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By: Bautista, Juan Paolo A.

THE LOVERS OF RIZAL

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RIZAL AND ROMANCE

Jose Rizal, the national hero of the

Philippines, great propagandist, novelist,
was also known to very good in courting
women, he met quite a lot of women in his
years. Known to be a smooth talker, Rizal
charmed these women with his intelligence,
charisma and wit.
Some label him a womanizer, in my opinion
though, he had respect with all the women
that he had relationships with and he never
had a relationship with two women at the
same time. Below is a list and a short
background of the women he encountered
in his short but eventful life.

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SEGUNDA KATIGBAK

She would be Rizals first

infatuation, unfortunately she
was already engaged to
another man. They first met in
a party in Rizals
grandmothers house and to
Rizal, it was love at first sight.
Rizal, however, knew from the
very beginning that their story
would not have a happy
ending for she was already
engaged to someone.

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LEONOR VALENZUELA

After Segunda Katigbak, Rizals next

object of affection was a woman
named Leonor Valenzuela, a tall girl
of regal bearing. She was Rizals
neighbor, regularly visiting her house
during social gatherings. Rizal courted
her with love notes written with
invisible ink, which could only be read
by heating the note over a candle.
After Rizal left for Europe however,
their romance ended and she
accepted suitors and attended social
parties.

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LEONOR RIVERA

Being Rizals sweetheart for 11 years,

Leonor Rivera was considered a
reason as to why Rizal was prevented
from falling in love with other women
in his travels. She was also known to
be the inspiration for one of Noli Me
Tangeres characters, Maria Clara.
Leonors Mother was against their
relationship, often hiding the letters
that Rizal sends to her. Their
exchange of letters lasted 6 years,
being lovers by correspondence.

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LEONOR RIVERA

After some time, she stopped receiving

letters from Rizal. She was not aware that
her mother bribed two post office clerks
to give her all the letters and gifts from
Rizal. Leonor was forced by her mother to
marry Henry Kipping, a young English
engineer. He was responsible for the
completion of the railroad from
Bayambang to the Ferrocarril de Manila
(railroad from Manila-Dagupan).
Rizal's letters to Rivera were burned and
the ashes were kept inside a box covered
with her dress with the letters J and L
embroidered on it. It was said that Rizal
couldnt keep a serious relationship with
other women as he couldnt let go of
Leonor

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CONSUELO ORTIGA
Consuelo Ortiga y Rey, the prettier of Don
Pablo Ortigas daughters, fell in love with
him. He dedicated to her A la Senorita C.O.
y R., which became one of his best poems.
The Ortiga's residence in Madrid was
frequented by Rizal and his compatriots.
He probably fell in love with her and
Consuelo apparently asked him for
romantic verses. He suddenly backed out
before the relationship turned into a
serious romance, because he wanted to
remain loyal to Leonor Rivera and he did
not want to destroy hid friendship with
Eduardo de Lete who was madly in love
with Consuelo.

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O SEI SAN/SEIKO USUI

She was the daughter of a Japanese

samurai. Rizal met her when she
was 23 years old, serving as his
interpreter during his stay in Japan.
She taught him Japanese culture,
language and art.
Charmed by her beauty, elegance
and intelligence, Rizal was almost
tempted to stay in Japan, the
Spanish Legation even offered him
a lucrative job, but alas his mission
was of utmost importance to him.

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O SEI SAN/SEIKO USUI

When Rizal left for the
United States, he told her in
a note that he had spent a
happy golden month with
her and that he do not know
if he can have another.
She married a British man a
year after Rizals execution.

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GERTRUDE BECKETT

An English girl, she was the

daughter of Rizals landlord,
Charles Beckett. After his brief
stays in Japan and the United
Sates, Rizal chose to live in
London, the capital of the
United Kingdom. The eldest of
three sisters, she was
described as a curvy lady with
cheerful blue eyes, brown hair,
rosy cheeks and thin lips.

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GERTRUDE BECKETT

Her affection for Rizal was clear,

she spent more time assisting
him than their other boarders and
showered him with all her
attention. Ultimately though, Rizal
backed out from the romance and
decided to leave London to be
away from Gertrude so that she
may forget him. He did however
leave a carving of the Beckett
sisters and gave it to Gertrude as
a gift.

