RENZ PAOLO B.

RAMOS, MPA

DEPT. OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

ADAMSON UNIVERSITY
HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED FALLING
IN LOVE?
HOW WAS THAT LOVE?
• June 19, 1861—December 30, 1896
TIMELINE OF RIZAL’S LIFE
• 1861-1872-(infancy and childhood)
1872-1882-(Ateneo and UST)
1882-1887-(1st travel abroad, Madrid, Spain,
Ferdinand Blumentritt and Noli)
1888-1892-(2nd travel, Germany and Fili)
1892-1896-La liga, Dapitan & Execution 1861
Segunda Katigbak
#FIRSTLOVE
• Coded as “K” in his diary. He met SK on Dec. 8,
1877 in La Concordia College (Narcisa and
Olympia—Leonor Rivera were studying as a
boarding students.

• Infatuation--It was left unspoken. He was not able

to express his true feelings, although “actions
speak louder than words”.

• Described the 14yr old SK as virginal, engaging

and attractive, whom he describes as “not the
most beautiful woman I had even seen, but I have
not met another more alluring and beguiling,
from time to time she looked at me, I blushed
(Ocampo, 1990).
SEGUNDA KATIGBAK
• There were amorous intentions, he was
not able to express his true feelings. He
left SK hanging with her emotions. He
found out that SK was engaged to
Manuel Luz.
• Aborted love.
• Unknown, not much was
written about her.
MISS L.
Vicenta Ybardolaza
#AngPrettyColegialaNgLaguna

A native of Pakil, Laguna, Rizal met Vicenta on

1881, when they were both in high school. He
got infatuated with her when she performed
and played the harp in one of Rizal’s visit at the
Regalado’s home.
However, nobody knew what happened later
between the two.

It did not last long for it is only an infatuation.

Una Mestiza, Juan Luna.

For purposes of illustration only. There
are no extant photos of Vicenta
Ybardoloza.
Leonor Valenzuela
#TheGirlNextDoor
• “Orang”, as she is commonly known,
met Rizal as they were neighbors in
Intramuros. He was then a sophomore
medical student at the University at
Santo Tomas (1878); Leonor was only 14
years old. From Pagsanjan, Laguna
• Rizal sent her love notes written in
invicible ink that could only be
deciphered over the warmth of the lamp
or candle.
Leonor Valenzuela
#TheGirlNextDoor

• Some reports say that he was both

courting Orang and Leonor Rivera
(doble Leonor) at the same time. Rizal,
however, did say goodbye to Valenzuela
when he left for Spain in 1882 to pursue
further studies.
DOBLE LEONOR
Leonor Rivera
#OneTrueLove #WalangForever
• Rizal was 18 when he met his one great love,
Leonor Rivera, who was then only 13 (April 11,
1867). She was Rizal’s second cousin.
• Rivera’s parents, however, highly disapproved of
the relationship as Rizal was already being
branded as a filibustero. Pepe called her “Taimis” to
hide her identity in his letters.

