Rizal, the Romantic

There were at least nine women linked with Rizal; namely Segunda Katigbak, Leonor Valenzuela, Leonor Rivera,
Consuelo Ortiga, O-Sei San, Gertrude Beckette, Nelly Boustead, Suzanne Jacoby and Josephine Bracken. These
women might have been beguiled by his intelligence, charm and wit.

Segunda Katigbak and Leonor Valenzuela

Segunda Katigbak was her puppy love. Unfortunately, his first love was engaged to be married to a town mate-
Manuel Luz. After his admiration for a short girl in the person of Segunda, then came Leonor Valenzuela, a tall girl
from Pagsanjan. Rizal send her love notes written in invisible ink, that could only be deciphered over the warmth of
the lamp or candle. He visited her on the eve of his departure to Spain and bade her a last goodbye.

Leonor Rivera

Leonor Rivera, his sweetheart for 11 years played the greatest influence in keeping him from falling in love with
other women during his travel. Unfortunately, Leonor’s mother disapproved of her daughter’s relationship with
Rizal, who was then a known filibustero. She hid from Leonor all letters sent to her sweetheart. Leonor believing
that Rizal had already forgotten her, sadly consented her to marry the Englishman Henry Kipping, her mother’s
choice.

Consuelo Ortiga

Consuelo Ortiga y Rey, the prettier of Don Pablo Ortiga’s 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.

O Sei San

O Sei San, a Japanese samurai’s daughter taught Rizal the Japanese art of painting known as su-mie. She also
helped Rizal improve his knowledge of Japanese language. If Rizal was a man without a patriotic mission, he would
have married this lovely and intelligent woman and lived a stable and happy life with her in Japan because Spanish
legation there offered him a lucrative job.

Gertrude Beckett

While Rizal was in London annotating the Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, he boarded in the house of the Beckett
family, within walking distance of the British Museum. Gertrude, a blue-eyed and buxom girl was the oldest of the
three Beckett daughters. She fell in love with Rizal. Tottie helped him in his painting and sculpture. But Rizal
suddenly left London for Paris to avoid Gertrude, who was seriously in love with him. Before leaving London, he
was able to finish the group carving of the Beckett sisters. He gave the group carving to Gertrude as a sign of their
brief relationship.

Nellie Boustead

Rizal having lost Leonor Rivera, entertained the thought of courting other ladies. While a guest of the Boustead
family at their residence in the resort city of Biarritz, he had befriended the two pretty daughters of his host,
Eduardo Boustead. Rizal used to fence with the sisters at the studio of Juan Luna. Antonio Luna, Juan’s brother and
also a frequent visitor of the Bousteads, courted Nellie but she was deeply infatuated with Rizal. In a party held by
Filipinos in Madrid, a drunken Antonio Luna uttered unsavory remarks against Nellie Boustead. This prompted Rizal
to challenge Luna into a duel. Fortunately, Luna apologized to Rizal, thus averting tragedy for the compatriots.

Their love affair unfortunately did not end in marriage. It failed because Rizal refused to be converted to the
Protestant faith, as Nellie demanded and Nellie’s mother did not like a physician without enough paying clientele
to be a son-in-law. The lovers, however, parted as good friends when Rizal left Europe.

Suzanne Jacoby

In 1890, Rizal moved to Brussels because of the high cost of living in Paris. In Brussels, he lived in the boarding
house of the two Jacoby sisters. In time, they fell deeply in love with each other. Suzanne cried when Rizal left
Brussels and wrote him when he was in Madrid.

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
Rizal’s security.

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 Taufer’s blindness was untreatable, he left for Hon Kong on March 1895. Josephine stayed with
Rizal’s 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 Josephine’s 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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Top 10 Lovers of Jose Rizal

Before Jose Rizal claimed the hearts of Filipinos by being the National Hero of the country, he first claimed the
hearts of many women. Being the natural charmer that he was, there were at least nine women linked with him
according to various accounts.

10. Segunda Catigbac y Solis

The 14-year old maiden from Lipa City, Batangas was Rizal's puppy love. Unfortunately, his first love was engaged
to be married to Don Manuel Luz y Metra who also hailed from one of the prominent families in town. The
Catigbacs (later Filipinized to Katigbak) engaged in the flourishing coffee business during the 1880s. It was said that
their family had an annual income of P4,000,000 from the coffee industry alone.

The romantic tale between Segunda and Rizal happened after Rizal's graduation in Ateneo Municipal. Rizal first
saw her at a party in his grandmother's house in Trozo, Manila in 1877. He vividly described her, in his Memorias
de Un Estudiante de Manila written in 1881, as: (She was short, with expressive eyes, ardent at times, and
drooping at other times, pinkish, a smile so bewitching and provocative that revealed some very beautiful teeth;
with an air of sylph, I do not know what alluring something was all over her being. She was not the most beautiful
woman I had seen but I had never seen one more bewitching and alluring.) It was truly love at first sight for the
young Rizal. Although they had brief encounters, there was already an understanding of their feelings for each
other. Rizal, however, knew from the very beginning that their story would not have a happy ending for she was
already engaged to someone.

