Josephine Bracken was born on August 9,1876 in Hongkong .She was of Irish parentage. Her father,James Bracken was a corporal and detachment schoolmaster in a regiment stationed in the Crown Colony.A few days after her birth, her mother, Elizabeth Jane Mackbride, died .Bracken was left with five motherless children, so he gave the latest to George Taufer, a German-American boiler engineer working in the mechanical department of the Hongkong Fire Insurance. Taufer's wife died when Josephine was seven years old. A year after, he married again. His second wife died when Josephine was 15 years old. That time, his blindness was starting to set in. He married again, but his third wife mistreated Josephine,so she left their home and sought refuge in an Italian convent. Taufer came to her, begged her to return because his wife was starving him. Josephine returned and instead of fleeing from her cruel stepmother, she drove her out of the house.In 1895, Taufer was totally blind. He sold his properties and let Josephine seek out Dr. Jose Rizal who,while in Hongkong,, has gained reputation as an eye doctor. In February 1895, the eighteen-year-old Josephine Bracken came to Dapitan with her adoptive father, George Taufer. Less than a month after meeting her,Rizal proposed to marry Josephine. Rizal could have perceived in her the qualities he felt the Filipina tragically lacked: "firmness of character and lofty ideas". He described her as a "sweet friend that lightened my way".Josephine accepted Rizal without question,embracing his philosophy and creed, serving as his light in the darkest days of his life. Father Obach, the parish priest of Dapitan refused to marry them without Rizal's retraction of his political writings, so he decided to live with her without the benefit of a church wedding.There was no civil marriage in the Philippines that time, so, with Rizal's mother's permission, they were married by holding hands in the presence of two witnesses. Josephine proved to be a versatile housewife.Rizal was proud and pleased with her. She proved to be a good wife and made him only too happy. He told his family,"I greatly esteem and hold her dear, I would not wish to see her imperilled and abandoned.Besides,she has nobody else in this world but me.I am all her family."To Josephine, with Joe, she felt like " a child on its mother's knee" during the 28 months of their life together.
Josephine was fond of Rizal's nephew, Mauricio.One time, she saw him topple down the chair, but she caught him before he hit the floor. The act strained her, so she had abortion.She gave birth to a premature baby boy. Rizal christened him Francisco II,after his father.He buried his only offspring near his garden plot.
On December 29,1896, Josephine spent the whole night before Rizal's,execution , on her knees in prayer in front of the door where her husband was held in prison. It was just before six'oclock in the morning of December 30, that Josephine was allowed to see him. At this moment, Rizal and Josephine were formally married in the Catholic Church by Father Balaguer, one of the Jesuits that stayed with Rizal during the night. After the marriage, Rizal asked Josephine , "What would you do for a living ? What will become of you?". Josephine bitterly replied,"I will just teach English for a living.".When asked by Rizal what she'll do after his death, she bravely answered,she'll go to Imus to join the rebels.(She did, serving as a muse and nurse for the revolutionists). No doubt, Rizal loved her dearly. His last thoughts were of her; she was in Rizal's thoughts when he wrote his "Ultimo Adios"_his "sweet foreigner": "Adios , dulce estrangera, mi amiga, mi alegria".And in his copy of the Imitation of Christ which he was reading the night before he died, and which he gave to her before they parted,he had written: "To my dear and unhappy wife.".
Josephine asked for the remains of her husband, but she was refused. She swore to avenge his death.With a revolver and a dagger, she reached the rebels' camp. They gave her a Mauser gun which they captured from Spanish troops. She joined the insurgents in Cavite and later returned to Manila. She stayed in Iloilo for sometime where she taught English. In 1898,she married Vicente Abad, a Filipino by whom she had a daughter .She taught in a public school in Manila. A year after, she died in Hongkong and was buried in the Catholic section of the Happy Valley Cemetery beside the grave of her adoptive father, George Taufer, the blind man who led her to her fate with Rizal.
References:Philippine Free Press, December 8,1956 and Philippine Panorama, June 19,1977
Comment:
One cannot only be a Filipino by being born to this country but through his noble desire to make this nation free, to help the people uplift their prestige, to enlighten their minds and unfold to them the true essence and concept of nationalism.
It is an opportunity to be born a Filipino, but few have ever taken advantage of being one. Josephine, a woman at that, baptized herself through her noble desire to help the Filipino in time of war and peace. She could have taught other people's children,could have left the country for another more prosperous and peaceful land . But she chose to stay and help her husband's people. Rizal wanted his woman to be brave and courageous to stand for her rights. He hinted this in his Letter to the Women of Malolos. He was glad that he had found this woman, Josephine,who possessed what he wanted to find in every Pilipina . Precisely, Josephine deserves a niche in the heart of the Filipinos. _ Maria Luisa.
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