Today, we celebrate the feast day of Saint Josephine Bakhita. She was born in the Darfur region of Sudan and grew up in relatively prosperous circumstances. It is believed that she was kidnapped by Arab slave traders at the age of 8. She was then bought, sold and given away repeatedly. She endured great cruelty at the hands of her various owners, including being branded, beaten and scarred deliberately. She was eventually given away to a family in Italy who then placed her in the temporary care of the Canossian Sisters in Venice, where she came to encounter Christ. She decided not to return to the family, her case was then taken to court and she was set free!
She remained in Italy and eventually took her vows as a Canossian Sister and dedicated her life to serving her community and teaching others to love God. During World War II, she came to be regarded as the protector of the village of Schio because despite bombs falling on their village, there was not a single casualty. St. Josephine was beatified in 1992 and canonised shortly after on October 2000 by Pope John Paul II. She is the first person to be canonised from Sudan and is the patron saint of the country.
For those of us who find ourselves wondering how we are meant to cling to Christ in times of great pain and suffering, may St Josephine Bakhita’s life show us that nothing is impossible with God’s love!
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