Don Manuel was the nephew of Segunda's maternal grandmother. The Luz-Catigbac ancestral house also known as
Casa de Segunda, a bahay-na-bato built in the 1880s, still exists on Calle Rizal in Lipa. The house, which was spared
from the World War II bombings, was restored as a vacation house before being turned into a private museum. It
has been declared a National Heritage house by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines in 1996.

9. Leonor Valenzuela

Leonor Valenzuela, also known as Orang, was Rizal's object of affection while he was courting his cousin, Leonor
Rivera. She was a tall girl with regal bearing from Pagsanjan, Laguna. She was Rizal's neighbor. Rizal boarded in
Intramuros during his sophomore year in medicine at the University of Santo Tomas. He regularly visited Orang's
house especially during social gatherings. He courted her by sending love notes in invisible ink made of common
table salt and water, which could only be deciphered by heating the note over a candle or lamp so words would
appear.

Rizal, however, left for Europe. After his departure, it was said that she accepted suitors and attended social
parties. She was believed to have married an employee of a trade.

8. Leonor Rivera
Rivera, a cousin of Rizal and a native of Camiling, Tarlac, was a pretty, talented and witty lady. Other than being
blessed with a charming voice, she could also play the harp and the piano. She was Rizal's childhood sweetheart
for 11 years.

Rivera, who was only 13 years old and Rizal, 19 first met in Intramuros where he boarded in a house managed by
Rivera's father. When he departed for Europe, they only communicated through letters. Because her mother
disapproved of their relationship, they used a code called Taimis. Their long-distance relationship lasted 6 years.
Countless love letters written in different languages such as Filipino, English, Spanish and French (to prevent
interception of the letters by the Spanish authorities) were exchanged between them.

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. The box was donated by the descendants of the Kipping family to the Yuchengco
Museum in Makati City.

7. Consuelo Ortiga y Rey

Consuelo was the daughter of the then-Alcalde of Manila and president of Consejo de Filipinas in Madrid. The
Ortiga residence in Madrid was frequented by Rizal and his compatriots.

According to Consuelo's diary, she first met him on 16 September 1882. She wrote that they talked the whole night
and told her that she was talented, diplomatic and mysterious. She said that he detested amiable women. Rizal
had his reservations first which kept him from pursuing her. However after admitting his feelings for her, Eduardo
de Lete, Rizal's friend, contended for her attention. Aside from Rizal and Lete, Maximino and Antonio Paterno
visited her regularly.

Rizal eventually gave up his romantic feelings for her for he did not want to compete with Lete whom he treated
like his brother and admitted that he still has feelings for Leonor. Consuelo admitted that she could not reciprocate
his love as he had wished.

A La Señorita C.O. y R., Rizal's poem dedicated to Consuelo, is now dubbed as one of the best poems ever written
by him.

6. O Sei San

Seiko Usui, also known as O Sei San, was a Japanese samurai's daughter. She was 23 years old when she first met
him. He had moved to a Spanish Legation in the Azabu district of Tokyo where she regularly worked. She served as
his interpreter during his stay in Japan. She also helped him to be accustomed to the Japanese culture, taught him
how to read and write Nihonggo, and taught him the Japanese art of painting also known as su-mie. Together, they
visited The Imperial Art Gallery, The Imperial Library, various universities, the Shokubutsu-en (Botanical Garden),
the Hibiya Park, and various shrines.
Rizal was almost tempted by her beauty and affection to stay in Japan. 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.

5. Gertrude Beckett

Rizal stayed in London to finish the annotations of the Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, he stayed in the Beckett
family's residence which was within walking distance from the British museum. Gertrude, the oldest of three
Beckett girls, was a buxom girl with blue-eyes, rosy cheeks and brown hair. She fell in love with Rizal as she helped
him in doing paintings and sculptures. Rizal however left for London to avoid Gertrude who was seriously in love
with him. Before leaving, he finished the carving of the Beckett sisters and gave it to Gertrude as a sign of their
brief relationship.

4. Nellie Boustead

While in Paris, Rizal met thru Antonio Luna Anglo-Filipino Eduardo Boustead. He stayed as a guest in their
residence and befriended the two pretty daughters of Eduardo. After having lost Leonor, Rizal entertained the
thought of courting other ladies. Rizal and the ladies used to fence at the studio of Juan Luna.

Nellie was described to be a beautiful, lean, smart and very religious lady. She enjoyed playing sports. Antonio
courted Nellie although she admitted that she was deeply infatuated with Rizal. In a party held by Filipinos in
Madrid, Antonio who was under the influence of alcohol, uttered unsavory remarks against Nellie. This prompted
Rizal to challenge him into a duel. Fortunately, Antonio immediately apologized to him.

Their love affair however did not end in marriage since Rizal refused to be converted in Protestant faith which
Nellie demanded. Nellie's mother also did not want to have as son-in-law a physician like Rizal who did not have
enough paying clientele. Rizal and Nellie parted as good friends when he left Europe.

3. Suzanne Jacoby

In 1890, Rizal moved to Brussels due to the high cost of living in Paris. He stayed in the boarding house operated by
the Jacoby sisters. It wasn't long before he and Suzanne became lovers. Rizal however left Brussels and continued
with his journey. Although she cried when he left her, she continued sending him letters with hope that he will
come back.

