Introduction
As we celebrate National Women’s Month, we also remember the two women who lit the lives of two illustrious Filipinos – Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio.. The popular adage, ”Behind a successful man is a woman” is apt for both Gregoria de Jesus and Josephine Bracken. These women supported their partners through thick or thin, leaving an indelible mark on the lives of our heroes. Their love and commitment, shown even amidst tremendous grief and distress, gave strength to Bonifacio and Rizal even in their last moments. Circumstantially, both de Jesus and Bracken share the same day of the month in the moment of their passing, which gave added meaning and significance to both lives and the destinies they shared.
Childhood and family background
Gregoria de Jesus, nicknamed “Oryang”, was born on 9 May 1875 at 13 Baltazar Street, (now Zamora) which is now part of the City of Caloocan. Her parents were Nicolas de Jesus (a master mason, carpenter, and government official who once held the rank of second lieutenant, chief lieutenant, and soon, gobernadorcillo) and Baltazara Alvarez Francisco who was related to the Alvarezes of Cavite. In her short autobiography, Oryang detailed her educational background: she attended public school and finished the first grades of instruction. She was a winner in an examination given by the Governor-General and the town curate, having garnered a silver medal.
She stopped schooling to help her sister manage their business so that their brothers could study in Manila (indicating the situation of women at that time wherein males were prioritized in obtaining education). She supervised their land, stet, and rice harvest, while paying the wages of their workers on Sunday mornings.
Josephine’s childhood was in stark difference compared to Oryang. Josephine’s father, James Bracken, was a corporal in the British Army and as such, was assigned to several British posts around the world. Her siblings were born in different British military outposts, while she was born on 9 August 1876 in Hong Kong. Her mother, Elizabeth Jane MacBride, died giving birth to her. As a soldier and a single parent raising his children, it was a difficult task for James Bracken. He was forced to give up Josephine for adoption.
The next chapter of Josephine’s life was spent with the Taufer household. George Taufer, a former machinist from New York, became her adopted father. She had a good relationship with the Taufer couple until the death of Mrs. Taufer on 8 October 1882 due to a heart disease. She was only seven years old when it happened. Soon, Mr. Taufer remarried again. However, another tragedy befell the family as his second wife got ill again and died on 26 April 1890. It was painful for both father and daughter to experience these tragedies within the family.
But the worst was yet to come. Mr. Taufer married for the third time on 12 November 1891. His third wife caused so much trouble for Josephine that she decided to run away on 12 December 1891. She was temporarily sheltered in an Italian convent. Two months had passed by when Mr. Taufer begged Josephine to come back as his third wife was starving him. Being the loving daughter that she was, she relented and went back to the Taufer household on 3 February 1892. On 14 September, as she detailed in her very short autobiography, she expelled the third wife from the household.
Josephine Bracken, in conclusion, lived a very challenging childhood and teenage life.
Meeting their husbands and familial objections
Andres Bonifacio was one of the (young) men who made a visit to Gregoria de Jesus when she was 18 years old. Teodoro Plata, her cousin, introduced Andres to Gregoria. Soon, with Andres’ perseverance, Oryang fell in love with him. But their situation was difficult. Oryang’s parents were reluctant with the blossoming relationship to begin. Furthermore, Oryang’s father objected to Bonifacio as he was a Mason, who was, at the time, branded as heretics, separatists, and anti-friar.
Soon, her parents gave in, and they were allowed to marry. The couple first married through a Catholic rite at Binondo Church in March 1893. A week after, they were married again and officiated in Katipunan rites, and attended by their fellow Katipuneros. There, she adopted the title ‘Lakambini’ and was sworn to obey the Katipunan charter.
Similarly, Jose Rizal and Josephine Bracken’s relationship met the same hurdle with the objection of their families. When Mr. George Taufer began to experience problems with his eyes and no ophthalmologist in Hong Kong could cure him, he opted to visit Dr. Jose Rizal in the Philippines to seek treatment. The old man was accompanied by Josephine Bracken along with her sister and a servant. Meeting them in Dapitan while in exile, Rizal was smitten with Josephine. Mr. Taufer and Josephine’s stay in Dapitan were a time of fleeting happiness and revelation for both Rizal and Bracken’s feelings for each other. When the Taufers left Dapitan, Rizal asked for Josephine’s hand, which the old man objected to. The family left but Josephine went back to Rizal’s side.
As Mr. Taufer objected to Rizal’s proposal of marriage to Josephine Bracken, it was the same with the Rizal family. Most of them suspected Josephine as a spy. Rizal tried to mend the estranged ties of Josephine with his family. In many of the letters he wrote, Rizal always praised Josephine in an effort to win his family over for her. He indicated how Josephine prepared food the family had sent to Dapitan and how she had cared for him.
In his letter to his mother, Teodora Alonso, dated 14 March 1895, Rizal introduced Josephine to his mother. He pleaded with his mother to treat her as if she was her own. He explained that “she is almost alone in the world; she has only very distant relatives.”
