Saint of the day for February 8: the story of Saint Giuseppina Bakhita

For many years, Josephine Bakhita she was a slave but her spirit was always free and in the end that spirit prevailed.

Born in Olgossa in the Darfur region of southern Sudan, Giuseppina was kidnapped at the age of 7, sold as a slave and called Bakhita, which means  fortunata . It was resold several times, finally in 1883 a Callisto Legnani, Italian consul in Khartoum, Sudan.

Two years later, he took Giuseppina to Italy and gave her to his friend Augusto Michieli. Bakhita became Mimmina Michieli's babysitter, which he accompanied to the Institute of Catechumens in Venice, directed by the Canossian Sisters. While Mimmina was being educated, Giuseppina felt attracted to the Catholic Church. It was baptized and confirmed in 1890, taking the name of Giuseppina.

When the Michielis returned from Africa and wanted to bring Mimmina and Josephine with them, the future saint refused to go. During the judicial proceedings that followed, the Canossian nuns and the patriarch of Venice intervened in the name of Giuseppina. The judge concluded that because slavery was illegal in Italy, it was effectively free by 1885.

Giuseppina entered the Institute of Santa Maddalena di Canossa in 1893 and three years later he made his profession. In 1902 she was moved to the city of Schio (north-east of Verona), where she assisted her religious community by cooking, sewing, embroidering and welcoming visitors at the door. It soon became much loved by the children who attended the nuns' school and by local citizens. He once said, “Be good, love the Lord, pray for those who don't know Him. What a great grace it is to know God! "

The first steps towards her beatification began in 1959. She was beatified in 1992 and canonized eight years later.

Say the Prayer to bless life

Reflection

Giuseppina's body was mutilated by those who reduced her to slavery, but could not touch her spirit. Her baptism put her on a final path towards the affirmation of her civic freedom and then service to the people of God as a Canossian nun.

She who has worked under many "masters" was finally happy to turn to God as a "teacher" and to carry out whatever she believed was God's will for her.