Rizal produced Suzanne's sculpture which he gave to Valentin Ventura.

2. Josephine Bracken

Maria Josephine Leopoldine Bracken, also known as Josephine Bracken, was a petite Irish girl with striking blue
eyes and chestnut blonde hair. She was said to be a kind person with a gentle disposition. She took care of her
blind father. Upon hearing rumors of an excellent Filipino doctor returning to Manila, she quickly seized the
opportunity to sail there to have her father's illness diagnosed.

She reached Manila on 5 February 1895 with her father and Francesca Spencer. She arranged a consultation for
her father's double cataract. They sailed to Dapitan for a follow-up consultation.

On 14 March of that same year, she sailed back to Manila with one of Rizal's elder sisters, Narcisa. Since her
father's blindness was untreatable, Rizal left for Hong Kong. Although his family members and friends considered
Bracken as a threat and a spy for the Spanish government due to her nationality and complexion, she ignored the
allegations and tried to adjust living the rural life with Rizal's family.

By July, Josephine and Rizal's relationship blossomed. He tried to arrange with Father Antonio Obach for their
marriage. However, the priest asked for Rizal's retraction as a condition for allowing them to marry. Upon the
advice of Rizal's family and friends and with Josephine's consent, he took her as a wife even without the blessing of
the church. The church, however, denied the union due to religious differences.

1. Philippines

Rizal's true love was no one else but his country. He couldn't belong to any woman or any family for he was meant
for nobler things. As Ferdinand Blumentritt, one of Rizal's closest friends wrote in his letter consoling Rizal after
losing Leonor, he said: “I know your heart is aching; but you are one of those heroes who overcome the pain of
wounds caused by woman because they pursue higher ends. You have a stout heart and a nobler woman looks
upon you with love: your native country. The Philippines is like one of those enchanted princesses in the German
fairy tales who is kept in captivity by a foul dragon until she is rescued by a valiant knight.”

Rizal's life was cut short at the age of 35. According to historian Ambeth Ocampo, in one of Rizal's love letters
about our country he said: “I have always loved my poor country and I am sure that I shall love her until my last
moment. Perhaps some people will be unjust to me; well, my future, my life, my joys, everything, I have sacrificed
for love of her. Whatever my fate will be, I shall die blessing my country and wishing her the dawn of her
redemption. Happen what may I shall die blessing her and desiring the dawn of her redemption”.

References

“Rizal, the Romantic”.Jose Rizal.ph.(Accessed on 14 June 2012)

Vee, Ima.“15 Interesting Things Most Filipinos Don’t Know About Jose Rizal”.Socyberty.(Accessed on 14 June 2012)

“Casa de Segunda”.Traveler on Foot: A Travel Journal.(Accessed on 14 June 2012)

“The Batangueña who captivated Rizal's young heart”.WOWBatangas.com.(Accessed on 14 June 2012)

“Leonor Valenzuela”.Wikipilipinas.(Accessed on 14 June 2012)

“Leonor Valenzuela using a pet name “Orang”.Takdang Aralin.(Accessed on 14 June 2012)

“Leonor Rivera”.Wikipilipinas.(Accessed on 14 June 2012)

“O Sei San, the woman Rizal met in Japan”.Takdang Aralin.(Accessed on 14 June 2012)

“O Sei San”.Wikipilipinas.(Accessed on 14 June 2012)

“Gertrude Beckett, daughter of Rizal's landlord”.Takdang Aralin.(Accessed on 15 June 2012)

“Gertrude Beckett”.Wikifilipino.(Accessed on 15 June 2012)

“Nellie Boustead, courted by Rizal after Leonor's marriage”.Takdang Aralin.(Accessed on 15 June 2012)

“Nellie Boustead: Mataas-angisip, Mariwasa at Makatwiran”.Jose Rizal Romantiko.(Accessed on 15 June 2012)

“Suzanne Jacoby”.Jose Rizal Romantiko.(Accessed on 15 June 2012)

“Josephine Bracken”.Wikipilipinas.(Accessed on 15 June 2012)

Trillana, Pablo S., III.“Scholars divided on Jose Rizal’s true love”.Inquirer News.(Accessed on 15 June 2012)

Trillana, Pablo S., III.“Who was Rizal's true love?”.Business Mirror.(Accessed on 15 June 2012)

Ocampo, Ambeth R.“Why is Rizal our National Hero”.LibraryLink.(Accessed on 15 June 2012)

“Jose Rizal”.Moral Heroes.(Accessed on 15 June 2012)

“Quotes from Dr. Jose Rizal”.HubPages.(Accessed on 15 June 2012)

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Annie, visit mo na rin ‘tong sites na ‘to. Di ko kasi ma-download. Pasensya na. Marami rin kasing makukuhang info
diyan. 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/12833953/The-Women-in-Rizal

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22839772/Jose-Rizal%E2%80%99s-Girlfriends

http://www.scribd.com/doc/20184699/Mga-Pagibig-Ni-RIZAL