Are you the type of girl to fall in love

with guys who sent handwritten letters?

 Chapter VI
Rizal, as Lover
Group 3 Portes L.
Modestano Portes R.
Navarro Postre
Paleracio Pureza
Palomado Ramos
Pepello
 There were at least 9 women linked with
Rizal…
These women was said to be beguiled by
Rizal’s intelligence, charm and wit.
1. Segunda Katigbak

• Segunda was Rizal’s

puppy love
• She was engaged to be
married to a town mate‒
Manuel Luz
• Segunda was the daughter of Don Norberto
Calao Katigbak and Justa Metra Luz Katigbak.
• At a young age, Segunda was sent by her
parents to Manila’s best school for girls, the
Colegio de la Concordia in Paco where she
became an interna to the nuns.
• Her elder brother Mariano was sent to Ateneo
de Municipal in Intramuros .
• Segunda first met Rizal in a party of a relative
of Rizal in Manila.
 Resigning to fate, Rizal wrote: “Ended at an
early hour, my first love! My virgin heart will always
mourn the reckless step it took on the flower-decked
abyss. My illusions return, yes, but indifferent,
uncertain, ready for the first betrayal on the path of
love.”

“(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 auro of sylph, I don’t know
what alluring something was all over her being…”
2. Leonor Valenzuela
• Leonor was a tall girl from
Pagsanjan.
• Rizal sent her love notes
written in invisible ink and
could only be read through
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 met Rizal during his
sophomore in his medical studies in the
University of Santo Tomas. He boarded in
the house of Doña Concha Leyva in
Intramuros, and the next‒ door neighbor
was Capitan Juan and Capitana Sanday
Valenzuela; parents of Leonor Valenzuela.
 Rizal was always welcome at the
Valenzuela home, he was the life of the social
parties because of his clever sleight of hand
tricks. Unfortunately, they didn’t end up being
together.
3. Leonor Rivera
• She was Rizal’s sweetheart for
11 years.
• Played the greatest influence in
keeping Rizal from falling in
love with other women during
his travel.
• Leonor’s mother disapproved
the relationship with Rizal, who
was then a known filibustero
and hid all letters sent by Rizal.
• Leonor end up marrying the
Englishman Henry Kipping, her
mother’s choice.
 Leonor Rivera came from
Camiling, Tarlac was the daughter of
Antonio Rivera and Silvestra Bauzon.
Leonor’s father who was one of the
few persons who conspired in Jose’s
secret departure to Spain is the cousin
of Jose’s father, Francisco Mercado.
4. Consuelo Ortiga y Rey
• The prettier among Don
Pablo Ortiga’s daughters fell
in love with Rizal.
• He dedicated her a poem
titled A la Señorita C.O. y
Rey, which became one of
his best poems.
• Turned into a serious
romance because he wanted
to be loyal to Leonor Rivera
also he did not want to ruin
his friendship with Eduardo
de Lete who was madly in
love with Consuelo.
 Don Pablo Ortiga y Rey is the Spanish
liberal and former mayor of Manila who became
Vice-President of the Council of the Philippines
in the Ministry of Colonies.
Very supportive to the Filipinos in Madrid, Don
Pablo’s house was the common meeting place of
‘Circulo Hispano-Filipino’ members like Rizal.
The Ortiga residence was frequented by Filipino
lads especially that Don Pablo had beautiful
daughters.
5. O Sei San
• A Japanese samurai who
taught Rizal the Japanese art
of painting
• Known as su-mie and help
Rizal improved his
knowledge of Japanese
language.
• Rizal would’ve marry O Sei
San and live a stable and
happy life with her in Japan
if he didn’t have a patriotic
mission.
 It was during Rizal’s second trip abroad
when he met Seiko Usui. From Hong Kong, he
arrived in Japan in February 1888 and moved to
Spanish Legation in the Azabu district of Tokyo
upon the invitation of an official in the legation.
6. Gertrude Beckett
• When Rizal was in London
annotating the Sucesos de las
Islas Filipinas,
• He boarded in the house of
Beckett family. Gertrude, a
blue-eyed and buxom girl and
the oldest of the three Beckett
daugthers fell in love with
Rizal.
• But Rizal suddenly left
London for Paris to avoid
Gertrude. He gave her the
group carving of her with her
sisters that he finished as a
sign of their brief friendship.
 Coming from brief stay in Japan and
United States of America, Rizal chose to live in
the capital city of the United Kingdom on May
1888. Gertrude was sometimes called ‘Gettie’ or
‘Tottie’ who was a curvy lady with cheerful blue
eyes, brown hair, rosy cheeks, and thin lips.
7. Nellie Boustead
• Rizal having lost Leonor Rivera,
entertained the thought of courting
other ladies.
• Rizal was a guest of the Boustead
family in their resort city of Biarritz in
February 1891, he befriended the two
pretty daughters of Eduardo Boustead.
• He used to fence with the sisters at the
studio of Juan Luna. Juan’s brother
Antonio Luna, also a frequent visitor of
the Bousteads courted Nellie but she
was deeply infatuated with Rizal.
 Perceiving Jose Rizal’s courtship to Nellie,
his compatriot Marcelo H. del Pilar teased the
lover boy by suggesting that his first novel
should be renamed ‘Nelly Me Tangere’. Rizal
wrote some of his friends about his affection for
Nelly and his idea of proposing marriage to her.
8. Suzanne Jacoby

• In 1890, Rizal moved to

Brussels because of the high
cost of living in Paris.
• He lived in the boarding
house of the two Jacoby
sisters in Brussels.
• In time, Rizal fell in love
with Suzanne and she cried
when Rizal left Brussels and
wrote him when he was in
Madrid.
 Suzanne Jacoby was a Belgian lady whom
Rizal met when he was 29. It was said that when
Jose Rizal left her place, her dream was to follow
him and to travel with the Filipino lover boy who
was always in her thoughts.
9. Josephine Bracken
• Marie Josephine Leopoldine Bracken
was born on August 9, 1876 in
Victoria, Hong Kong.
• She was the youngest of the five
children of an Irish couple; British
army corporal James Bracken and
Elizabeth Jane MacBride.
• A few days after giving birth to
Josephine,her mother Elizabeth died.
Her father decided to give her up for
adoption to her childless godparents,
American George Taufer.
 In Jose Rizal’s own words, she was his dear
wife. A few hours before his execution, they
embraced for the last time and gave her a
souvenir a religious book with his dedication,
“To my dear unhappy wife, Josephine.”
References
https://www.geni.com/people/Segunda-Katigbak/6000000002593265961/
https://www.coursehero.com/file/18162831/Leonor-Valenzuela/
https://www.ourhappyschool.com/history/leonor-rivera-jose-rizals-true-love
https://www.ourhappyschool.com/history/consuelo-ortiga-y-rey-crush-ng-
bayan-rizals-time
https://www.ourhappyschool.com/history/seiko-usui-jose-rizals-japanese-
girlfriend-0
https://www.ourhappyschool.com/music-and-arts/gertrude-beckett-jose-rizals-
fling-london
https://www.ourhappyschool.com/history/nellie-boustead-jose-rizals-almost-
wife
https://www.ourhappyschool.com/history/suzanne-jacoby-jose-rizals-fling
https://www.ourhappyschool.com/history/josephine-bracken-jose-rizals-dear-
and-unhappy-wife