Today, we celebrate the memorial of Saint Josephine Bakhita, Patron Saint of Sudan.

Josephine was born in 1869 in the village of Olgossa, Sudan, where her uncle was tribal chief. There, she had lived a comfortable life, never knowing hardship or suffering. At the age of 7, she was kidnapped and sold into slavery numerous times.

There she would be transferred from one master to another, most of whom were cruel. For twelve years, this would happen to the point that she would forget even her original name. She would later be sold to Callisto Legani, an Italian vice consul, who would treat her kindly and not hurt her, and then later took her with him to Italy.

She came to know about God in the custody of the Canossian Sisters in Venice. and was later declared free when the superior of the institute, after witnessing her dispute with her mistress, filed a complaint with the Italian authorities on Josephine’s behalf.

She was gentle and charismatic and was often referred to honorably as the “black mother.”

She was canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 1, 2000.

Source: catholic.org