Rizal would have married Josephine Bracken while they were in Dapitan. But due to the perceived masonic leanings of Rizal, even when Josephine was a Catholic, the priests refused them the rite of marriage. Unlike Andres Bonifacio and Gregoria de Jesus who consummated their marriage, the couple were only allowed to marry each other hours before Rizal’s execution, and with the claimed retraction of Rizal and his alleged return to the Catholic faith.
Young lasses fell in love with older gentlemen
Both ladies fell in love with much older men. Oryang was only eighteen years old when she married Andres Bonifacio who was thirty years old, in 1893. Meanwhile Josephine was only eighteen years old when she met Jose Rizal in Dapitan. When they were married on 30 December 1896, Josephine was twenty-years old, and Jose Rizal, thirty-five years old.
Living with their husbands
As wives, both Gregoria de Jesus and Josephine Bracken diligently fulfilled their roles. Being the Lakambini of the Katipunan, Gregoria was with Andres Bonifacio as he carried out his duties as President of the Katipunan. She also made sure that Katipunan items such as seals, documents, and weapons were kept in safety. Whenever the Spaniards conducted surprise inspections, she was able to hide them, and transport them to a safer place while evading authorities.
Josephine, on the other hand, returned to Dapitan in April 1895. In his letter to his family, Rizal divulged the couple’s decision for Josephine to stay with him for good.. Having been barred to marry in the duration of Rizal’s exile in Dapitan, Rizal and Josephine Bracken lived as common-law husband and wife.
Death of their infants
Tragedy struck both couples. Andres and Oryang had a child named Andres but he contracted chickenpox months after his birth, finally succumbing to death. Meanwhile, Jose and Josephine’s baby, named Peter by Josephine and Francisco by Rizal’s sisters, was stillborn. Rizal buried his son near the gazebo and burned it down when he was to leave for Cuba in 1896.
Revolutionary activities
In the underground Katipunan movement, Gregoria and other women members served as fronts whenever male members were secretly holding a meeting. Together with Benita Rodriguez, they sewed the Katipunan flag. When the revolution broke out, de Jesus hid and avoided arrest. She used the alias “Manuela Gonzaga” to hide her identity. Soon, she joined Andres in Balara en route to Cavite. During the revolution, she tagged along with Andres whether in the open battlefields or in getting through the mountains on foot. She learned to ride the horse and shoot a rifle. She also experienced sleeping on the ground, drinking dirty water, and enduring hunger for a day. She also experienced hardships in the hands of fellow Filipinos. Oryang endured all of these for her love for Bonifacio and the country.
After the execution of Rizal, Josephine stayed in the company of Paciano, Trinidad and Josefa Rizal. In Cavite, they met Andres Bonifacio and joined the revolution. This was perhaps the only time she and Gregoria de Jesus met. She helped in the installation of a field hospital in Tejeros. She was also at the firing line, holding a mauser at the Battle of Perez Dasmariñas. When Cavite was on the verge of defeat, she escaped to Laguna with Paciano. She went back to Hong Kong through Manila with the aid of Venancio Cueto.
Final days of their husbands
Gregoria de Jesus was separated from Andres Bonifacio when the latter was arrested and stood on trial in Maragondon, Cavite. After Andres was executed in the mountains of Maragondon, Gregoria searched for him, hoping that she could, at the very least, get the remains, but to no avail.
In contrast, Jose Rizal and Josephine Bracken were able to re-unite in Rizal’s final moments. Two hours before Rizal’s execution, as per the documents in the Cuerpo de Vigilancia showed, they were able to marry through a Catholic rite.
A second chance at love
After the death of Andres Bonifacio, Oryang laid low in Pasig, probably in the mountains of the present-day Rizal province. There, she met Julio Nakpil, an ally of Andres Bonifacio and commander of all the Katipinan troops in the north. In a time of grief and loss, Oryang found the courage to live again. She fell in love marriage with Nakpil, and were able to marry on 10 December 1898 in the church at Quiapo, Manila. They were allowed to live in the house of Dr. Ariston Bautista whose wife, Petrona Nakpil, was a sister of her husband. Their union brought forth eight children whom Dr. Bautista supported. One of the couple’s children was the National Artist for Architecture Juan Nakpil.
Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, Bracken found refuge in the family of Felipe Agoncillo. There, she met Vicente Abad and they got married on 15 December 1898. They had a daughter named Dolores. After some time, Bracken returned to the Philippines and taught English in Cebu. One notable student of hers was Commonwealth president, Sergio Osmeña.
Quincenas Catapusan
Gregoria lived a long life. She died on 15 March 1943 from a heart disease. She was sixty-eight years old. She was buried at the La Loma Cemetery.
Josephine Bracken, on the other hand, contracted tuberculosis in the larynx at the time of her marriage with Vicente Abad in 1898. She eventually died in Hong Kong on 15 March 1902. She was buried at Happy Valley Cemetery.
The lives of Gregoria de Jesus and Josephine Bracken were quite similar in a sense that their lives were changed when they both fell in love with men of renown. Down to their last breath, they shared the day of death, 15 March, only forty-one years apart.
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