[5] He was the second of eight children of Dionisia Maranan y Magpantay, a vendor in the Tanauan market, and Inocencio Leon Mabini y Lira, an illiterate peasant.

[7] Being poor, Apolinario Mabini was able to get educated due to the Malabanan school's matriculation of students based on their academic merit rather than ability of the parents to pay.

His studies at Letran were periodically interrupted by a chronic lack of funds, and he earned money for his board and lodging by teaching children.

Joaquin notes that all his contributions to Philippine history somehow involved the law: Mabini joined the fraternity of Freemasonry in September 1892, affiliating with lodge Balagtas, and taking on the name "Katabay".

Mabini, whose advocacies favored the reformist movement, pushed for the organization to continue its goals of supporting La Solidaridad and the reforms it advocated.

When José Rizal, part of the "La Liga Filipina", was executed in December that year, however, he changed his mind and gave the revolution his wholehearted support.

[11] When the plans of the Katipunan were discovered by Spanish authorities, and the first active phase of the 1896 Philippine Revolution began in earnest, Mabini, still ill, was arrested along with numerous other members of La Liga Filipina.

He was seeking the curative properties of the hot springs in Los Baños, Laguna in 1898 when Emilio Aguinaldo sent for him, asking him to serve as advisor to the revolution.

He drafted decrees and edited the constitution for the First Philippine Republic, including the framework of the revolutionary government which was implemented in Malolos in 1899.

Shortly after Aguinaldo's return to the Philippines from exile in Hong Kong in May 1898, he tasked Mabini with helping him establish a government.

[14] He was imprisoned after his capture,[15] though he was in bad health, and was exiled to the island of Guam for refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the United States[16] along with other revolutionists Americans referred to as insurrectos (rebels) or Irreconcilables.

On the day he sailed, he issued this statement to the press:[18] After two long years I am returning, so to speak, completely disoriented and, what is worse, almost overcome by disease and sufferings.

[19] Not long after his return, Mabini died of cholera at home along Calle Nagtahan, Manila on May 13, 1903,[20] at the age of 38, after consuming an unpasteurized and contaminated carabao milk.

[21][22][23][24] His remains were initially interred at the Manila Chinese Cemetery, marked by a triangular pyramid (symbolizing his Masonic beliefs) on a raised pedestal.

[25][26] Mabini's complex contributions to Philippine History are often distilled into two historical monikers - "Brains of the Revolution," and "Sublime Paralytic".

[30] This has made Mabini one of the Philippines' most visually iconic national heroes, such that he is often referred to as "The Sublime Paralytic" (Tagalog: Dakilang Lumpo).

Infighting among members of the Malolos congress led to the spread of rumors that Mabini's paralysis had been caused by venereal disease - specifically, syphilis.

The ailing Mabini takes pride in the fact that his symptoms are definitely not those of syphilis, despite the rumors spread by his detractors in the Philippine Revolutionary government.

[52]The Revolution failed because it was badly directed, because its leader won his post not with praiseworthy but with blameworthy acts, because instead of employing the most useful men of the nation he jealously discarded them.