Christina "Sister Jacinta" Bracken (Missing Person)

Christina or Christine Bracken was a 39 year old  nun, originally from Ireland, who in the later part of 1978 moved to Swansea, Wales, to begin a new chapter in her life. After 6 months in Wales Christina, who went by her religious name Sister Jacinta, appeared to have settled in well and seemed happy. Shortly after lunch on Saturday May 19th 1979 Sister Jacinta took a walk into the city centre to buy a birthday present for her mother. While there were a few sightings of  Sister Jacinta that day (both confirmed and unconfirmed), she was never seen by anyone at the convent again and seemingly vanished into thin air. There are numerous theories and rumours about what happened to Sister Jacinta, including a startling piece of information that surfaced just a decade ago.

Sources for the episode can be found here

Transcript

Christina “Sister Jacinta” Bracken

Christina Bracken was born on November 26th 1939 and lived in Gorteen, Ballacolla in County Laois, Ireland. As a note sometimes her first name is given as Christine including on the Missing People Website. In 1978, while Christina was in her late 30’s, she took religious vows and became a nun in the order of Ursulines of Jesus. I do not know her motivation for doing this. Following this decision Christina moved across the Irish sea and started a new chapter in her life in Swansea, Wales. When she became a nun Christina adopted the name of Sister Jacinta. Changing one's name is common for people entering religious life as it symbolises a new identity and a new beginning. I am not sure why Christina chose the name Jacinta. It is a name of Spanish and Greek origin meaning hyacinth or beautiful. It is a relatively uncommon name but it does have a famous religious connection. Jacinta de Jesus Marto is one of three children, including her brother Francisco and a cousin, who witnessed several apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Fatima, Portugal in 1917. This series of unexplainable events is the subject of countless books, documentaries and podcasts. 9 year old Jacinta and her brother Francisco passed away during the influenza pandemic that ravaged the globe between 1918 and 1920. Fatima became a place of pilgrimage and Jacinta and Francisco became important figures in the Catholic faith. This culminated in both siblings being made saints by Pope Francis in 2017.

After arriving in Swansea, Sister Jacinta lived and served at the Stella Maris Convent situated on Eton Crescent in the Uplands area of the seaside town. Her main task was teaching music at the Catholic junior school which was run by the nuns from the convent.

Sister Jacinta was a popular figure and was well known in the local community. She could often be seen taking walks along the seafront and on shopping trips in the town centre. The South Wales Evening Post  March 9th 1994 described Sister Jacinta as having “an angel face” and with her striking nun’s habit she was a recognisable figure. She was well liked in the area because she spent a lot of time giving guitar lessons to neighborhood children. An acquaintance who worked in one of the churches Sister Jacinta would sometimes visit to spend time in quiet prayer and reflection said she was a lovely soul, though shy to the point of timidness. 

By the Spring of 1979, 39 year old Sister Jacinta had been living at the convent for 6 months. According to the Mother Superior of the convent, Sister Jacinta said she was very happy in Swansea.

Life at a convent is built on routine and rhythm. The morning of Saturday May 19th 1979 started out as normal for Sister Jacinta. She awoke early and took part in morning prayers with her fellow nuns before enjoying a breakfast of cereal and tea. Sister Jacinta then spent several hours marking children's homework. Around midday she broke for lunch, after which she helped to wash and put away the dishes. Sister Jacinta then made plans to go into the city centre to buy a birthday present for her mother, who lived back in Ireland in Rosslare, County Wexford. Sister Jacinta asked a colleague if she would like to join her for the walk into town but the other nun was unable to go. Instead they made arrangements to meet later and go for a walk then. Sister Jacinta left the convent and headed into town by herself. 

By dusk Sister Jacinta had not returned to the convent and her fellow nuns began to worry as this was not in keeping with her character. The alarm was raised and South Wales police were informed. Newspapers throughout Wales carried the story and asked the public to look out for the missing nun. Sister Jacinta was described as medium height with a slim build and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing a blue/grey skirt, blue blouse, cardigan, grey overcoat and small head veil.

