Saturnina Rizal Mercado de Hidalgo (June 4, 1850 – September 14, 1913;

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda), or simply Saturnina Hidalgo, was the eldest sister of Philippine national hero

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 ...

. She was married to Manuel T. Hidalgo, a native and one of the richest persons in Tanauan,

Batangas Batangas, officially the Province of Batangas ( tl, Lalawigan ng Batangas ), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region on Luzon. Its capital is the city of Batangas, and is bordered by the provinces of Cavite and La ...

. She was known as Neneng. Because of his early interest in obstetrics, Saturnina, along with her mother and eight sisters, shared health concerns and sought medical advice from her brother

José José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

. While he ultimately chose a different path, the females of the family encouraged Rizal in the direction of gynecology and obstetrics because of the high rates of maternal death and sickness from various women's diseases Filipinas experienced. In one letter, Hidalgo wrote:

I am sending you news that I now have two children, the eldest is Alfredo, next is Adela, and now I am eight months pregnant. Study well how you may be of assistance to our situation, certainly with so many of us there will always be someone suffering the hardships of this sickness.

An article documenting the emergence of

Western medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practice ...

in the Philippines and healthcare consumption among wealthy Filipinas around the turn of the 20th century discussed gynecologist Felipe Zamora's diagnosis that Hidalgo possessed a "swollen, out of place, and dirty" uterus. While, in 1890, she initially begged her brother,

, to remedy the political situation in which her husband, whom she called Maneng, became deported to

Bohol Bohol (), officially the Province of Bohol ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Bohol; tl, Lalawigan ng Bohol), is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas Regions of the Philippines, region, consisting of the island itself and 75 m ...

for his alliance with Rizal, a letter from later that year revealed her change of heart. When her husband was sent into exile a second time, this time to

Mindoro Mindoro is the seventh largest and eighth-most populous island in the Philippines. With a total land area of 10,571 km2 ( 4,082 sq.mi ) and has a population of 1,408,454 as of 2020 census. It is located off the southwestern coast of Luz ...

, she assured Rizal she had refrained from crying. She wrote: "I have been inured to the pain of separation, especially when I consider that all this cruelty and misfortune will be for the good of all. My faith has become stronger because of everything you told me." Rizal's oil painting of his sister Saturnina

Rizal's oil painting of his sister Saturnina

In 1909, Hidalgo published the first Tagalog/Filipino translation (by

Pascual H. Poblete Pascual H. Poblete ( Filipino: ''Pascual Poblete Hicaro''; May 17, 1857—February 5, 1921) was a Filipino writer, journalist, and linguist, remarkably noted as the first translator of Dr. José Rizal's novel '' Noli Me Tangere'' into the Ta ...

) of her brother's revolutionary novel Noli Me Tángere, thus ensuring Rizal's words became accessible, beyond elite Spanish-speaking circles, to the common Filipino. She died on September 14, 1913.

Media portrayal

* Portrayed by

Gina Alajar Regina Liguid Alatiit (born June 28, 1959), professionally known as Gina Alajar (), is a FAMAS and Gaward Urian Award winning Filipino film and television actress and television director. Career Since appearing as a child actress in the earl ...

in the 1998 film, ''

Jose Rizal Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods. * Jose ben Abin * Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galile ...

''. * Portrayed by

Sue Prado Marissa Sue Prado (better known simply as Sue Prado) is a Filipina character actress best known for her performances in Philippine New Wave films such as the 2013 film, ''Oro'' and ''Barber's Tales'', among other roles on Philippine film, televis ...

in the 2014 TV series, ''

Ilustrado 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 ...

''.

Ancestry

References

1850 births 1913 deaths People from Calamba, Laguna José Rizal {{philippines-bio-stub