St. Josephine Bakhita

“The Lord is my helper, and I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” Hebrews 13:6

We have only one precious life to live. Will we give it back to the One who loves us best, or will we live it with no concern for the purpose for which we were made? We may have a difficult life, but we can still live it for God. We celebrate today the Feast day of St. Josephine Bakhita. She is the first Saint from Sudan and was canonized in the year 2000 by Pope John Paul II. 

Josephine was born into a prestigious and prosperous family but when she was about 7 to 9 years old, she was abducted by Arab slave traders and was sold and re-sold five times in the markets of El Obeid and Khartoum. She was beaten by her masters, and from one of those beatings, could not move from her bed for a month. A total of 114 intricate patterns were tattooed on her body while her mistress was watching with a whip in hand. 

The Italian Vice Council who bought her, brought her to Italy and there she became nanny to a young girl named Mimmina. When the mother needed to meet her husband in Sudan, Josephine and Mimmina were left in the care of the Canossian sisters in Venice. There, Josephine first learned of Jesus and was enamored. "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,” she wrote. 

When Mimmina’s mother came to take them away, Josephine refused to leave, and an Italian court had to intervene. Slavery was outlawed in Sudan before Josephine’s birth and Italian law did not recognize slavery. Josephine chose to remain with the Sisters, entered the novitiate and took her vows. Her life was marked by a heart for missions, and an ever-present gentle smile. 

When asked what she thought of those who kidnapped, flogged her and kept her a slave, Josephine said, “If I were to meet them, I would kneel and kiss their hands, for if that did not happen, I would not be a Christian and religious today.” 

One life to live. Do we give it to God?