{"id":4937,"date":"2012-06-19T06:44:09","date_gmt":"2012-06-19T03:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/patnubay.org\/?p=4937"},"modified":"2019-07-06T00:43:03","modified_gmt":"2019-07-05T21:43:03","slug":"tidbits-on-a-boy-named-pepe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/patnubay.org\/?p=4937","title":{"rendered":"Tidbits on a Boy Named Pepe"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Source:\u00a0http:\/\/www.nhcp.gov.ph<\/a>
\nTidbits on a Boy Named Pepe<\/span>
\nBy: Ferdinan S. Gregorio
\nHistory Researcher II<\/span><\/p>\n

Many articles, books, essays and literary materials were written about Jose Rizal’s life, works and ideas, but sometimes we tend to neglect knowing who Pepe was before writing the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. Knowing Jose Rizal starts by knowing him as a child.<\/p>\n

The seventh child of Don Francisco Mercado and Do\u00f1a Teodora Alonso, Pepe was born on June 19, 1861, a Wednesday.\u00a0 After three days, Father Rufino Collantes baptized the baby, who was named Jose Protacio, in honor of Saint Joseph and Saint Protacio.\u00a0 Do\u00f1a Teodora was a devoutfollower of Saint Joseph and it was their tradition to honor him every 19th day of the month. On the other hand, Saint Protacio is the patron saint for June 19, who was martyred in Milan, Italy.Writer Felice Prudente Santa Maria\u2019s book, In Excelsis once explained why Rizal was called \u201cPepe\u201d. According to her,\u00a0\u201cSaint Joseph was the putative (commonly accepted) father of Jesus Christ. In Latin, San Jose\u2019s name is always followed by the letters \u201cP.P\u201d for pater putativus.\u00a0 In Spanish, the letter \u201cP\u201d is pronounced \u201cpeh\u201d giving rise to the nickname Pepe for Jose.\u201dUnfortunately, Pepe\u2019s original baptismal record was burnt in 1862.\u00a0 It was only restored through the help of reliable eye witnesses, under the direction of Father Leoncio Lopez, a Filipino priest at the church across the street, and a friend of the Mercado family.\u00a0 As a boy, Pepe loved to visit Father Lopez, with whom he could talk about anything. The priest never got tired of answering Pepe\u2019s questions and talked with him sensibly. Father Lopez became Pepe\u2019s inspiration in characterizing Father Florentino in the\u00a0\u201cEl Filibusterismo\u201d.Growing up Pepe was curious about the things around him. When his yaya Aquilina told stories about theaswang,\u00a0nuno sa punso\u00a0and an imaginary ghost called Bu by the Europeans locally known as parce-nobis, Pepe listened attentively. His yaya often scared him if he failed to finish his meal.\u00a0 Pepe remembered those spooky stories even until he went to high school, writing in his Memorias de un Estudiante that everytime his yaya frightened him,\u00a0\u201c\u2026my heart was fed with sad thoughts\u201d.<\/p>\n

In 1868, six days before his seventh birthday, Pepe went to the Antipolo shrine with Don Francisco for a pilgrimage as vowed by Do\u00f1a Teodora on the day he was born.\u00a0 There, Rizal witnessed the strong devotion of the believers. In the church patio, he saw vendors selling a variety of religious items. He bought a picture of the Virgin of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, and pasted it in his suitcase, believing that the Virgin would keep him safe in his travels.<\/p>\n

Commenting on this event, writer Nick Joaquin wrote that Rizal would have most likely undergone a boy\u2019s first rite of passage into manhood- circumcision:\u00a0\u201con returning from his pilgrimage, Rizal had another event to experience; his seventh birthday \u2013 and one can guess that this was followed by still another event: his circumcision, most probably supervised by Paciano\u201d.\u00a0 Joaquin explained that during Rizal\u2019s time, the nursery limit in the Philippines was seven years old.\u00a0 Circumcision was a symbol of separating boys from men.<\/p>\n

In 1872, for high school, Pepe enrolled at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila in Intramuros.\u00a0 The administrator refused to admit him for two reasons. First, Do\u00f1a Teodora\u2019s arrest and he was considered physically weak and small for his age of eleven. Through the intercession of Manuel X. Burgos, nephew of Father Jose Burgos, one of the martyr priests executed just four months earlier, Pepe was admitted.\u00a0 Perhaps, he was fated to spend his early years at Ateneo, taking subjects such as Religious Studies, Mathematics, Sciences, Languages, Geography, and History.\u00a0 He also attended a class on culture called \u201cClase de Adorno\u201d, where he had to choose between Art and solfeggio.\u00a0 Solfeggio is a system of arranging the scale by the names, which includes singing lessons.\u00a0 While he had a passion for music, singing was not his forte, admitting in his memoirs that he had a terrible voice. He wrote that\u00a0\u201cIf you hear me sing, you\u2019d think, you were in Spain, for you\u2019d hear the braying of an ass!\u201d\u00a0For that reason, Pepe chose Art studies.\u00a0 One of his works as an Art student was carving an image of the Virgin. His Jesuit professors of Ateneo were amazed upon seeing it and asked him to sculpt the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was later presented to Father P. Lleonart, who wanted to bring the statuette with him to Spain, but he forgot to put it in his trunk, leaving the image in Ateneo.<\/p>\n

Pepe finished high school just before turning 16.\u00a0 His last night in the school dormitory was filled with sadness, giving him a sleepless night. As he lay in bed, he felt that the happiest days of his life were over.<\/p>\n

On December 29, 1896, the night before his execution, Father Luis Viza brought the image of the Sacred Heart that Pepe had carved long ago at Ateneo. As the Jesuit placed the statuette on the table inside his cell in Fort Santiago, a sudden rush of memories brought him back to the happy days at Ateneo. It was a brief though bittersweet, reprieve from his impending execution. Pepe cherished his childhood so much. The passage from his Memorias, would have described that moment.\u00a0\u201c\u201cI would give anything to get over this trying time of my youth. Goodbye, beautiful unforgettable period of my life! Farewell, fortunate hours of my lost childhood!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

REFERENCES:
\nBantug, Asuncion. Lolo Jose. Vibal Publishing House Inc. 2008
\nJoaquin, Nick. Rizal in Saga. Philippine National Centennial Commission, Rizal Martyrdom Centennial Commission and GMA Foundation Inc. 1996<\/span><\/p>\n

Penitente. Rizal, The Magnificent. Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission. 1960
\nReminiscences and Travels of Jose Rizal. Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission. 1961
\nSta. Maria Felice. In Excelsis: The Mission of Jose P. Rizal. Studio 5 Designs Inc. 1996<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source:\u00a0http:\/\/www.nhcp.gov.ph Tidbits on a Boy Named Pepe By: Ferdinan S. Gregorio History Researcher II Many articles, books, essays and literary materials were written about Jose Rizal’s life, works and ideas, but sometimes we tend to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[40,36,25,81],"tags":[317],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/patnubay.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4937"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/patnubay.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/patnubay.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patnubay.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patnubay.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4937"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/patnubay.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12643,"href":"https:\/\/patnubay.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4937\/revisions\/12643"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patnubay.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/patnubay.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patnubay.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patnubay.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}