Submitted by admin on Tue, 08/27/2013 - 07:50
Josephine MacBride Bracken, the daughter of James Bracken and Elizabeth Jane MacBride, was brought into life on August 9, 1876 in Hong Kong at Victoria Barracks.
She is the petite Irish woman who truthfully loved and at the same time fascinated the Philippine national hero. She became known in history as Jose Rizal’s common-law wife.
Listed below are 15 interesting facts about Josephine Bracken:
1. Josephine was adopted by a German-American machinist from New York, George Leopold Taufer, from whom her other name “Leopoldine” was taken.
Submitted by admin on Tue, 08/06/2013 - 05:11
Submitted by admin on Tue, 08/06/2013 - 04:57
Do you know who painted the famous Spoliarium? Yes, that’s right, it’s Juan Luna, a name we often hear when we were in elementary and high school. But do you know his other accomplishments and downfalls?
Below are 10 interesting and controversial facts about our National artist, Juan Luna.
1. Juan Novicio Luna was born on October 23, 1857 in Badoc, Ilocos, Philippines. (socyberty.com)
2. He was the third among the seven children of Don Joaquin Luna de San Pedro y Posadas and Doña Laureana Novicio y Ancheta. (wikipedia.org)
Submitted by admin on Tue, 08/06/2013 - 01:31
If only Jose Rizal had no patriotic mission and no political will, he would have married her and settled in Japan for good.
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 the Spanish Legation in the Azabu district of Tokyo upon the invitation of an official in the legation.
One day, Rizal saw Seiko passing by the legation in one of her daily afternoon walks. Fascinated by her charm, Rizal inquired and learned from a Japanese gardener some basic information about her. The next day, Rizal and the Japanese gardener waited at the legation gate for Seiko. Acting as a go-between and interpreter, the gardener introduced the gracious Filipino doctor and the pretty Japanese woman to each other. The gardener’s role as intermediary was cut short however when Seiko spoke in English. She also knew French, and so she and Rizal began to converse in both languages.
Submitted by admin on Tue, 08/06/2013 - 01:27
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.
Suzanne Jacoby was a Belgian lady whom Rizal met when he was 29. To somewhat economize in his living expenses, he left the expensive city of Paris and went to Belgium in January 1890. Along with his friend Jose Albert, Rizal arrived in Brussels on February 2 and stayed in the boarding house managed by two Jacoby sisters, Suzanne and Marie (some references say “Catherina and Suzanna”). It was said that Rizal had a transitory romance with the petite niece of his landladies, Suzanne.
Submitted by admin on Tue, 08/06/2013 - 00:58
Perceiving Jose Rizal’s imminent courtship to her, his compatriot Marcelo H. del Pilar teased the lover boy by suggesting that his first novel should be renamed ‘Nelly Me Tangere’.
Nellie Boustead, also called Nelly, was the younger of the two pretty daughters of the wealthy businessman Eduardo Boustead, son of a rich British trader, who went to the Orient in 1826. The Bousteads hosted Rizal’s stay in Biarritz in February 1891 at their winter residence, Villa Eliada on the superb French Riviera. Rizal had befriended the family back in 1889-90 and used to fence with the Anglo-Filipino Boustead sisters (Adelina and Nellie) at the studio of Juan Luna.
Having learned Leonor Rivera’s marriage to Henry Kipping, Rizal entertained the idea of having romantic relation with the highly educated, cheerful, athletic, beautiful, and morally upright Nellie. He wrote some of his friends (though remarkably except Ferdinand Blumentritt) about his affection for Nelly and his idea of proposing marriage to her.
Submitted by admin on Mon, 08/05/2013 - 08:27
ON TOP OF BEING DUBBED as Jose Rizal’s “childhood sweetheart,” “betrothed,” and “lover by correspondence,” she was widely considered as the hero’s “true love”.
Submitted by admin on Mon, 08/05/2013 - 06:32
She was probably very likable because at least two Filipinos in Spain in Jose Rizal’s time had had feelings for her.
Consuelo Ortiga y Rey was considered the prettier of the daughters of Don Pablo Ortiga y Rey, 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 thus frequented by Filipino lads especially that Don Pablo had beautiful daughters.
Consuelo recorded in her diary that she first met Rizal on September 16, 1882 when he went to Spain for the first time primarily to study. The diary entry indicated that they talked the whole night and that the young Filipino said many beautiful things about her. The Spanish ladyalso wrote of a day Rizal spent at their house when he entertained them with his ingenious humor, elegance, and sleight-of-hand tricks.
Submitted by admin on Mon, 08/05/2013 - 05:30
Andres Bonifacio Y de Castro also known as Andres Bonifacio was the leader of the ‘Kataastaasang Kagalanggalangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan’ (KKK) or Katipunan. He was born in Tondo, Manila on November 30, 1863 and died in May 10, 1897 at the age of 33.
The following are some remarkable information about the hero:
1. Upon baptism he was named after a saint on whose feast he was born, Andrew the Apostle. (Wikipedia.com)
2. He was arrested and executed by his own men who joined with Emilio Aguinaldo in the mountains of Maragondon, Cavite on May 10, 1897. (Blogspot.com)
Submitted by admin on Mon, 08/05/2013 - 05:00
Nicknamed Orang,
Leonor Valenzuela was commonly described as a tall girl with regal bearing who was Rizal’s province-mate. She was the daughter of
Capitan Juan and
Capitana Sanday Valenzuela, who were from Pagsanjan, Laguna.
Orang was Rizal’s neighbor when he boarded in the house of Doña Concha Leyva in Intramuros during his sophomore year at the Universityof Santo Tomasas medicine student. To finally move on perhaps from his unsuccessful love story with Segunda Katigbak, Rizal frequently visited Orang’s house with or without social gatherings. The proofs that Rizal indeed courted her were the love letters he sent her. His love notes were mysteriously written in invisible ink made of common table salt and water, which could be read by heating the note over a candle or lamp.
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