Jose Rizal and His Loves

Dear insansapinas,
Joae Rizal may have been identified with a lot of women but the only woman he loved was Leonor Rivera.
For those who requested the photos and write-ups about these loves of Rizal, consider this a a tribute to the National Hero.


LEONOR RIVERA

His relationship with Leonor Rivera that lasted for eleven years until her marriage to an Englishman Henry Kipping was against the wishes of her parents since he was known to be a filibuster.


He wrote her several letters which did not reach Leonor Rivera because they were hidden by her mother. It was then she decided to marry her mother's choice.


Parang pelikula di ba?


Segunda Katigbak

All of us go through the pupply love phase (except for  Senador, the teener who dried his puppy in a clothesline). Segunda  Katigbak was that woman who was described as the puppy love of Jose Rizal. She was the first mentioned his biography. But poor Jose, Segunda Katigbak was engaged to be married to Manuel Luz.


The ancestral home of  Segunda Katigbak was turned into a museum by her great great grandchildren.


Leonor Valenzuela 

Leonor Valenzuela, a tall lady with regal bearing was a neighbor of Jose Rizal's landlady , Dona Concha Leyva in Intramuros. He was a sophomore at the University of Sto. Tomas when he met this lady who was a daughter of Juan and Capitana Sanday Valenzuela from Pagsanjan, Laguna.  

Rizal, a  medical student from Calamba, was welcomed in the Valenzuela home. He courted Leonora whose nickname was Orang by sending love notes written in invisible ink. He even taught the lady how to read the invisible ink. Jose Rizal may not be ready for commitment yet so he did not propose marriage to Leonor. 

O Sei San

If  Rizal  had succumbed to the love of a Japanese girl named O Sei San, we will not have a national hero. But he loved Leonor Rivera very much so that he turned down the job offered to him in Japan and settled with O Sei San  a daughter of a Japanese Samurai. She felt madly in love with Jose Rizal that she taught him the Japanese language and the art of painting.  


Gertrude Beckett

In fairness to Joe Rizal, he did not take advantage of the women who felt in love with him.


In a boarding house where he he lived  owned by the Becketts while he was annotating the Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, there were three Beckett daughters. One of them was  a blue eyed and buxom girl named Gertrude  known as Tottie. She was in love with him that she taught him painting and sculpture. 


The feeling was not mutual though so to avoid being misinterpreted, Rizal left London for Paris. He gave her a carving as a gift and remembrance. 
Suzanne Jacoby

He did not stay long in Paris. He moved to Brussels where he lived in a boarding house owned by the Jacoby family. 


One of the daughters, Suzanne felt deeply in love with him. It appeared that Jose Rizal had a love affair with her until he left for Madrid. 


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 his friendship with Eduardo de Lete who was madly in love with Consuelo.


Love triangle heh?