By Sr Lini Sheeja MSC –
“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”, said the humble St Bhakita without hesitation to a young student who asked her, “What would you do, if you were to meet your captors?” Josephine Margaret Bakhita, F.D.C.C. (1869-1947) was a Sudanese Italian Canossian religious sister who lived in Italy for 45 years, after having been a slave in Sudan. In 2000 she was declared a Saint by the Roman Catholic Church.On February 8, the Church commemorates the life of St Bakhita, a girl who was kidnapped, sold into slavery in Sudan and who became a gem in God’s hands.
Early life
She was born around 1869 in Darfur (now in western Sudan) in the village of Olgossa, west of Nyala and close to Mount Agilerei. She was of the Daju people; her respected and reasonably prosperous father was brother of the village chief. She was surrounded by a loving family of three brothers and three sisters; as she says in her autobiography: “I lived a very happy and carefree life, without knowing what suffering was”.
Trafficked and Tortured
When Bakhita was nine (1878) Arab slave traders kidnapped her while working in the fields with her family and sold her into slavery. Bakhita was not the name she received from her parents at birth. It is said that the trauma of her abduction caused her to forget her original name; she took one given to her by the slave owners, Bakhita, which in Arabic means lucky or fortunate. In her biography she notes one particularly terrifying moment when one of her masters cut her 114 times and poured salt in her wounds to ensure that the scars remained. “I felt I was going to die any moment, especially when they rubbed me in with salt,” Bakhita wrote.
Saint’s Life as Slave
In the seven years of being tossed around in the slave markets, the young Bakhita would have encountered different masters. In El-Obeid, Bakhita was bought by a rich Arab who used her as a maid for his two daughters. They treated her relatively well, until she offended one of her owner’s sons, whereupon the son lashed and kicked her so severely that she spent more than a month unable to move from her straw bed. Her fourth owner was a Turkish general, and she had to serve his mother-in-law and his wife, who were cruel to their slaves. Bakhita says: “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.”
She says that the most terrifying of all of her memories there was when she (along with other slaves) was marked by a process resembling both scarification and tattooing, which was a traditional practice throughout Sudan. As her mistress was watching her with a whip in her hand, a dish of white flour, a dish of salt and a razor were brought by a woman. She used the flour to draw patterns on her skin and then she cut deeply along the lines before filling the wounds with salt to ensure permanent scarring. A total of 114 intricate patterns were cut into her breasts, belly and into her right arm.
Desire for Creator
Bhakita bore her suffering valiantly though she did not know Christ or the redemptive nature of suffering. She also had certain awe for the world and its creator. “Seeing the sun, the moon and the stars, I said to myself: ‘Who could be the Master of these beautiful things?’ And I felt a great desire to see Him, to know Him and to pay Him homage.”
Bhakita’s Call to the Church
In 1885, Bakhita was purchased by Callisto Legnani, the Italian consul in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan.Two years later, he took Bakhita to Italy to work as a nanny for his colleague, Augusto Michieli. He, in turn, sent Bakhita to accompany his daughter to a school in Venice run by the Canossian Sisters. These different masters were for her bridges that led her to encounter the Master of unconditional love. Bakhita felt called to learn more about the Church, and was baptized with the name “Josephine Margaret.”
Bhakita’s Refusal to Return
In the meantime, Michieli wanted to take Josephine and his daughter back to Sudan, but Josephine refused to return.The disagreement escalated and she was taken to the Italian courts where it was ruled that Josephine could stay in Italy because she was a free woman.Slavery was not recognized in Italy and it had also been illegal in Sudan even before Josephine had been born.
Slave to Religious Nun
On 7 December 1893, Josephine Bakhita entered the novitiate of the Canossian Sisters and on 8 December 1896, she took her vows, welcomed by Cardinal Sarto. In 1902 she was assigned to the Canossian convent at Schio, in the northern Italian province of Vicenza, where she spent the rest of her life. Her only extended time away was between 1935 and 1939, when she stayed at the Missionary Novitiate in Vimercate (Milan), mostly visiting other Canossian communities in Italy, talking about her experiences and helping to prepare young sisters for work in Africa. A strong missionary drive animated her throughout her entire life – “her mind was always on God, and her heart in Africa”.
