The Remarkable Journey of Sudan's First Saint

Saint Josephine Bakhita stands as one of the most inspiring figures in modern Catholic history—a woman whose journey from the unspeakable horrors of slavery to the radiant sanctity of religious life demonstrates the transforming power of God's grace. Canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 1, 2000, during the Great Jubilee Year, she became the first person from Sudan to be declared a saint and is now honored as the patron saint of Sudan and of victims of human trafficking and modern slavery.

Her life story is not merely a tale of survival, but a profound witness to Christian hope, forgiveness, and the redemptive love of Christ that can transform even the darkest suffering into a source of grace and sanctity.

Early Life: A Happy Childhood Cut Short

Birth and Family

Josephine Bakhita was born around 1869 in the village of Olgossa in the Darfur region of western Sudan, near Mount Agilerei and west of the city of Nyala. She was a member of the Daju people, an ethnic group after whom the Darfur region is named. Her family was respectable and reasonably prosperous—her father was the brother of the village chief, giving the family a position of honor and stability within the community.

She was surrounded by a loving family consisting of her parents, three brothers, and three sisters (some sources mention four sisters), with several other siblings who had died before she was born. In her own words from her autobiography, she described these early years with profound simplicity: "I lived a very happy and carefree life, without knowing what suffering was."

The children of her village played together freely, the community celebrated with dancing, and the main occupation was breeding cattle and sheep. It was an idyllic childhood, filled with the warmth of family love and the security of community life—a stark contrast to the nightmare that was soon to come.

The Shadow Falls: First Abduction

The first tragedy struck the family around 1875, when Josephine was approximately five or six years old. Her elder sister was kidnapped by Arab slave traders, an event that shattered the peace of their household and left the family in anguish. This terrible loss was a harbinger of what was to come.

Kidnapping and the Loss of Her Name

In February 1877, when Josephine was approximately seven to eight years old, she too was seized by Arab slave traders while working in the fields with her family. The trauma of this abduction was so overwhelming that she forgot her birth name—the name given to her by her loving parents. This psychological wound reveals the depth of terror experienced by this young child, torn from everything familiar and thrust into a world of violence and degradation.

Her captors, with cruel irony, gave her the name "Bakhita," which means "fortunate" or "lucky" in Arabic. They hoped this name would make her more attractive to potential buyers in the slave markets. Little did they know that, through God's providence, this mockingly given name would indeed prove prophetic—she would become truly fortunate, though not in any way they could have imagined.

Years of Slavery: A Journey Through Hell

The Grueling Journey

After her kidnapping, young Bakhita was forced to walk barefoot approximately 600 miles (960 kilometers) to the slave market in El-Obeid, a major city in south-central Sudan. During this harrowing journey, she was bought and sold at least twice before even reaching the market. The physical suffering of this trek—the burning sand beneath bare feet, the scorching sun, the exhaustion and fear—was only the beginning of twelve years of unimaginable torment.

A Succession of Masters

Over the next twelve years (1877-1889), Bakhita was bought, sold, or given away more than a dozen times. With each transaction, she was stripped further of her human dignity, treated as mere property, a commodity to be traded. She spent so much time in captivity that her original name became completely lost to memory.

The First Masters: Early Cruelty

The Arab Slaveholder

In El-Obeid, Bakhita was purchased by a wealthy Arab who used her as a maid for his two daughters. Initially, the family treated her relatively well by the standards of slavery. However, this period of relative mercy was short-lived. After she accidentally offended one of the owner's sons, he flew into a rage and lashed and kicked her with such brutal severity that she was unable to move from her straw bed for more than a month. When she finally recovered enough to work, she was sold again.

The Turkish General: Daily Terror

A Household of Cruelty

Bakhita's fourth owner was a Turkish general, and she was forced to serve his mother-in-law and wife—women who proved to be exceptionally cruel to their slaves. Years later, she would recall: "During all the years I stayed in that house, I do not recall a day that passed without some wound or other. When a wound from the whip began to heal, other blows would pour down on me."

She was beaten daily, whipped until she bled, bound with chains to prevent escape (a painful memory she would carry even to her deathbed), and subjected to constant humiliation and degradation. The psychological torture was as severe as the physical—she lived in a state of perpetual fear and suffering.

