Rizal, The Romantic
By Rudy A. Arizala
30 December 2008
According to his biographers, Dr. Jose P. Rizal had at least nine women in his life. His first love was Segunda Katigbak of Batangas, Then he fell in love with Leonor Valenzuela of Pagsanjan, Leonor Rivera who became his sweetheart for 11 years; Consuelo Ortiga in Madrid, O-Sei San of Japan, Gertrude Beckett in London, Nellie Boustead in Berritz City after losing Leonor Rivera; Suzanne Jocoby in Brussels, and finally falling in love with an Irish girl named Josephine Bracken.
It was told that with reference to Leonor Rivera, Rizal fell in love deeply. So, when he received a letter from Leonor in October 1890, that she is marrying an Englishman named Henry Kipping, he took it badly. He could not help but pour his sorrows to his Austrian friend Blumentritt in the following words: "My sweetheart who was faithful to me for more than eleven years, is going to marry an Englishman, an engineer of the railway; well, so the first sledge hammer blow in the railway falls on me."
Five years later, when Rizal was already exiled in Dapitan, he met an Irish girl named Josephine Bracken who accompanied her stepfather, Mr. Taufer, to the clinic of Rizal in Dapitan for eye treatment. Rizal fell in love with her and they lived together as husband and wife without benefit of marriage . Shortly before Rizal was executed through a firing squad at Bagumbayan, he gave a book, "The Imitation of Christ" by Thomas Kempis, to Josephine with a dedication on the fly-leaf : "To my dear and unhappy wife, 30th December 1896."
Perhaps little is known that before meeting Josephine Bracken, Rizal in 1887, on his return voyage home from Europe, met an American woman married to a banker. It appears that both Rizal and this unnamed American woman were attracted to each other during that brief encounter on a train. Hereunder is an account by Amb. Leon Ma. Guerrero in his book, "The First Filipino, A Biography of Jose Rizal." (Page 168):
" . . . aboard the train from Marseilles; he (Rizal) swears he will never forget an American couple who shared meals with him on the express to Monaco. The man, a banker, was 'nondescript' but his wife had blue eyes and ' a smile as chaste as a Christian virgin's'. One thing he had not lost was his eye for the girls. The dialogue between the two went as follows:
"We shall hardly see each other again," he (Rizal) said when they parted.
"Who knows?" the Christian virgin replied. "I should certainly hope so."
"I am in the hands of fate."
"Really ? I believe it,"she said, and waved to him as the train pulled out.
"Well, what is there about me ?" he wrote Blumentritt with a touch of vanity. "I am neither rich nor handsome and, as Goethe says, I can go home unescorted."
So, there you are folks. Our national hero, had an eye for women, local or foreign - even for married but attractive woman, anytime, any place, anywhere,-be they on a train, at a public place or private home in various cities he visited. He was even willing to risk his life because of a woman. Rizal almost fought Antionio Luna in a duel because of Nellie Boustead. Antionio Luna who had also an eye for Nellie Boustead allegedly uttered incomplimentary remarks against her. The duel, however, was averted when Luna apologized for his remarks.
Rizal, whose 112th death anniversary we celebrate on 30th December, is noted not only for his patriotism but for his romanticism, as well.
E n d