St. Josephine Bakhita

Life

St. Bakhita was born around 1869 in Sudan. Kidnapped in childhood and sold into slavery, she forgot even her own original name from the overwhelming shock and fear. People called her "Bakhita" — meaning "the lucky one" — but her life was anything but lucky.

Passing through several owners, she suffered violence and abuse, leaving deep wounds on her body. However, coming to Italy marked a turning point in her life. Taking up residence at a Canossian convent to look after the daughter of her master, she realized for the first time that she was not someone's property but a single human being possessing dignity.

In 1890 she was baptized in Italy and received the name "Josephine Margaret," and in 1893 she entered the Canossian Daughters of Charity. In the convent she was called "the Black Mother" (Madre Moretta) — because she was someone whose presence was a consolation, someone who gave quiet but deep love.

A Life That Broke Even the Chains of Evil

The broken iron chains that symbolize St. Bakhita mean more than simply escaping the status of slavery. They signify a life that broke even the chains of evil, the chains of wounds, and the chains by which hatred breeds hatred. The saint forgave those who had trampled on her, and through that very suffering she grew into a person who loved all the more deeply.

After her death in 1947, the Church came to see the light of God ever more clearly within her life as time passed. Beatified in 1992, she was canonized in 2000 by Pope John Paul II, and today she is venerated as the Patron Saint of Sudan.

In 2015, Pope Francis designated her feast day, February 8, as the "International Day of Prayer Against Human Trafficking." St. Bakhita is not a figure confined to a painful story of the past; rather, she calls for deep reflection on the "modern slavery" that continues even in our own time.

God's love has always accompanied me in mysterious ways.

As a slave, I never once despaired, because I felt a mysterious power sustaining me.