The Scarring: A Mark of Ultimate Degradation

The most horrific ordeal during this period was the traditional Sudanese practice of scarification and tattooing that Bakhita was forced to endure. This excruciating procedure was designed to permanently mark slaves as property and to demonstrate ownership. The memory of this torture would remain with her as the most terrifying experience of her entire captivity.

The process was witnessed by her cruel mistress, who stood behind the slaves with a whip in hand to ensure compliance. A woman skilled in this brutal art arrived with a dish of white flour, a dish of salt, and a razor. She used the flour to draw intricate patterns on the skin of the slaves. Then, with the razor, she cut deeply along these lines, creating open wounds. Finally, salt was ground into each wound to ensure permanent scarring—the salt both preserving the pattern and intensifying the agony beyond description.

A total of 114 deep lacerations were carved into Bakhita's body—60 on her belly, 6 on her breasts, and numerous others on her arms. Her face was mercifully spared, but these scars would remain visible on her body for the rest of her life. During the ordeal, Bakhita watched other slaves undergo the same torture before her turn came, intensifying her terror. She eventually lost consciousness from the pain.

Later, she would say of this experience: "I thought I would die, especially when salt was poured in the wounds. I felt I was going to die any moment. It was by a miracle of God I didn't die. He had destined me for better things." Even these scars, which she bore until her death, would become witnesses to God's redemptive power—transforming marks of shame into badges of her incredible journey to freedom and holiness.

The Turn Toward Freedom

A Kind Master at Last

By the end of 1882, El-Obeid came under threat from Mahdist revolutionaries, and the Turkish general began preparations to return to his homeland. He sold his slaves, and in 1883, Bakhita was purchased in Khartoum by Callisto Legnani, the Italian Vice Consul to Sudan.

For the first time in her years of slavery, Bakhita encountered a master who did not beat her or subject her to cruel punishments. Legnani treated her with basic human kindness and dignity. This experience of compassion was Bakhita's first glimpse of a different kind of humanity—one that would eventually lead her to Christ.

Journey to Italy

Two years later, in 1885, when Legnani had to return to Italy as the Mahdist forces advanced on Khartoum, Bakhita begged him to take her with him. He agreed. At the end of 1884, they embarked on a dangerous 650-kilometer (400-mile) journey on camelback through Sudan to the port of Suakin, accompanied by Legnani's friend, Augusto Michieli. They escaped from the besieged city of Khartoum just in time.

In March 1885, they departed Suakin for Italy by ship, crossing the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. They arrived at the port of Genoa in April 1885. Bakhita, who had known nothing but Africa and the horrors of slavery, now found herself in a completely foreign land—but one where, providentially, she would discover her true freedom.

Life with the Michieli Family

At Genoa, Legnani met Augusto Michieli's wife, Maria Turina Michieli, and gave ownership of Bakhita to the Michieli family. They took her to their family villa at Zianigo, near Mirano in the Veneto region, about 25 kilometers west of Venice.

In this household, Bakhita served as a nanny and companion to the Michieli's young daughter, Mimmina, who was born shortly after Bakhita's arrival. The relationship between Bakhita and the child was one of genuine affection. Despite still being in a position of servitude, Bakhita experienced a stability and relative kindness she had not known since childhood.

Encounter with Christ: Discovery of the True Master

The Canossian Sisters

The Michieli family had business interests in Sudan. Augusto Michieli acquired a large hotel in Suakin and decided to relocate his family there permanently. The process of selling their Italian property took longer than expected. By late 1888, Maria Turina Michieli wanted to join her husband in Sudan while the land transactions were still being finalized.

On November 29, 1888, on the advice of their business agent Illuminato Cecchini, Mrs. Michieli left both Bakhita and young Mimmina in the temporary care of the Canossian Sisters at the Institute of the Catechumens (Institute for baptismal candidates) in Venice while she traveled to Africa. This decision, made for purely practical reasons, would prove to be the pivotal moment in Bakhita's life—the moment when human plans intersected with divine providence.

The God She Had Always Sensed

Under the care and instruction of the Canossian Sisters, Bakhita encountered Christianity for the first time. The sisters taught her with what she would later describe as "heroic patience." They introduced her to formal knowledge of God, answering her questions with gentleness and clarity.

Years later, filled with gratitude, Bakhita recalled: "Those holy mothers instructed me with heroic patience and introduced me to that God who from childhood I had felt in my heart without knowing who He was."

