Romance with Consuelo ORTIGA y Perez

1. ROMANCE WITH CONSUELO ORTIGA
Y PEREZ
 Rizal was not a handsome man. In physique, he was neither
dashing nor imposing, for he was a shy small man – a few
inches above five feet in height. But he possessed an aura
of charisma due to his many-splendored talents and noble
character, which made him attractive to romantic young
women. No wonder the prettier of Don Pablo’s daughters
(Consuelo) fell in love with him.

2.  Rizal being a lonely man in a foreign country, far from his natal land,
was attracted by Consuelo’s beauty and vivacity. He even composed
a lonely poem on August 22, 1883 dedicated to her. In this poem titled
A La Senorita C. O. y P. (To Miss C. O. y P.) he expressed his admiration
for her. He found solace and joy in her company.
 However, before his romance with Consuelo could blossom into a
serious affair, he suddenly backed out for two reason:
 (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.

3. “They Ask Me For Verses.”
 In 1882 shortly after his arrival in Madrid, Rizal joined the Circulo
Hispano-Filipino (Hispano-Philippine Circle), a society of Spaniards and
Filipinos. Upon the request of the members of this society, he wrote a
poem entitled “Me Piden Versos” (They Ask Me For Verses) which he
personally declaimed during the New Year’s Eve recep- tion of the
Madrid Filipinos held in the evening of December 31, 1882.

4. “Rizal as Lover of Books”
 The Bible
 Hebrew Grammar
 Livesof the Presidents of the United States from Washington
 Complete Works of Voltaire (9 volumes)
 Complete Works of Horace (3 volumes)
 Complete Works of C. Bernard (16 volumes)
 History of the French Revolution
 The Wandering Jew
 Ancient Poetry

5.  Works of Thucydides
 The Byzantine Empire
 The Characters by La Bruyere
 The Renaissance
 Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
 Works of Alexander Dumas
 Louis XIV and His Court

6. “Rizal’s First Visit to Paris” (1883)
 During first summer vacationin Madrid Rizal went to Paris, sojourning in this
gay capital of France from June 17 to August 20, 1883. At first, he was
billetedat the Hotel de Paris on 37 Rue de Maubange; later, he moved to
a cheaper hotel on 124 Rue de Rennes in the Latin Quarter, where it was
cheaper to live.
 Rizal’s tourist Paris such as:
 The beautiful boulevard (parti-cularly the Champs Elysses)
 The Opera House
 The Place de la Concorde
 The Arch of Triumph
 The Boise de Boulogne (mag-nificent park)
 The Madelaine Church

7.  The Cathedral of Notre Dame
 The Column of Venom
 The Invalides (containing the tomb of Nopoleon the Great)
 The Fabulous Versailles
The world famous Louvre;
 The botanical garden
 Luxembourg(the libraries and art galleries)
 The Laennec Hospital
 The Lariboisiere Hospital
Rizal commentedin a letter to his family:
“Paris is the costliest capital in Europe”

8. “Rizal as a Mason”
 In Spain Rizal came in close contact with prominent Spanish liberal and republican
Spaniards, who were mostly Masons, including Miguel Morayta, statesman, professor,
historian, and writer, Francisco Pi y Margal, journalist, states man, and former President
of the short-lived First Spanish Repub lic; Manuel Becerra, Minister of Ultramar (Colonies);
Emili Junoy, journalist and member of the Spanish Cortes; and Joan Ruiz Zorilla,
parliamentarian and head of the Republican Progressive Party in Madrid.
 Rizal was impressed by the Spanish masons
 In March 1883, he joined the masonic lodge called Acacia in Madrid.
 Freemasonry’s aid in his fight against the friars in the Philippines.

9.  Later he transferred to Lodge Solidaridad (Madrid), where he became a Master
Mason on November15, 1890. Still later. On February 15, 1892, he was awarded
the diplomaas Master Mason by Le Grand Orient de France in Paris.”
 As a Mason, Rizal played a lukewarm role in Freemasonry. Unlike M.H. del Pilar,
G. Lopez Jaena, and Mariano Ponce who were very activein Masonic affairs. His
only Masonic writing was a lecture titled “Science, Virtue and Labor,” which he
del veredin 1889 at Lodge Solidaridad,Madrid.