RIZAL: THE LOVER BOY

SEGUNDA KATIGBAK: THE FIRST

ROMANCE OF RIZAL
➢One Sunday, Rizal visited his maternal grandmother who lived
in Trozo, Manila. When he reached his grandmother’s house, he
saw other guests. One of whom was an attractive girl named
Segunda Katigbak.
➢Rizal came to know Segunda more intimately during his weekly
visits to La Concordia College, where his sister Olimpia was a
boarding student.
➢It was apparent that Rizal and Segunda loved each other. Theirs
was indeed “a love at first sight”. But it was hopeless since the
very beginning because Segunda was already engaged to be
married to her townmate, Manuel Luz.
 MISS L AND LEONOR “ORANG”
VALENZUELA
➢“Miss L” – Rizal described her as “fair with seductive and
attractive eyes”. After visiting her in her house several times, he
suddenly stopped his wooing, and the romance died a natural
death.
➢Leonor Valenzuela – charming daughter of Capitan Juan and
Capitana Sanday Valenzuela from Pagsanjan, Laguna. During the
courtship, Rizal was said to have sent Leonor private and secret
love letters, which he wrote using invisible ink made with water
and salt. To read the letters, Orang had to heat the letter over a
candle or a lamp.
 LEONOR RIVERA: THE GREAT LOVE OF
RIZAL
➢a student at La Concordia College and a daughter of Antonio
Rivera, Rizal’s landlord-uncle. Between Jose and Leonor sprang a
beautiful romance. They became engaged. In her letters to Rizal,
Leonor signed her name as “Taimis” in order to camouflage their
intimate relationship from their parents and friends.
➢Leonor Rivera and Charles Henry Kipping, a British Railway
Engineer, married on June 17, 1890.
 CONSUELO ORTIGA Y REY
➢Rizal, being a lonely young man in a foreign country, was
attracted by Consuelo’s beauty.
➢Rizal composed a lovely poem on August 22, 1883 dedicated to
Consuelo. In this poem titled “A La Señorita C. O. y P.” (To Miss C.
O. y P.), he expressed his admiration for her. He found comfort
and joy in her company.
➢However, before his romance with Consuelo could blossom into
a serious affair, he suddenly backed out for two reasons: (1) he
was still engaged to Leonor Rivera and (2) his friend and co-
worker in the Propaganda Movement, Eduardo de Lete, was
madly in love with Consuelo and he had no wish to break their
friendship because of a pretty girl.
 ROMANCE WITH O-SEI-SAN (SEIKO-USUI)
➢One spring afternoon, a few days after he had moved to the
Spanish Legation in the Azabu district of Tokyo, Rizal saw a
pretty Japanese girl walking past the legation gate. The following
afternoon, Rizal politely introduced himself to Seiko-Usui.
➢Since the first meeting, Rizal and O-Sei-San met almost daily
and visited the interesting spots of the city. Rizal saw in lovely O-
Sei-San the qualities of his ideal womanhood – beauty, charm,
modesty, and intelligence. No wonder, he fell deeply in love with
her.
➢On April 13, 1888, Rizal left Japan. Broken-hearted by the
departure of Rizal, the first man to capture her heart, O-Sei-San
mourned for a long time the loss of her lover.
➢About 1897, a year after Rizal’s execution, she married Mr.
Alfred Charlton, a British chemistry teacher of the Peers’ School
in Tokyo. She died on May 1, 1947 at the age of 80.
 ROMANCE WITH GERTRUDE BECKETT
➢Rizal had a romance interlude with Gertrude Beckett, a English
girl with brown hair, blue eyes, and rosy cheeks. She fell in love
with Rizal.
➢The friendship of Rizal and Beckett drifted towards romance.
Rizal affectionately called her “Gettie”, in reciprocation, she
fondly called him “Pettie”.
➢As their flirtation was fast approaching the point of no return,
Rizal suddenly realized that he could not marry Gettie for he had
a mission to fulfill in life.
 ROMANCE WITH SUSANNE JACOBY
➢Rizal had a romance interlude with Suzanne Jacoby, the pretty
niece of his landladies in Belgium.
➢Rizal was so charming and dignified a gentleman that Susanne
was attracted to him. Rizal was lonely in a strange country and
Leonor Rivera was so far away. Naturally, being a normal young
man, he found certain bliss in the company of a pretty Belgian
girl.
➢Susanne cried when Rizal left toward the end of July 1890 for
Madrid.
 ROMANCE WITH NELLY BOUSTEAD
➢When Rizal arrived in Biarritz at the beginning of February
1891, he was warmly welcomed by the Bousteads. On an
emotional rebound, Rizal having lost his beloved Leonor, came
to entertain considerable affection for Nelly, the prettier and
younger daughter of his host.
➢With the encouragement of his close friends, Rizal courted
Nelly who, in turn, reciprocated his affection. Unfortunately,
their romance did not have a happy fairy tale finale. Rizal’s
marriage proposal failed for two reasons: (1) he refused to give
up his Catholic faith and be converted to Protestantism, as Nelly
demanded, and (2) Nelly’s mother did not like Rizal as a son-in-
law.
➢Although they could not get married, Rizal and Nelly parted as
good friends.
 ROMANCE WITH JOSEPHINE BRACKEN
➢Josephine Bracken is an Irish girl of sweet eighteen, slender, a
chestnut blond, with blue eyes, and dressed with elegant simplicity.
She was born in Hong Kong on October 3, 1876 of Irish parents –
James Bracken, a corporal in the British garrison and Elizabeth Jane
MacBride. Her mother died in childbirth and she was adopted by Mr.
George Tauffer, who later became blind.
➢Rizal and Bracken fell in love with each other at first sight. After a
whirlwind romance of one month, they agreed to marry. But Father
Obach, the priest of Dapitan, refused to marry then without the
permission of the Bishop of Cebu.
➢Since no priest would marry them, Rizal and Josephine held hand
together and married themselves before the eyes of God. They lived
as man and wife.
THANK YOU VERY
MUCH!!!