St. Josephine Bakhita

St. Josephine Bakhita (d. 1947) was born into a wealthy Sudanese family near Darfur. She was kidnapped when she was nine years old and forced into slavery. Her kidnappers named her Bakhita (“fortunate” in Arabic). She was sold and resold, beaten and tortured by her owners, until in 1883 she was purchased by a kind Italian consul who treated her well. He brought her to Italy to work as a nanny until, in 1889, the Italian government declared her a free woman and that she was being held as a slave illegally. She chose to stay in Italy and was baptized into the Catholic Church in 1890, and received her First Holy Communion from the future Pope St. Pius X. She took the Christian name of Josephine, and in 1896 entered the Institute of Canossian Daughters of Charity. She was affectionately called "Our Black Mother" by the Italians, her amiable spirit and warm heart winning the admiration of all during her fifty years of religious life. She was known for her charity towards children and the poor, her indomitable spirit during the hardship of slavery, and her joy in religious life. St. Josephine Bakhita is the patron of Sudan, and her feast has been designated the International Day of Prayer to Stop Human Trafficking. Her feast day is February 8th.