Slave to Little Brown Sister
During her 42 years in Schio, Bakhita was employed as the cook, sacristan, and portress (doorkeeper) and was in frequent contact with the local community. Her gentleness, calming voice, and the ever-present smile became well known and Vicenzans still refer to her as SorMoretta (“little brown sister”). Her special charisma and reputation for sanctity were noticed by her Order; the first publication of her story (Storia Meravigliosa by Ida Zanolini) in 1931, made her famous throughout Italy. During the Second World War (1939–1945) she shared the fears and hopes of the townspeople, who considered her a saint and felt protected by her presence. Bombs did not spare Schio, but the war passed without a single casualty.
Slave to Madre Moretta (Black Mother)
St Bhakita was also known as Madre Moretta (Black Mother). Her last years were marked by pain and sickness. She used a wheelchair but she retained her cheerfulness, and if asked how she did so, she would always smile and answer: “As the Master desires.” In the extremity of her last hours, her mind was driven back to her youth in slavery and she cried out: “The chains are too tight, loosen them a little, please!” After a while, she came round again. Someone asked her, “How are you? Today is Saturday,” probably hoping that this would cheer her because Saturday is the day of the week dedicated to Mary, Mother of Jesus. Bakhita replied, “Yes, I am so happy: Our Lady… Our Lady!” These were her last audible words.
Slave to Saint
The petitions for her canonization began immediately, and the process commenced by Pope John XXIII in 1959, twelve years after her death. On 1 December 1978, Pope John Paul II declared Josephine Venerable, the first step towards canonization. On 17 May 1992, she was declared “Blessed” and given 8 February as her feast day. On 1 October 2000, she was canonized as Saint Josephine Bakhita. She is venerated as a modern African saint, and as a statement against the brutal history of slavery. She has been adopted as the patron saint of modern Sudan and human trafficking survivors.
Transformation through Tortures
Bakhita’s legacy is that transformation is possible through suffering. Her story of deliverance from physical slavery also symbolises all those who find meaning and inspiration in her life for their own deliverance from spiritual slavery. In May 1992, news of her beatification was banned by Khartoum which Pope John Paul II visited nine months later. On 10 February 1993, he solemnly honoured Bakhita on her own soil. “Rejoice, all of Africa! Bakhita has come back to you. The daughter of Sudan sold into slavery as a living piece of merchandise and yet still free. Free with the freedom of the saints.”Pope Benedict XVI, on 30 November 2007, in the beginning of his second encyclical letter Spe Salvi (“In Hope We Were Saved”), relates her life story as an outstanding example of Christian hope.
Patron Saint
Josephine Bakhita is the Patron Saint of Human Trafficking. She is a shining ray of hope for human trafficking victims and an inspirational demonstration of how a victim can recover from their trauma and become whole again.
Slavery and Struggles Continues
The suffering as a slave, as trafficked did not end with Bhakita, it continues! “I was sold into it at about eight years of age. I didn’t understand much. Nowadays kids understand more, but I wasn’t like that. There was a woman who offered me a few chocolates and I followed her here. She brought me here and then sold me. We came in through the front and she left from the back. And then they said to me, “we have bought you for 50,000/-, so you have to stay with us”. They threatened me, so I had to stay there. I stayed because I was a victim of the situation. The first two days I cried a lot uncontrollably. But where could I go? I didn’t know a way out. And so I had no choice, but to stay”, cries a girl, aged 15 from a brothel house.
Talitha Cum
We read in the gospel of Mark 5:41, “Talitha cum” “Little girl, I say to you, rise up!” In Mark 5:40, we read Jesus went in where the child was. Jesus has showed the way for each one of us to go to the lost sheep, to the vulnerable ones. Jesus took the girl by the hand and said to her to rise up. We continue to read in the Bible that immediately the girl stood up. That’s the miracle Jesus performed and that’s the power given to us. Should we not walk in to their realities and take them by hand so that they can stand up in society?