A search of Sister Jacinta’s room found a ferry ticket to Ireland, indicating that the nun had made plans to return there. It's not clear if this was a return ticket and whether the trip to Ireland was just for a visit or more permanent. It does not seem she had spoken to anyone about this.

Inside the room police also found a quantity of money, but apart from that there were few personal possessions. The Irish times May 31 2006 states that all her belongings were found inside the room, but Tipperary Live January 13 2012 says that some of her belongings were missing, including her acoustic guitar which she loved to play and used to teach local children. This is quite a discrepancy and impacts one's thinking about potential explanations for Sister Jacinta’s disappearance. 

Police inquiries led to several people saying they had seen Sister Jacinta walking through the Uplands area of Swansea shortly after lunch on May 19th.  Additionally, two witnesses came forward to say they had seen Sister Jacinta later that day. Both witnesses were children who were taught by Sister Jacinta at the primary school. They saw her near the newly constructed Quadrant Shopping Centre. The Irish Times May 31 2006 explicitly mentions the Quadrant multi-storey car park which is by Wellington Street.

There is an additional later, unconfirmed sighting of Sister Jacinta. This sighting took place at St David’s Priory Church which is situated in St David’s Place and a mere five minute walk from the Quadrant Shopping Centre. A woman named Mary Jones who worked as a housekeeper at the church said she thought she saw Sister Jacinta on the afternoon of May 19th praying alone. Mary Jones knew Sister Jacinta as she would regularly visit the church to pray quietly. However, on this occasion Mary did not actually see the person's face but thought it looked like Sister Jacinta from behind. Mary believed it was the nun but could not be 100% certain. 

From my research I have discovered  a slight discrepancy in the following part of the story. Newspaper reports from the the 1990s onwards say that Sister Jacinta’s handbag was found near the shore the day after she went missing. The Irish Independent (August 14th 1979) says that it was found two weeks following her disappearance.

There is general agreement across reports that the item was found 9m (30ft) from the West Pier by a local boatman. West Pier is on the mouth of the River Tawe and about a 50 minute walk from the convent. Inside the handbag was a small amount of money and two pairs of nylon tights which had been bought at a local department store. It was deduced that these items were bought as a birthday present for Sister Jacinta's mother, thus proving she had made it to the shops before she vanished. 

What confused police was that the handbag was found in an area that was not on the most expedient route back to the convent from the city centre. Having said that, it was discovered that Sister Jacinta would sometimes walk back to the convent via the seafront. An article in Wales Online from 2021 makes the point that this area of Swansea has been highly developed into an attractive marina, but back in 1979 it was a largely run down place, littered with derelict warehouses and docks filled with deep water. Rather than sandy beaches there were vast mud banks . The area surrounding the West Pier was searched but nothing was found. 

Within days there was a lot of speculation and rumour concerning what had happened to Sister Jacinta.

Some thought she may have returned to Ireland. The ferry ticket found in her bedroom suggested that she had plans to return but why would she not take that ticket if this was her intention? Police checked records of ferry crossings to Ireland and interviewed staff at Welsh ports but came up with nothing. 

Another possibility was that Sister Jacinta had an accident and fell into the sea at Swansea beach, or into the River Tawe, which ran through the dockland area, and drowned. There was also a theory that Sister Jacinda had decided to end her own life by jumping into the sea. Yet another was that a third party may be involved and Sister Jacinta could be the victim of foul play. The problem with all of these suggestions was that the body had failed to turn up on the shore. According to an article in the Irish Independent from August 1979, (3 months after the disappearance) the coastguard said that if Sister Jacinta had been drowned the body would have washed up by now. 

There was talk that the nun may have been abducted but police had little to go on. Due to the nature of her work Sister Jacinta had been helping a homeless man, and one local rumour suggested he may be responsible for her disappearance. I can't see that this was based on any evidence; it was likely people grasping at straws, and, as far as I'm aware, the homeless man was never traced. 

