Graciano López y Jaena (; December 18, 1856 – January 20, 1896), commonly known as Graciano López Jaena, was a Filipino journalist, orator, reformist, and national hero who is well known for his newspaper, La Solidaridad. Philippine historians regard López Jaena, along with Marcelo H. del Pilar and José Rizal, as the triumvirate of Filipino propagandists. Of these three ilustrados, López Jaena was the first to arrive in Spain and may have begun the Propaganda Movement, which advocated the reform of the then-Spanish colony of the Philippines and which eventually led to the armed Philippine Revolution that begun in Manila in 1896. The Propaganda Movement was a key step towards a Philippine national identity. Biography Graciano López Jaena was born in Jaro, Iloilo, in the Captaincy General of the Philippines in the Spanish Empire on December 18, 1856. His parents were Plácido López and María Jacoba Jaena. He was baptized as "Graciano López y Jaena" on December 20, 1856, at Jaro Church by Plácido de Isana, and his godfather was Rufino Justiniano. Feeling that the priesthood was the most noble profession, his mother sent him to study at the St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary in Jaro. While there, he served as a secretary to his uncle, Claudio López, who was the honorary vice consul of Portugal in Iloilo. Despite his mother wanting him to become a priest, López's true ambition was to become a physician. After convincing his parents, he sought enrollment at the University of Santo Tomas but was denied admission because the required Bachelor of Arts degree was not offered at the seminary in Jaro. Instead, he was appointed to the San Juan de Dios Hospital as an apprentice. Due to financial problems, he dropped out and returned to Iloilo to practice medicine. During this period, his visits with the poor began to stir feelings about the injustices that were common. At the age of 18 he wrote the satirical story Fray Botod, which depicted a fat and lecherous friar. Botod’s false piety "always had the Virgin and God on his lips no matter how unjust and underhanded his acts are." This incurred the fury of the friars. Although the story was not published, a copy circulated in Iloilo but the friars could not prove that López was the author. He got into trouble for refusing to testify that certain prisoners died of natural causes when it was obvious