Mother of An Jung-geun and a supporter of the independence movement; birth name Jo Seong-nyeo; Order of Merit for National Foundation (Patriotic Medal)
| Life | 1862 ~ 1927 |
| Era | 조선 말~일제강점기 |
| Clan | 배천 조씨 |
Jo Maria (6 May 1862 - 25 July 1927) was an independence activist and the mother of An Jung-geun, of the Baecheon Jo clan. Her birth name is given as Jo Seong-nyeo and Maria is her Catholic baptismal name. Her husband was An Tae-hun and their children included An Jung-geun, a daughter An Seong-nyeo, and sons An Jeong-geun and An Gong-geun; her mother is given as Lady Won. The An family is known as a household in Hwanghae Province that took up Catholic faith and a patriotic spirit, and she is remembered as the mother who steadied her children.
A confirmed activity is her part in the National Debt Repayment Movement. After An Jung-geun shot Ito Hirobumi at Harbin on 26 October 1909 and was executed on 26 March 1910, she is said to have gone into exile at Krasnoye on the Russian Maritime Province about two months later. She later helped provisional-government figures in Shanghai and was called a spiritual pillar or "godmother" of the independence camp. One account says she and Gwak Nak-won, the mother of Kim Gu, supported the movement together with the wives of provisional-government leaders.
The story that she told her son not to appeal, and the letter attributed to her, are widely known, but the An Jung-geun Peace Research Institute says the text is oral tradition and not a surviving record, so it cannot be stated as fact. She died in Shanghai in 1927, and in August 2008 the government posthumously conferred on her the Order of Merit for National Foundation, Patriotic Medal. She appears as a character in the films Dr. An Jung-geun (2004) and Hero (2022) and in the musical Hero.
Her husband was An Tae-hun and her children included An Jung-geun, An Seong-nyeo, An Jeong-geun and An Gong-geun. The An household is described as one of the families with the most independence-merit decorations, and Jo Maria stood at its center.
About two months after An Jung-geun's execution she went into exile at Krasnoye in the Maritime Province, and later helped provisional-government figures in Shanghai, working together with Gwak Nak-won and the wives of leaders according to one account.
A letter in which she tells her son not to appeal and to die righteously is widely known, but the An Jung-geun Peace Research Institute says it is oral tradition rather than a surviving record, so anecdote and confirmed fact should be read separately.
She was posthumously awarded the Patriotic Medal of the Order of Merit for National Foundation in August 2008 and has been portrayed in works including the films Dr. An Jung-geun and Hero and the musical Hero.
The location of her grave could not be confirmed; she died in Shanghai.
Her children included An Jung-geun, An Seong-nyeo, An Jeong-geun and An Gong-geun.