Even in her darkest days of slavery, Bakhita had sensed the presence of the Creator. She remembered looking at the natural world and wondering about its Maker. In her own words: "Seeing the sun, the moon and the stars, I said to myself: 'Who could be the Master of these beautiful things?' And I felt a great desire to see Him, to know Him and to pay Him homage."

Now, with the sisters, she was learning the name of the God she had always known in her heart. She was deeply moved by the story of Jesus Christ—His love, His suffering, His redemption. She felt drawn to follow Him with all her heart.

The Refusal: Choosing Freedom in Christ

When Turina Michieli returned from Sudan in 1889, intending to take both her daughter and Bakhita back to Africa, she encountered something entirely unexpected: Bakhita's firm and resolute refusal to leave the sisters.

For three days, Mrs. Michieli tried everything in her power to persuade Bakhita to return with them. She pleaded, she cajoled, she likely threatened. But Bakhita, who had been bought and sold like an animal for twelve years, who had been beaten into submission countless times, would not be moved. She had found something more precious than physical safety or human approval—she had found Christ, and she would not leave Him.

Legal Battle for Freedom

The Michieli family appealed to the civil authorities, and the matter went to court. The superior of the Institute of the Catechumens contacted the Patriarch of Venice on Bakhita's behalf, and the patriarch himself intervened in the case.

On November 29, 1889—exactly one year after Bakhita had been left in the care of the sisters—an Italian court made a momentous ruling. The judge declared that because the British had outlawed slavery in Sudan before Bakhita's birth, and because Italian law had never recognized slavery as legal, Bakhita had never legally been a slave. She was free.

For the first time since that terrible day in 1877 when she was torn from her family, Bakhita found herself in control of her own destiny. She was approximately twenty years old, and she was free to choose her own path.

Her choice was immediate and unwavering: she chose to remain with the Canossian Sisters and to follow Christ.

Baptism and New Birth

The Sacraments of Initiation

On January 9, 1890, in a ceremony that marked her complete transformation and new birth, Bakhita received the three Sacraments of Christian Initiation—Baptism, Confirmation, and First Holy Communion—all on the same day, as was the practice in the early Church.

She took the baptismal names Josephine Margaret Fortunata. "Josephine" (meaning "God will increase" or "God will add") and "Margaret" (meaning "pearl") were her chosen names, while "Fortunata" was the Latin translation of the Arabic "Bakhita"—fortunate. In keeping this element of the name given to her by slave traders, she seemed to acknowledge that even in the midst of terrible evil, God had been working His purposes. She had indeed become fortunate—not because of slavery, but because God had used even that evil to bring her to Himself.

The Archbishop who administered these sacraments was Giuseppe Sarto, the Cardinal Patriarch of Venice, who would later become Pope Pius X (canonized as Saint Pius X). What a profound grace—to receive the sacraments from the hands of a future pope and saint!

At the age of twenty-one, Bakhita was flooded with divine grace. The traumatized child who had been beaten, scarred, and dehumanized was now reborn as a beloved daughter of God, her soul washed clean in the waters of Baptism, sealed with the Holy Spirit in Confirmation, and nourished with the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist.

Religious Life: Embracing the True Master

Entering the Canossian Order

After her baptism, Bakhita remained with the Canossian Sisters for four more years, continuing her formation in the faith and discerning God's call upon her life. She later recalled: "During that time I could hear more and more clearly the gentle voice of the Lord, urging me to consecrate myself to God."

Yet even as she felt this call, Bakhita struggled with doubt. Her race made her question whether she could truly become a religious sister. She once asked the superior: "Could a poor African girl be allowed to become a religious?"

The superior's response was simple and profound: "Why not?"

Bakhita replied with painful honesty: "I see only Italian sisters in the convent."

But the love of God knows no boundaries of race or nation, and Bakhita's vocation was authentic. On December 7, 1893, Josephine Bakhita entered the novitiate of the Canossian Daughters of Charity at the Institute of St. Magdalene of Canossa in Venice. On December 8, 1896—the Feast of the Immaculate Conception—she made her final vows as a religious sister, once again in the presence of Cardinal Sarto.

