Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Weddings and Widows

(The connection between Rizal and Bonifacio. Click to enlarge)

It is interesting to note that because of the intermarriages of the old Katipunan families of Luzon the two foremost Filipino heroes, Dr. Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio, became cousins by marriage. More interesting here is the little historical twist: a widow from the Rizal family married into a family that became connected to Bonifacio because of another widow's remarriage.

Andres Bonifacio's widow was Gregoria de Jesus. After Bonifacio's death, Julio Nakpil married her. Nakpil, upon the request of Bonifacio, composed and wrote the lyrics of a national anthem called Marangal na Dalit ng Katagalugan. It is one of the what-ifs of history that if Bonifacio had his way and was not assassinated then Nakpil's song, and not Julian Felipe's "Lupang Hinirang", would have been our national anthem today.

A younger brother of Julio Nakpil was Ramon Melecio Nakpil who married Enriqueta Sancho. Their son, Angel Nakpil, was a famous architect. After the death of his first wife Angel Nakpil remarried Carmen Guerrero, who herself was a widow. Carmen's first husband, Ismael Cruz, was the grandson of Maria Rizal de Cruz, a sister of Dr. Jose Rizal.

So when the widow Carmen Guerrero married Angel Nakpil, himself the nephew of someone who remarried a widow, in 1952, the Philippine's two greatest heroes became cousins.

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