St josephine bakhita fun facts

St josephine bakhita cause of death
Josephine bakhita died
St josephine bakhita miracles

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St Josephine Bakhita 1869-1947

Born in Durfur, Sudan. At about 7 years old she was kidnapped by Arab slave traders and forced to walk barefoot about 600 miles. She was given the name Bakhita “Lucky” by her captors. She was sold and resold five times. She was treated very badly by some of her owners. Of her fourth owner she said, “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”.

Her last owner took her to Italy and lodged her temporarily in a convent. When the owner wanted to collect her the nuns protected her and a court ruled that her slave status was illegal. She remained with the nuns and was baptised – later becoming a nun herself. She once said, “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”. She is venerated as a mode

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Responding to Evil with St. Josephine Bakhita

On February 8, the Church celebrates the life of St. Josephine Bakhita, a model of love and forgiveness.

St. Josephine Bakhita was born in Sudan in 1869. At seven years old, she was sold into slavery and re-traded many times. Her captures were so abusive that she forgot even her own name and was given the name Bakhita in mean-spiritedly, meaning “fortunate one.”

As a young woman, Bakhita was owned by an Italian family and served as nanny to a girl who was being educated by Catholic nuns. Bakhita felt drawn to the faith and under the freedom granted by Italy’s laws, eventually received the sacraments and chose to enter the Institute of St. Magdalene of Canossa rather than return to her native Sudan.

Josephine Bakhita spent the next fifty years of her life carrying out humble service with the sisters doing housework and warmly receiving visitors at the door. She was loved for her faithful, cheerful, quiet service to those she lived with and served.

At the end of her life she battled a long sickness and was eventually taken to

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St. Josephine Bakhita—A Model of Faith

Her kidnappers gave her the name Bakhita, meaning “fortunate.” Her life in captivity wasn’t quite so. Born in Darfur in 1869, Josephine Bakhita was taken by Arab slave traders when she was 9. Forced to walk 600 miles to southern Sudan, she was bought and sold before arriving in El Obeid. But of all the indignities Josephine faced as a slave—far too many to mention here—one in particular stands out.

Through a combination of branding and tattooing, Josephine suffered the traditional Sudanese practice where a pattern was cut into her skin with a razor. To ensure scarification, salt was poured into the open wounds. When it was finished, 140 intricate patterns were carved into her breast, torso, and arm. She also faced countless beatings and lashings from a revolving door of owners as well as a forced conversion to Islam.

Left by her owner in the custody of the Daughters of Charity in Venice in 1888, Josephine finally found refuge. Baptized in 1890, she took her final vows in 1896, and spent the rest of her life in Vicenza a