Looking back on this decision years later, she would say with characteristic humility and wisdom: "When people hear my story, they keep saying 'poor thing, poor thing.' But I am not a poor thing. I belong to the Master, I am living in His house. It is those who are not wholly the Lord's who are poor things."

She had been freed from slavery to humans only to embrace a far greater and more glorious slavery—to Christ, her true Master, whom she loved with all her heart.

Life in Schio: Humble Service

In 1902, Sister Josephine was assigned to the Canossian convent in Schio, a town in the northern Italian province of Vicenza, northeast of Verona. She would spend the next forty-two years of her life in this place, serving her community with profound humility and joy.

Her duties were simple and humble: she worked as the cook, preparing meals for the community; as the sacristan, caring for the sacred vessels and preparing the church for Mass; as a seamstress and embroiderer, using her skilled hands to create beautiful things; and as the portress or doorkeeper, welcoming visitors to the convent with warmth and hospitality.

In these seemingly small tasks, Sister Josephine found immense meaning and purpose. She once told the teachers in her community: "You teach catechism, I will stay in the chapel and pray for you that you may teach well." Her life was one of constant prayer, of finding God in the ordinary duties of each day.

Love for Children and the Community

Sister Josephine became especially beloved by the children who attended the sisters' school. When she was on door duty, she would gently lay her hands on the heads of the children and caress them with motherly tenderness—she who had never had children of her own, she who had been so brutally treated as a child herself, now became a source of gentle love and blessing to the young.

Her gentle voice and ever-present smile became legendary throughout Schio. The townspeople affectionately called her "Sor Moretta" (Little Brown Sister) or "Madre Moretta" (Brown Mother) or "Mother Morenita" (Little Dark Mother). Her special charisma and evident sanctity were recognized by all who knew her.

Mission Work Through Prayer and Teaching

Between 1935 and 1939, Sister Josephine spent time away from Schio at the Missionary Novitiate in Vimercate, near Milan. During this period, she traveled to other Canossian communities throughout Italy. In these visits, she shared her extraordinary story and helped prepare young sisters for missionary work in Africa.

Her mind was always on God, and her heart remained in Africa. Though she never returned to Sudan herself, she had a strong missionary spirit, longing for others to come to know the God who had saved her. She would frequently say: "Be good, love the Lord, pray for those who do not know Him. What a great grace it is to know God!"

The Witness of Forgiveness

A Heroic Choice

One of the most remarkable aspects of Saint Josephine Bakhita's sanctity was her complete and radical forgiveness of those who had enslaved and tortured her. This was not a shallow or easy forgiveness—it was a profound participation in the forgiving love of Christ Himself.

A young student once asked her directly: "What would you do if you were to meet your captors?"

Sister Josephine answered without hesitation: "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."

This response is staggering in its generosity and depth of faith. She did not minimize the evil that had been done to her—she called it kidnapping and torture. But she could also see how God had brought tremendous good out of that evil. Her suffering had led her to Christ, and that was worth everything.

This is not a sentiment that excuses or justifies slavery or abuse. Rather, it is a testimony to the redemptive power of God, who can take even the worst evil and bring forth from it unexpected grace. It is the ultimate vindication of Romans 8:28: "We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him."

A Prayer for Her Captors

Sister Josephine's forgiveness extended beyond mere words. She actively prayed for those who had enslaved her and for her former masters. She wanted them to come to know the love of God. In a letter, she wrote: "I am praying much for them, that the Lord who has been very good and generous to me may be the same to them, so as to bring them all to conversion and salvation."

This is the mind of Christ—to pray for one's persecutors, to desire their salvation, to love one's enemies. Sister Josephine had learned this lesson perfectly.

Final Years: Suffering United with Christ

World War II and Protection

During World War II, the people of Schio regarded Sister Josephine as their special protector. Though bombs fell on their village, not a single citizen died during the war. The townspeople attributed this miraculous protection to her prayers and intercession. Even in her old age and infirmity, she was still a source of grace and protection for her community.

Physical Decline

In her later years, Sister Josephine began to suffer from increasing physical pain and illness. The long-term effects of the beatings, malnutrition, and trauma she had endured during her years of slavery began to take their toll. Eventually, she was forced to use a wheelchair to move about the convent.

Yet even in this state of suffering, she retained her characteristic cheerfulness and peace. When anyone asked her how she was feeling, she would invariably reply with a smile: "As the Master desires." She had learned to unite her sufferings with those of Christ, accepting everything from the hand of God with love and trust.