They are Daughters, Sisters and Future Mothers
Each child/woman has her own story to narrate to us. Let us walk into their realities and take them by hand with courage. In the gospel of Mathew 5:39-40 we read, “He went in and said to them, “‘Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.’ But they laughed at him”. The crowd laughed at Jesus. When we lay our lives at the service of those in distress, we too may have to go through mockery, threat and many other troubles. For people, the little girl was dead, but for Jesus the little girl was asleep. As Jesus didn’t pay heed to those people, but focused on his goal for which he came, let us follow the footsteps of our Master to give life to these vulnerable children and women whom society considers as objects. They are not objects. They are daughters, sisters and future mothers. Their lives and dreams are precious and valid as those of our own family members.
Pope Francis: Pray with St Bakhita for the End of Human Trafficking
Pope Francis called Sunday for an end to human trafficking, encouraging Catholics to pray for the intercession of St Josephine Bakhita, the patron of trafficking victims. “We all can and must collaborate by denouncing the cases of exploitation and slavery of men, women, and children. Prayer is the force that sustains our common commitment,” Pope Francis said after the Angelus prayer on 10 February 2019.“May God himself release all those who have been threatened, injured or mistreated by slavery and the trafficking of human beings. He brings relief to those who survive this slavery and teaches them to see Jesus as a model of faith and hope so that they can be healed of their wounds,” he prayed.
Pope Francis thanked all who fight for the end of human trafficking, especially many religious communities, and asked Catholics to recite with him a prayer to St Josephine Bakhita.“St. Bakhita, assist all those who are trapped in a state of slavery; intercede with God on their behalf so that the chains of their captivity can be broken,” Pope Francis prayed. “We beseech you to pray and intercede for all of us: so that we do not fall into indifference, so that we open our eyes and can look at the misery and wounds of so many brothers and sisters deprived of their dignity and freedom and hear their cry for help,” he continued.
Festal Blessings
God looked upon this slave and elevated her to sainthood. A child who was tortured, beaten and abused became someone whom we can look up-to! God looks at the heart of every human being. She went through maximum unimaginable sufferings as a child. She won the heart of our Master through her joyful reception of her sufferings. As a religious sister, she served as a doorkeeper and cook in Venice. Her warm and gracious welcome continued to win the hearts of the people of Venice. She was often lovingly referred to as the “black mother” because she never lost her capacity to gently and charismatically care for others. “O Lord,” she once said, “if I could fly to my people and tell them of your goodness at the top of my voice, oh how many souls would be won!” It was said that her mind was always fixed on God, while her heart was still in Africa.
There are two lessons that can be learned from this great Saint whose feast we celebrate on 8 February. (1) No sufferings will go in vain! The more we endure the more the grace. St Bhakita endured the struggles in her journey and received the crown from her Most Beloved One and Most Holy One, our Lord and Saviour. (2) The suffering humanity needs us to reach out in their struggles and pains by coming out of our comfort zones. The world is crying in pain! As we celebrate the World Consecration Day this month (February), let us become aware at the core of our being and reach out to the peripheries, heeding the call of Pope Francis. When Israelites were in slavery, God called Moses to go and liberate them. Today, when our brothers and sisters are brutally tortured in slavery and in brothel houses, God calls us to reach out to them and to take them by hand. St Bhakita invites us to lift the fallen ones! Festal Blessings of St Bhakita who was lifted from slave to Saint!
Sr Lini Sheeja MSC, belongs to the Congregation of Missionary Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. She worked as the team member of Child-line, BOSCO Bangalore. While serving as the national secretary for Prison Ministry India, She has authored the book Redeemed Prisoner in which the life stories of the people who were redeemed by God from the dark cells of prisons are depicted. The purpose of Jesus coming to this earth was to call sinners and to redeem the lost. Jesus who cried out from the Cross, “I thirst” (Jn 19:28) continues to thirst for the lost souls, is the message of the book.