There was a significant amount of building work going on in the dockland area of Swansea at the time , including the building of the new county hall. Speculation suggested that Sister Jacintat may have ended up being buried in the foundations of the building. Again,no proof of this has ever surfaced. 

One strange aspect of this case was that the day after Sister Jacinta went missing (Sunday May 20th 1979) another local woman disappeared. The woman was a 29 year old nurse who worked in a private nursing home in Eton Crescent. This building was next door to the primary school where Sister Jacinta worked. There was no known association between the two women but in the days following their disappearances police said they were keeping an open mind about whether the cases were connected. This was indeed a curious development and one that left investigators scratching their heads. By 22nd June 1979 (a little over a month after the disappearances) the 29 year old nurse was found to be alive and well and living in London after she wrote a letter to the nursing home. I am not sure as to the details of the nurse's disappearance but police did say at the time there was no known connection with Sister Jacinta. 

For many decades that's where the case stalled and Sister Jacinta’s disappearance faded into obscurity. Fifteen years after the disappearance the South Wales Evening Post ran a story on Sister Jacinta in which colleagues from the convent said they had not given up hope of finding her. There was, however, no news about the missing nun.

In 2006 South Wales police reviewed the case under the leadership of Detective Inspector Andy Hughes. As part of the effort key elements of Sister Jacinta's disappearance were reconstructed for BBC television. Try as I might I have failed to find this footage. Speaking at the time of the review, retired Detective Constable Jenny Brian, who had worked the case in 1979, said her opinion was that Sister Jacinta had fallen into Swansea dock and drowned. This theory was expanded upon in a BBC article which said that after falling into the deep water Sister Jacinta may have been sucked into a hole in the far end of the dock wall. According to the BBC article, in the original investigation the police had a clairvoyant draw a map of Swansea to help find the location of the hole. I believe the clairvoyant was a man from the Netherlands who claimed he knew where Sister Jacinta’s body could be found. 

At the end of the 6 month review it seems Detective Andy Hughes agreed that the evidence pointed to Sister Jacinta falling into the water but he couldn't say if this was an accident, if she jumped on purpose to end her life or if a third party was involved. 

The theory that Sister Jacinta’s body may be somewhere in the old dockland area of Swansea looked like it was going to be proven correct when human remains were found there in 2007. Members of Sister Jacinta's family in Ireland gave DNA samples to compare, but they proved not to be a match. It was not Sister Jacinta. And the mystery remained unsolved.

Over the years family members have never stopped searching for their loved one, employing private detectives and the services of psychics to try and find answers. After many decades, in 2012, some members of the family launched a fresh appeal in the Irish media in light of some astonishing news. New information had reached the family suggesting that Sister Jacinta had indeed travelled from Swansea to Cork and was currently living somewhere in Tipperary in the Republic of Ireland. 

Sister Jacinta's niece, who is named Jacinta after her aunt, said she hoped her aunt would see the story in the newspapers and come forward to meet her family. She urged that it was not too late and she could still come back. Many family members had since passed but in 2012 Sister Jacinta had a sister living in Rathdowney, a brother in Thurles and two more sisters, one in Australia and another in England who were still hopeful for a reunion. 

Sister Jacinta was encouraged to make contact with the Tipperary Star newspaper, in confidence. A telephone number was even published which would directly connect Sister Jacinta with her niece. 

I do not know what happened to this appeal but from information on the Doe network, and missingpeople.org.uk Sister Jacinta is still classed as a missing person. No passport or death has been registered under her name.

Christina or Christine Bracken is also known as 'Sister Jacinta'. 

Christina, whenever you are ready the organisation Missing People is here to listen and support you and can pass on any messages. You can call or text them for free, confidentially on 116 000.

Members of the public can report a sighting by calling or texting for free MIssing People 9am-11pm on 116 000 or by emailing 116000@missingpeople.org.uk