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<img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources/maximo_viola.webp"  alt="Maximo Viola" />
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(Maximo Viola)
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<h2>
Early Life and Education
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Maximo was the only child of Pedro Viola, scion of an affluent family from San Rafael, Bulacan, and Isabel Sison from an equally prominent family in Malabon, Rizal. Born into wealth and privilege as a member of the landed <i>ilustrado</i> class, he received the finest education available to Filipinos of his generation.
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He completed his early education in San Miguel before moving to Manila to study at the <a href="https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/2884/the-history-of-colegio-de-san-juan-de-letran" class="news_link">Colegio de San Juan de Letran</a>, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree. Viola then enrolled in the pre-medicine course at the <a href="https://kahimyang.com/articles/3223/a-historical-account-of-the-university-of-santo-tomas-a-chronicle-of-resilience-scholarship-and-national-identity" class="news_link">University of Santo Tomas</a>. However, like many Filipino students of his time, he experienced the discrimination and prejudice that Spanish authorities and mestizo students exhibited toward native Filipinos. This experience would profoundly shape his nationalist consciousness and commitment to reform.
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In 1882, the same year Rizal left the Philippines, Viola sailed to Spain to continue his medical studies. He enrolled at the <a href="https://web.ub.edu/en/" class="news-link-ext" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">University of Barcelona</a>, where he earned his Degree in Medicine in 1886. It was in Barcelona that his life would intersect with that of José Rizal, forging a friendship that would prove pivotal to Philippine history.
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<h2>
Meeting Rizal and the Propaganda Movement
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Viola first met Rizal in Barcelona around June or July 1886, when Rizal arrived at the city en route to Paris. Though they knew each other only by name, Rizal went directly to Viola's boarding house at Vergara Street, number 1, floor 3, room 2. The landlady had no objection to Rizal staying with Viola, and the two became fast friends, spending about a week together before Rizal continued his journey.
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During his time in Spain, Viola became an active member of the Propaganda Movement, the reform-oriented group of Filipino expatriates advocating for political and social changes in the Spanish colonial administration. He worked alongside other prominent propagandists including <a href="https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/831/today-in-philippine-history-december-18-1856-graciano-lopez-jaena-was-born-in-jaro-iloilo" class="news_link">Graciano López Jaena</a>, <a href="https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/1029/today-in-philippine-history-march-23-1863-mariano-ponce-was-born-in-baliuag-bulacan" class="news_link">Mariano Ponce</a>, and <a href="https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/554/today-in-philippine-history-august-30-1850-marcelo-h-del-pilar-was-born-in-cupang-bulacan-bulacan" class="news_link">Marcelo H. del Pilar</a>, whom he also supported financially.
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<h2>
Savior of the <i>Noli Me Tangere</i>
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Viola's most significant contribution to Philippine history came in December 1886, when he traveled to Berlin to visit Rizal. What he found shocked him: his friend was living in poverty, sick from lack of proper nourishment, and in deep despair. Rizal had completed his groundbreaking novel <i>Noli Me Tangere</i> on February 21, 1887, but lacked the funds to publish it. His brother <a href="https://kahimyang.com/articles/3180/today-in-filipino-history-march-9-1851-paciano-rizal-was-born-in-calamba-laguna" class="news_link">Paciano</a> had not sent his allowance, and Rizal, weakened by hunger and illness, was on the verge of destroying the manuscript.
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Rizal later confessed:
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"I did not believe that the <i>Noli Me Tangere</i> would ever be published.  I was in Berlin, weakened and discouraged from hunger and deprivation. I was on the point of throwing my work into the fire as a thing accursed and fit only to die."
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Moved by his friend's plight and recognizing the importance of the work, Viola - who came from a wealthy family - immediately offered to finance the novel's publication. He loaned Rizal ₱300 to print 2,000 copies. Together, they visited numerous printing shops in Berlin to survey prices before selecting Berliner <b class="lt-bold">Buchdruckerei-Aktiengesellschaft</b>, which offered the lowest rate.
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The printing was completed ahead of schedule. On <b class="lt-bold"><time datetime="1887 03-29">March 29, 1887</time></b>, the first copies of <i>Noli Me Tangere</i> came off the press. In deep gratitude, Rizal gave Viola the galley proofs of the novel carefully rolled around the pen he had used to write it, along with the first published copy. On this copy, Rizal inscribed: 
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"To my dear friend, Maximo Viola, the first to read and appreciate my work - José Rizal, March 29, 1887, Berlin."
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<h2>
The Grand Tour of Europe
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After receiving ₱1,000 from his brother Paciano, Rizal repaid Viola ₱300 and invited him to join him on a tour of Europe from May to June 1887. The two friends traveled together through Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Switzerland, visiting important cities including Potsdam, Dresden, Prague, Vienna, Munich, Lausanne, and Geneva.
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The highlight of their journey was their visit to Leitmeritz (now Litomerice, Czech Republic) in Bohemia, where they met Professor Ferdinand Blumentritt, Rizal's Austrian friend and supporter. They arrived on May 14, 1887, and stayed for four memorable days. Blumentritt and his family provided warm hospitality, and the two Filipino visitors toured the city with local scholars. On May 16, 1887, Rizal and Viola signed their names in the town's ancient memorial book, marking what the local newspaper <b class="lt-bold">Leitmeritzer Zeitung</b> noted as possibly the first time members of the Tagalog race had stepped on Leitmeritz soil.
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The newspaper article, published on May 18, 1887, documented their visit and noted that Rizal <i>"is not only an excellent poet but also an artist"</i> and that he had been designated as a member of the Anthropological Society in Berlin. The friends parted ways in Geneva, with Viola returning to Barcelona and Rizal continuing to Italy.
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October 17, 1857: Maximo Viola was born