Confusion and Trauma at the End

As death approached and her mind became confused, some of the childhood trauma began to emerge. In her final illness, she would sometimes cry out in distress, the old fears and memories surfacing. Her sisters in community tenderly cared for her, gently reminding her of the love of God and the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Death and Funeral

On the evening of February 8, 1947, surrounded by her sisters in community, Sister Josephine spoke her last words: "Our Lady! Our Lady!" Then, with Mary's name on her lips, she peacefully surrendered her soul to God at 8:10 PM. She was approximately 78 years old and had been a religious sister for over 50 years.

Her body lay in state for three days while thousands of people came to pay their respects and to pray. According to the testimony of those present, when the coffin was closed, her body was still soft and warm—an unusual phenomenon noted by witnesses. Mothers lifted their children up to touch her hands, seeking her blessing.

Large crowds followed her hearse to the cemetery, mourning the loss of their beloved "Madre Moretta." The whole town of Schio grieved, for they had lost their mother, their protector, their saint.

Miracles Begin

Even before the funeral was complete, miracles began to be reported. An unemployed man prayed before her body, asking for work. He returned just a few hours later to report that he had found employment. This was just the beginning.

By 1950, only three years after her death, the Canossian bulletin published six pages of names of people who had received graces through the intercession of Sister Bakhita. The graces ranged from physical healings to conversions to answers to prayers for employment and family needs.

Path to Canonization

The Process Begins

The petitions for Sister Josephine's canonization began immediately after her death. The process officially commenced under Pope John XXIII in 1959, twelve years after she died.

The ordinary beatification process took place in Vicenza between 1955 and 1957. The apostolic process was held in 1968-1969. In September 1969, her body was moved from the original burial site to the cemetery chapel at the Institute of the Daughters of Charity in Schio, where she had lived.

Venerable (1978)

On December 1, 1978, Pope John Paul II signed the decree declaring Josephine Bakhita "Venerable"—the first official step toward canonization. This decree recognized that she had lived a life of heroic virtue, practicing faith, hope, charity, and the other virtues to an extraordinary degree.

Beatification (1992)

On July 6, 1991, Pope John Paul II signed the decree for her beatification. On May 17, 1992, Josephine Bakhita was proclaimed Blessed in a ceremony at St. Peter's Basilica. Significantly, she was beatified on the same day as Blessed Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of Opus Dei. Her feast day was assigned to February 8, the anniversary of her death.

The miracle that led to her beatification involved the healing of a Brazilian woman who was suffering from severe diabetic leg ulcers. The miraculous healing was thoroughly investigated and confirmed by the Church's medical experts.

Sadly, news of her beatification was censored in Sudan by the Islamic government. However, just nine months later, Pope John Paul II made a pastoral visit to Sudan and publicly honored Blessed Bakhita before the Sudanese people, ensuring that her homeland knew of her recognition by the Church.

Canonization (2000)

On October 1, 2000, in the Great Jubilee Year, Pope John Paul II canonized Blessed Josephine Bakhita in a magnificent ceremony in St. Peter's Square. She was canonized alongside three other blesseds: Katherine Drexel from the United States, Maria Josefa of the Heart of Jesus from Spain, and a group of Chinese martyrs.

Josephine Bakhita thus became Saint Josephine Bakhita, the first person from Sudan to be canonized and the first female Black Catholic saint in the modern era. The ceremony was attended by thousands of pilgrims from around the world, including many from Sudan and East Africa who had long venerated her.

In his homily at the canonization Mass, Pope John Paul II prayed: "Through the intercession of St. Bakhita let us pray that all men and women will come to know the saving presence of the Lord Jesus and thus be freed from slavery to sin and death."

Legacy and Patronage

Patron Saint

Saint Josephine Bakhita is honored as the patron saint of:

Sudan and the Catholic Church in Sudan - She is the country's first and only saint
Victims of human trafficking and modern slavery - Her experience makes her a powerful intercessor for the estimated millions who suffer in slavery today
Victims of all forms of slavery and oppression - Her story gives hope to all who suffer from violence and injustice

Feast Day

Her feast day is celebrated on February 8, the anniversary of her death. This date has been designated by the Catholic Church as the annual International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking. On this day each year, Catholics around the world are called to pray for victims of human trafficking and to work toward ending this modern scourge.

