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Bakhita was born around 1869 in Darfur, a huge section of the country of Sudan in Africa. Josephine lived in a very warm and loving family.
However, in February 1877, Arab slave traders captured her. They made her walk barefoot about 960 kilometers to a place called El Obeid. Before arriving there, slave traders bought and sold her twice. Over the course of twelve years, she was sold three more times and then given away.
Because of the trauma of her abduction and sudden entry into the world of slavery, she forgot her given name. One of her captors gave her the name “Bakhita,” which is Arabic for “lucky” or “fortunate.” They also forced her to convert to Islam.
The son of one her captors got angry at her one day, perhaps for breaking a vase. He lashed her and kicked her so severely, that she spent one month in a straw bed, unable to move.
Her fourth captor was a Turkish general whose family treated her so badly, that she could not remember even one day when they did not wound her, whip her, or pour salt in her wounds. The most terrifying experience she had was when her captors tattooed her with a razor blade and poured salt water into the wounds.
In 1883, Bakhita was sold to an Italian official who took her to Italy. There, she was granted her freedom.
In Italy, Bakhita became attracted to the Catholic faith, and in 1890, she was baptized and confirmed. She took the name Josephine.
In 1893, Josephine entered the Institute of St. Magdalene of Canossa, a religious order of Sisters. Three years later, Josephine was professed as a Religious Canossian Sister. For the next forty-two years, Sister Josephine spent her life in northern Italy. In her Order, she worked as a cook, sacristan, and doorkeeper.
As a doorkeeper, she came in contact with many people of the town. Her gentleness, calming voice, and ever-present smile made her one of the favorite people of Italy. In fact, people often called her Sor Moretta – “The Little Brown Sister.” When school children of the neighborhood would need to be cheered up, they would find Sister Josephine who would lift their spirits by her laughter and great hospitality.
Even though she never returned to Africa, her heart was always there. She always had a great missionary spirit, and she helped train young Sisters of her Order who would one day become missionaries in Africa.
When World War II came, the people of Italy began to treat her as a saint. And as she got older, she had to use a wheelchair. Despite constant pain, whenever someone asked Sister Josephine would always smile and answer, “As the Master desires.”
In her final days, her mind was driven back to her days of slavery, and she would cry out, “The chains are too tight, loosen them a little, please.”
When a young student once asked Sister Josephine what she would do if she were to meet her captors someday, Sister replied, “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.”
Sister Josephine Bakhita died on February 8, 1947. For three days, her body lay on display while many thousands of people came to pay their respects.
Pope John Paul II canonized Josephine Bakhita in 2000. Saint Josephine Bakhita’s feast day is February 8. Saint Josephine is a patron saint of victims of human trafficking.
