Apostol was a lawyer from Manila and a poet in Spanish. Though his writing was fiery, he lived the life of a recluse. He was the drinking partner of Jesus Balmori, another well known poet. The leading Filipino epic poet in Spanish, Cecilio Apostol, was born in Manila on November 22, 1877. He was the third among six children of Jose Apostol, a bookkeeper, and Marcelina de los Reyes. After obtaining his A.B. degree at the Ateneo in 1894, he studied law at Santo Tomas and was admitted to the bar in 1903. Although he worked for the government for some time (he was once an assistant city fiscal and was offered an advisory position in Malacañang which he did not accept) his foremost interest was poetry. His first published poem, "El Terror de los Mares Indices," was featured in El Comercio during the Spanish regime. Thereafter, he worked, in turn, for La Independencia, La Fraternidad, La Union in 1900, El Renacimiento in 1901, and finally for La Democracia in 1902. For about 20 years he wrote poetry in praise of Filipino heroes and international celebrities. His poem "Al Heroe Nacional," dedicated to Rizal, is said to be the finest ever written on the foremost Filipino hero. Another poem, "Mi Raza," won a prize in the literary contest sponsored by the International Club in 1902. His contemporaries called him "El Rey de la Estrofa Lapidaria." Apostol, the poet-lawyer, was also a translator and literary critic. He translated some of Bonifacio''s works in Spanish and the hero''s "Sampung Aral" in French. He likewise translated in Spanish the Ilocano epic, Lam-Ang. Moreover, he carved statues of heroes and reliefs of historic scenes. Apostol died in Caloocan, Rizal on September 7, 1938. A collection of his most imporatant poems, "Pentelicas," was published in 1950. It has 39 poems on national heroes, Philippine sceneries and historic events. He was married to the former Margarita San Jose, by whom he had 6 children.