Sister Josephine Bakhita; 1869-1947
By Sister Irene Hartman, O.P.
The name "Sudan" will most probably call to mind pictures and stories of terrible famine and disease, countless cases of starvation, and many violent deaths. Sudan, a country in Africa, is often in the news, and it seems too far away to demand much attention on a daily basis. However, Pope John Paul II brought the people of Sudan to the attention of the Christian world when in 2000 he canonized the first native saint, Saint Josephine Bakhita, and made her the patroness of a war-torn, famine- stricken country.
Bakhita, as she was called until her baptism, was born of poor Sudanese parents in 1869. Her childhood was interrupted at the age of nine when an Italian family purchased her as their slave. She was treated with a certain amount of kindness and given the position of nursemaid to the baby, Mimmina. When Mimmina was ready for school, she was sent to Venice and placed in a school owned by the Daughters of Charity. Bakhita accompanied the child to the new environment. After only nine months, the family moved back to Sudan and wanted their slave to accompany them. She believed that God wanted her to remain in Venice and she refused to go. The family sued, claiming her as their "property". Kind friends intervened; Bakhita was permitted to remain in Venice. Only then did she learn that slavery was not permitted in Venice and she had been free all the time.
Free? What did the new freedom mean to Bakhita? First of all, it meant that she could be baptized; this happened on Jan. 9, 1890. She was named Josephine and very soon began to feel that she was being called to give herself completely to God. She entered the religious community where she had been when she was accompanying Mimmina. She made final vows in 1896.
Josephine who had come from being an ex-slave, to serving as a nursemaid, to becoming a vowed religious, made all her daily duties holy. She cooked, sewed, served as doorkeeper, and sacristan, all the while believing she was answering God’s call. During two World Wars, she prayed for protection from bombing in her town. Her prayers were answered. Josephine was confined to a wheelchair in her later days and she filled those days with prayer and suffering, offering them to the God to Whom she had dedicated her life. Josephine died Feb. 8, 1947.