Jospehine Bakhita was born in the Darfur region of Sudan in 1869. She was kidnapped and sold into slavery at age seven and given the name Bakhita. (According to her autobiography, the trauma of her enslavement—a forced march of 600 miles, beatings, scarification, frequent change of owners—caused her to forget her birth name.) When she was fourteen, she was bought by an Italian diplomat stationed in Sudan, and brought to Italy where she was passed on to a new family and became their babysitter. She accompanied her young charge to classes taught by Catholic sisters and was drawn to the Church. In 1890 she was baptized and took the name Josephine. When the family who owned her decided to return to Africa, she refused to go and took her case to court. The judge ruled that, since slavery was illegal in Italy (and had actually been banned in the Sudan before she was born), she wasn’t technically a slave. Josephine then joined the Canossian sisters who had catechized her, and ministered with them as a seamstress and porter, gaining the admiration of the local community for her kindness and sanctity. She died in 1947, was beatified in 1992 and canonized in 2000. Her feast day is February 8th.
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Karen Soos
Associate Chaplain and Catholic Campus Minister
Davidson College
Campus Box 7196
Davidson NC 28035
704. 894. 2423
Associate Chaplain and Catholic Campus Minister
Davidson College
Campus Box 7196
Davidson NC 28035
704. 894. 2423
