claudio.pdf She was also a member of Walana, a Filipino masonry society, formed in Manila on July 18, 1893, closely allied with the masonic temples of the
ilustrados The Ilustrados (, "erudite", "learned" or "enlightened ones") constituted the Filipino educated class during the Spanish colonial period in the late 19th century. Elsewhere in New Spain (of which the Philippines were part), the term ''gente de r ...
. In 1905, Trinidad co-founded the first Filipina feminist organization, the '' Asociación Feminista Filipina'' (AFF), along with Concepción Felix,
Librada Avelino Librada Avelino (17 January 1873 – 9 November 1934) was a Filipina educator who co-founded the Centro Escolar University. She was the first woman to earn a teaching certificate from the Spanish authorities when she passed her examination in 1 ...
, María Paz Guanzon, and Luisa de Silyar, among others. In addition to encouraging women to participate in politics and public service, the organization promoted women's health. Trinidad participated in a subproject of AFF, Gota de Leche (also called ''La Protección de la Infancia''), which focused on improving reproductive and maternal, infant, and child health. Like her sister, Josefa Rizal, Trinidad never married. She died in
Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
on May 9, 1951. She was buried in Manila's North Cemetery (''Cemeterio del Norte'') on May 11, 1951. Her remains were later exhumed, along with those of sister Narcisa, and relocated to the General
Paciano Rizal Paciano Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (March 9, 1851 – April 13, 1930) was a Filipino general and revolutionary, and the older brother of José Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines. Early life Paciano Rizal was born to Francisco ...
shrine in
Los Baños, Laguna Los Baños, officially the Municipality of Los Baños ( tgl, Bayan ng Los Baños), colloquialy 'elbi' or simply LB, is a 1st class municipality in the province of Laguna, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 115,353 ...
.


Relationship with José Rizal

In a letter from Germany, dated March 11, 1886, her brother, José, complained of not having heard from her. He went on to praise the intelligent simplicity of German women and urged Trinidad to take her studies seriously while still in her youth, lamenting that Trinidad was "dominated by indolence." The letter, written a couple months before her eighteenth birthday, revealed that José had not seen his sister since she was very young. Trinidad and her sisters sought information about birth control, breast feeding, and pain reduction during childbirth from brother, José, while he studied in Europe to become a doctor. Trinidad visited José the day before his execution, accompanying their mother, Teodora Alonso, and sisters Lucía, Josefa, María, and Narcisa, to say goodbye and collect his belongings. Several historical accounts tell that José gave his stove (others call it a lamp) to Trinidad, telling her something important lay inside. Legend has it that this important something was her brother's last poem, "
Mi último adiós "Mi último adiós" ( en, "My Last Farewell") is a poem written by Filipino propagandist and writer Dr. José Rizal before his execution by firing squad on December 30, 1896. The piece was one of the last notes he wrote before his death. Another ...
" / "My last farewell." He had hidden the paper so well that his sisters had to use their hairpins to unfold it. Before his death, José wrote to Trinidad to express his wish that the Rizal family treat his common-law wife,
Josephine Bracken Marie Josephine Leopoldine Bracken (October 3, 1876 – March 15, 1902) was the common-law wife of Philippine nationalist José Rizal during his exile in Dapitan in the province of Zamboanga del Norte in the southern Philippines.Craig 1913, p. 21 ...
, kindly for her devotion to him. Following his execution, Trinidad accompanied Josephine and brother, Paciano, to
Cavite Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite ( tl, Lalawigan ng Kabite; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region in Luzon. Located on the southern shores of Manila Bay and southwest ...
where they met revolutionary leader
Andrés Bonifacio Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro (, ; November 30, 1863May 10, 1897) was a Filipino Freemason and revolutionary leader. He is often called "The Father of the Philippine Revolution", and considered one of the national heroes of the Philippines ...
and passed to him a copy of José's final poem. The U.S. government informed the Philippine government, in 1908, that an American collector owned the original manuscript of the poem, which had left the Philippines with Josephine Bracken, in 1897. They now wanted to sell it to the Philippine government for $500. Trinidad was the one to verify the manuscript as the original before it was purchased and placed in the
Philippine National Library The National Library of the Philippines ( fil, Pambansang Aklatan ng Pilipinas or ''Aklatang Pambansa ng Pilipinas'', abbreviated NLP, es, Biblioteca Nacional de Filipinas) is the official national library of the Philippines. The complex is l ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rizal, Trinidad 1868 births 1951 deaths People from Calamba, Laguna Filipino feminists José Rizal