• Before leaving for Europe, Rizal said that he had

found the woman he would like to marry;
however, his brother Paciano thought it unfair that
they be married while she is left alone in the
Philippines.
 Leonor Rivera
• Their letters to each other, however secretive it
was, was intercepted by Leonor’s mother
(Silvestra Bauson) who hid it from her daughter
by bribing a postman.
• In 1890, she wrote a letter to Rizal announcing
her engagement with Charles Henry Kipping, an
English engineer. The wedding pushed through.
• It is said that while she obediently burned
Rizal’s letters to her, she kept the ashes of these
letters, putting some in the hem of her wedding
gown.
 Leonor Rivera
• In 1893, Leonor Rivera Kipping died during
childbirth of her second child. Rizal was said
to fall silent and refused to speak for many
days according to his sister, Narcisa.
• Rizal was in Dapitan when Leonor died.
• Leonor Rivera’s memory is best immortalized
in the character of Maria Clara in the Noli me
Tangere – a tragic character of fiction derived
from very personal reality.
Leonor Rivera and Charles Henry
Kipping
Consuelo Ortega y Rey
#ReboundFling
• Daughter of Don Pablo Ortega y
Rey, Mayor of Manila during the
term of Carlos Maria dela Torre
as Governor-General of the
Philippines.
• Rizal met Consuelo in Madrid on
Sept. 16, 1882 as Don Pablo’s
house became a hangout of the
Filipino community in Madrid.
Consuelo Ortega y Rey
#ReboundFling
• As he was longing for the company of
Leonor Rivera, to whom he was
engaged, he showed affection to
Consuelo without pursuing her
seriously.
• However, Rizal wrote a poem to her “A
la Señorita C.O. y P.” (August 22, 1883)
• In the end, Consuelo was engaged to
Eduardo de Lete
Seiko Usui
#OSeiSanAh!!!
• In 1888, Rizal arrived in Japan on his
was to US from Hong Kong to take a job
offer at the Spanish Legation. He saw O
Sei San in Azabu district of Tokyo, pass
by the legation’s gates one day and
immediately asked their Japanese
gardener to introduce him to her. To his
great relief, the young lady also spoke
English and French, languages in which
he was fluent in.
Seiko Usui
#OSeiSanAh!!!
• Their relationship was short (only two
months) yet meaningful, as he found a
ready companion in O Sei San in
studying Japanese culture and customs.
• Rizal had to leave Japan to San
Francisco, so his plans to marry her did
not materialize. They never saw each
other again.
Gertrude Beckett
#UnrequitedLove #BeckettSisters
• Within the year after his relationship with O Sei
San, Rizal (27) went to London and met Gertrude
Beckett, the eldest daughter of his landlord.
• Rizal suddenly left London for Paris to avoid
Gertrude who was seriously in love with him.
Before leaving, he was able to finish the group
carving of the Beckett sisters. They had pet names
(Gertie for Gertrude, Pettie for Pepe). She even
assisted Rizal in doing his sculptures.

• Rumors circulating that the two were Rizal’s

amusements.
Suzanne Jacoby
#ThePetiteBelgianGirl
• Rizal moved to Brusels due to the high
cost of living in Paris brought about by
the International Exposition in 1890.
Suzanne Jacoby was the niece of
Rizal’s landlady during his stay in
Belgium in 1890.
• He lived in the boarding house of the
Jacoby sisters. Suzanne and Rizal fell
in love with each other. She cried when
Rizal left Brussels.
Nellie and Adelina Boustead
#MounAmour
• Nellie Boustead, daughter of a wealthy French family of
Eduardo Boustead in Biarritz. The family had been good
friends with Rizal. Adelina is older than Nellie. They
used to play fencing with the sisters together with
Antonio Luna—he courted Nelly (brewing love
triangle). Luna berated Rizal .

• He learned of Leonor Rivera’s engagement (seen crying

like a child) with Charles Kipping while in Biarritz, and
so he thought of pursuing a romantic relationship and
eventually proposed a marriage with Nellie.

• Nellie’s mother did not approve of the relationship, as

Rizal did not have the resources to support a future
family. Nellie also insisted that Rizal convert to
Protestantism, in which he refused.
Josephine Bracken
#TheLastGirlILoved
• The most controversial woman,
immortalized in Mi Ultimo Adios. Bracken
was born on October 3, 1876, orphaned
and was the adopted daughter of George
Taufer, (blind-issue of molestation) one of
Rizal’s patients in Dapitan.
• With or without JB, Rizal was already in
Dapitan (1895)—a whirlwind romance—
marriage proposal in less than a month.
• Fr. Antonio Obach’s objection (live-in).
Resented by his family esp Trinidad.
JOSEPHINE BRACKEN
Josephine Bracken
#TheLastGirlILoved
• Church Spy-aborted baby, Imitacion de
Cristo “To my dear and unhappy wife,
Josephine”
• She was misunderstood in the history
marred with controversy. Nevertheles,
Rizal loved her, being the last woman in
his life---married Antonio Abad, consul in
HK.
PERSONAL SKETCH (1ST SELFIE sent to Ferdinand Blumentritt)
 Ikaw, anong kwentong pag-ibig
mo?

Credits for this lecture to Prof. J.A. Lopez of Far Eastern University and the University of the Philippines