n 1869 a young seven-year-old girl of Darfur, Sudan was seized by Arab slave traders and treated very harshly by her slave owners.  Due to the trauma of her abduction and harsh treatment, she could not remember how own name, so the slavers called her “Bakhita,” which, ironically, means “lucky” or “fortunate.”

But after these six years, she eventually ended up with an Italian family who treated her very kindly.  Through them she encountered the Canossian Sister in Venice, Italy.  It was here that Bakhita learned about Christianity.  Bakhita said, “Those holy mothers instructed me with heroic patience and introduced me to God who from my childhood I had felt in my hear without knowing who He was.”  At 21 years of age, she gave her life to Christ and, received the Sacraments of Initiation, being baptized with the name “Josephine.”  From then on, she was often seen kissing the baptismal font and saying: ‘Here, I became a daughter of God!’

Josephine Bakhita then chose to remain with the Sisters, and to freely give all of her life to Christ.  At age 27 she took her final vows as a Canossian Sister, where she lived and served for another 50 years living as a true witness of the love of God.  She was kindly with children, and it was said that  her amiable voice, which had the inflection and rhythm of the music of her country, was pleasing to the little ones, comforting to the poor and suffering, and encouraging for those who knocked at the door of the Institute.

Her humility, her simplicity and her constant smile won the hearts of all.  She was esteemed for her inalterable sweet nature, her exquisite goodness, and her deep desire to make the Lord known.  “Be good, love the Lord, pray for those who do not know Him. What a great grace it is to know God!”

A young student once asked Bakhita: “What would you do, if you were to meet your captors?” Without hesitation she responded: “If I were to meet those who kidnapped me, and even those who tortured me, I would kneel and kiss their hands. For, if these things had not happened, I would not have been a Christian and a religious today”

Saint Josephine Bakhita is venerated as a modern African saint, and as a statement against the brutal history of slavery. She has been adopted as the patron Saint of Sudan and human trafficking survivors.

Pope John Paul II said of her ” Bakhita…The daughter of Sudan sold into slavery as a living piece of merchandise and yet still free. Free with the freedom of the saints.”

Bakhita’s legacy is that transformation is possible through suffering. Her story of deliverance from physical slavery also symbolizes all those who find meaning and inspiration in her life for their own deliverance from spiritual slavery.  St. Josephine Bakhita’s life story is an outstanding example of Christian hope.

Peace,

-Fr. Kevin