Severino Reyes y Rivera was a Filipino writer and playwright.
13 Facts About Severino Reyes
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Severino Reyes was born on February 11,1861, in Santa Cruz, Manila during the Spanish colonial era to Rufino Reyes and Andrea Rivera.
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Severino Reyes pursued his early education in an institution owned by Catalino Sanchez and acquired a bachelor's degree at the Escuela de Segunda Ensenanza of the Colegio de San Juan de Letran.
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Severino Reyes attended the University of Santo Tomas to pursue a degree in Philosophy.
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Severino Reyes is known as the "Father of Tagalog Plays" and as the "Father of the Tagalog Zarzuela".
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Severino Reyes took a clerical job at the Tesoreria General de Hacienda as a means to avoid getting enlisted into the Spanish Army to fight against the Moros in Mindanao and Sulu.
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The Gran Compania de Zarzuela Tagala was established in 1902 by Severino Reyes, directing zarzuellas himself for the group.
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Severino Reyes helped found the Liwayway magazine in 1922, where he published Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang a series of short stories.
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Severino Reyes used the titular character Lola Basyang as his pen name and the work became the magazine's most widely read feature.
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Severino Reyes married his childhood friend Maria Paz Puato with whom he had 17 children.
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Severino Reyes spoke both Tagalog and Spanish, and understood Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and various Philippine languages aside from Tagalog.
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Severino Reyes died on September 15,1942 in Manila due to Parkinson's disease in World War 2.
13.
On February 11,2022, Severino Reyes was honored with a Google Doodle in commemoration of his 161st birthday.