Her Relics

In 1969, Sister Josephine's remains were moved to the Church of the Holy Family at the Canossian convent in Schio, where they remain to this day. The church has become a place of pilgrimage, with thousands visiting annually to pray at her tomb and to seek her intercession.

In Pope Benedict XVI's Encyclical

Saint Josephine Bakhita holds a unique place of honor in the teaching of the Catholic Church. In his 2007 encyclical Spe Salvi ("In Hope We Were Saved"), Pope Benedict XVI devoted a significant portion to her life story, holding her up as the supreme example of Christian hope for the modern world.

Pope Benedict wrote at the beginning of the encyclical: "Rejoice, all of Africa! Bakhita has come back to you. The daughter of Sudan sold into slavery as a living piece of merchandise and yet still free. Free with the freedom of the saints."

He quoted extensively from her testimony, including her profound statement: "I am definitively loved and whatever happens to me—I am awaited by this Love. And so my life is good." Pope Benedict used her experience to explain the transforming power of hope that comes from knowing God's love: "Through the knowledge of this hope she was 'redeemed,' no longer a slave, but a free child of God."

The fact that a modern pope chose to feature Saint Josephine so prominently in a major encyclical demonstrates her significance for the universal Church and for our understanding of Christian hope in the face of suffering.

Continuing Impact

Places Named After Her

Throughout the world, institutions dedicated to fighting human trafficking and helping its victims have been named in honor of Saint Josephine Bakhita:

Caritas Bakhita House in London, which provides accommodation and support for women escaping human trafficking
Casa Santa Giuseppina Bakhita (Saint Josephine Bakhita House) in Venice, a temporary reception center for women
St. Josephine Bakhita Parish in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, formed in 2017
St. Josephine Bakhita Parish in Columbus, Ohio
Numerous reception centers, training courses, and humanitarian corridor facilities throughout Italy
Employment training centers and integration centers for refugees and trafficking victims across Europe

In Art and Culture

In 2023, Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz created a powerful human trafficking sculpture titled "Let the Oppressed Go Free," centered on Saint Bakhita. The sculpture depicts her opening a trapdoor as she frees human trafficking victims who emerge from underground—a powerful visual representation of her role as liberator and advocate for those still enslaved.

Her Message Today

Saint Josephine Bakhita's legacy teaches us several crucial truths:

Transformation is possible through suffering - When united with Christ, even the worst suffering can become a source of grace and holiness.
True freedom is found in Christ - Physical freedom without God is incomplete; spiritual freedom in Christ brings peace even amid trials.
Forgiveness is heroic and healing - To forgive those who have gravely harmed us is to participate in the very nature of God and to find liberation from bitterness.
Hope conquers despair - When we know that we are "definitively loved" by God, we can face any trial with courage and peace.
Every person has infinite dignity - No matter how they are treated by others, every human being is created in the image of God and destined for glory.
God can bring good from evil - While never justifying evil acts, God's providence can work through even the worst circumstances to accomplish His purposes.

Theological Significance

Liberation from Physical and Spiritual Slavery

Catholic teaching sees Saint Josephine Bakhita's life as having both literal and symbolic significance. Her deliverance from physical slavery represents the liberation of all people from spiritual slavery to sin and death through Christ.

Pope John Paul II emphasized this dual meaning at her canonization: "In today's world, countless women continue to be victimized, even in developed modern societies. In St Josephine Bakhita we find a shining advocate of genuine emancipation. The history of her life inspires not passive acceptance but the firm resolve to work effectively to free girls and women from oppression and violence, and to return them to their dignity in the full exercise of their rights."

The Beatitudes Lived

Pope Francis has pointed to Saint Josephine as a living embodiment of the Beatitudes, which he calls the "identity card" of the Christian. She was:

Poor in spirit, possessing nothing but God
Meek, never seeking revenge
Mourning, yet comforted by God
Hungry and thirsty for righteousness
Merciful to those who had shown her no mercy
Pure in heart, seeing God in all things
A peacemaker through forgiveness
Persecuted for righteousness' sake, yet rejoicing

The Paradox of Christian Freedom

Saint Josephine's life illustrates the beautiful paradox at the heart of Christian freedom. When she was finally declared legally free in 1889, able to choose her own path for the first time since childhood, she immediately chose to surrender that freedom to God. She became, in her own words, a "slave" to a new Master—Jesus Christ.