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NELLI BOUSTEAD

Nellie Boustead was the daughter

of the wealthy Anglo-Filipino
businessman Eduardo Boustead.
The Boustead family welcomed
Rizal in his stay in France.
After learning of Leonor Riveras
marriage to Henry Kipping, Rizal
entertained the thoughts of
courting another woman. The
center of this idea would be the
highly educated, cheerful,
athletic, beautiful and morally
upright Nellie. He even wrote to
his friends his idea of proposing
to her.

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NELLI BOUSTEAD

One of the more memorable things

about their romance was when
Antonio Luna, who made rather
distasteful comments about her, and
Rizal almost had a duel to the death,
only being stopped when Luna
apologized for his comments,
conceding Nellie to Rizal in a most
chivalrous way.
Unfortunately, their relationship did
not end in marriage as Rizal did not
want to convert to Protestantism as
Nellie demanded, and when the time
that Rizal had to leave had come,
they parted as friends with no hard
feelings.

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SUZANNE JACOBY

A Belgian lady, Rizal met her when he stayed in Brussels as

the cost of living in Paris was too expensive, he stayed in a
boarding house managed by two Jacoby sisters, Suzanne and
Marie.
Rizal stayed in Belgium for 6 months; Suzanne was absolutely
smitten with him. Rizal however did not seem to reciprocate
the feelings as intensely as her. Rizal did not even mention her
in his letters to his friends. When the time that Rizal had to
(once again) leave, she wept, Rizal only leaving her with a box
of chocolates.
Two months later, she wrote him a letter, saying after your
departure, I did not take the chocolate. The box is still intact as
on the day of your parting. Dont delay too long writing us
because I wear out the soles of my shoes for running to the
mailbox to see if there is a letter from you. There will never be
any home in which you are so loved as in that in Brussels, so,
you little bad boy, hurry up and come back

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SUZANNE JACOBY
In another one of her letters, it
was clear that the affection
has already become one-sided.
Rizal returned to Brussels one
more time in April 1891 but
not specifically for her, as he
just busied himself with
revising and finalizing his
manuscript of El
Filibusterismo.

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JOSEPHINE BRACKEN

In the last days of February 1895, while

still in Dapitan, Rizal met an 18-year old
petite Irish girl, with bold blue eyes, brown
hair and a happy disposition. She was
Josephine Bracken, the adopted daughter
of George Taufer from Hong Kong, who
came to Dapitan to seek Rizal for eye
treatment.
Rizal was physically attracted to her. His
loneliness and boredom must have taken
the measure of him and what could be a
better diversion that to fall in love again.
But the Rizal sisters suspected Josephine
as an agent of the friars and they
considered her as a threat to Rizals
security.

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Rizal asked Josephine to marry him, but she was not yet
ready to make a decision due to her responsibility to the
blind Taufer. Since Taufers blindness was untreatable,
he left for Hon Kong on March 1895. Josephine stayed
with Rizals family in Manila. Upon her return to Dapitan,
Rizal tried to arrange with Father Antonio Obach for their
marriage. However, the priest wanted a retraction as a
precondition before marrying them. Rizal upon the
advice of his family and friends and with Josephines
consent took her as his wife even without the Church
blessings. Josephine later give birth prematurely to a
stillborn baby, a result of some incidence, which might
have shocked or frightened her.

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During Rizal's exile in 1896, Bracken had affirmed

her willingness to help Rizal's cause by joining the
'Katipunan' in Imus, Cavite. Rizal, foreseeing his
death, asked Fr. Vicente Balaguer, S.J., a Jesuit
priest who later detailed Rizal's last days and
served as Bracken's messenger, to marry them.
Some historians believe that Balaguer had married
the two on 5:30 a.m. of 30 December 1896, an
hour before Rizal's death at 'Bagumbayan', where
she also revealed to Rizal's closest friends and
family members that she was married to him.

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REFERENCES
http://www.joserizal.ph/l
v01.html
http://en.wikipilipinas.or
g/index.php/Top_10_Lov
ers_of_Jose_Rizal