But this was not a loss of freedom; it was the perfection of freedom. As Saint Augustine wrote, "Our hearts are restless until they rest in You, O Lord." True freedom is not the ability to do whatever we want, but the ability to do what we were created for—to love and serve God. In giving herself completely to Christ, Sister Josephine found the freedom she had always sought.

Suffering and Redemption

The Catholic understanding of redemptive suffering is powerfully illustrated in Saint Josephine's life. The Church does not teach that suffering is good in itself, or that God desires people to suffer. Rather, the Church teaches that when suffering is united with the suffering of Christ on the Cross, it can become a means of grace, purification, and sanctification.

Saint Josephine's physical scars—those 114 marks burned into her flesh with salt—became in a mystical sense her "stigmata," her participation in the wounds of Christ. What slave traders meant for degradation, God transformed into a sign of glory. Her body bore the marks of her suffering, but her soul radiated the joy of one who had been redeemed.

Her Own Words

On God's Providence

"If I were to meet the slave-traders who kidnapped me and even those who tortured me, I would kneel and kiss their hands, for if that did not happen, I would not be a Christian and Religious today."

On Knowing God

"Seeing the sun, the moon and the stars, I said to myself: 'Who could be the Master of these beautiful things?' And I felt a great desire to see Him, to know Him and to pay Him homage."

On Her Vocation

"I am not a poor thing. I belong to the Master, I am living in His house. It is those who are not wholly the Lord's who are poor things."

On Prayer and Work

"You teach catechism, I will stay in the chapel and pray for you that you may teach well."

On Her Daily Life

When asked how she was: "As the Master desires."

On Evangelization

"Be good, love the Lord, pray for those who do not know Him. What a great grace it is to know God!"

On Hope

"I am definitively loved and whatever happens to me—I am awaited by this Love. And so my life is good."

Her Last Words

"Our Lady! Our Lady!"

Prayer to Saint Josephine Bakhita

O Saint Josephine Bakhita, flower of Africa and daughter of Sudan, you who knew the pain of slavery and the joy of freedom in Christ, teach us the path of forgiveness and charity.

You who bore the scars of cruelty on your body, yet radiated the peace of Christ from your soul, help us to unite our sufferings with those of Jesus and to find redemption in all our trials.

Pray for those who are enslaved today, in body or in spirit, that they may be freed through the power of Christ and come to know the love that transforms all things.

Intercede for us, that we may walk in humility and hope, grow in the love of God each day, and come to share in the freedom of the children of God.

Through your powerful intercession, may all people come to know that they are definitively loved by God, and may they find in His love the strength to forgive, the courage to hope, and the joy of eternal salvation.

Saint Josephine Bakhita, pray for us!

Amen.

Conclusion: A Beacon of Hope for Our Time

Saint Josephine Bakhita stands before us as one of the most powerful witnesses to the Gospel in modern times. Born into a world of violence and cruelty, subjected to unspeakable suffering, she nevertheless emerged not as a broken victim but as a radiant saint—proof that God's grace is stronger than any evil, that His love can heal the deepest wounds, and that His light can shine through even the darkest night.

In an age when human trafficking continues to enslave millions, when racism and ethnic hatred divide peoples, when suffering and injustice seem overwhelming, Saint Josephine Bakhita offers us hope. She shows us that no suffering is beyond God's power to redeem, no wound too deep for His love to heal, no sinner beyond the reach of His mercy.

Her life reminds us that the greatest freedom is not freedom from suffering or hardship, but freedom to love—freedom to choose goodness, to practice forgiveness, to serve others, and to give ourselves entirely to God. This is the freedom that nothing can take away, not chains, not scars, not even death.

As we face the challenges of our own time, may we look to Saint Josephine Bakhita for inspiration and intercession. May her example teach us to forgive as Christ forgave, to hope as she hoped, and to love with the same radical, transforming love that changed her life and continues to change the world.

Saint Josephine Bakhita, Madre Moretta, our universal sister and powerful advocate—pray for us, that we too may know the freedom that comes from being "definitively loved" by God, and may we too become instruments of His grace in a world that desperately needs the light of Christ.