On October 11, 2023, Pope Francis spoke about the life of St. Josephine Bakhita and her incredible witness of the transforming power of Christ’s forgiveness.
Josephine Bakhita was born in 1869 in Olgossa, which is located in the Darfur region of southern Sudan.
Growing up, she was surrounded by loving parents, three brothers, and three sisters.
In her autobiography when she considers this period of her life she says, “I lived a very happy and carefree life, without knowing what suffering was.”
However, at 7 or 8 years old, she was abducted and made a slave. In her time as a slave, she had eight different masters. Among other trials, she was forced to walk barefoot over 600 miles to a slave market in El Obeid. Reflecting on her fourth master, 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.”
Josephine Bakhita spent so much time enduring trauma and suffering in captivity that she forgot her own name; she was left with no identity. The name ‘Bakhita’, meaning ‘fortunate’ or ‘blessed’ was an ironic name assigned by her captors in hopes of enticing potential buyers. Nevertheless, she stated, “As a slave I never despaired, because I felt a mysterious force supporting me.”
Eventually, she was given to Augusto Michieli in Italy, where she served as a babysitter to Mimmina Michieli.
During this time, she accompanied Mimmina to Venice’s Institute of the Catechumens and began to feel drawn to the Catholic Church.
She was given a small crucifix, and having not owned anything before, treasured it dearly. Gazing upon the crucifix, “She experienced inner liberation because felt she was understood and loved and therefore capable of understanding and loving,” said Pope Franics.
She was baptized and Confirmed in 1890, taking the name Josephine.
When the Michielis wanted to take Josephine back to Africa, she refused, wanting to stay at the school. This refusal was followed by a court case. Thankfully, the Canossian Sisters and the patriarch of Venice intervened on Josephine’s behalf.
Since slavery was illegal in Italy, the judge ruled that Josephine had actually been free since 1885.
In the custody of the Sisters, she learned more about God and discerned a call to follow Christ. She entered the Institute of St. Magdalene of Canossa in 1893, making her profession three years later. In her religious community, she welcomed others, and assisted through performing a variety of tasks like cooking and sewing. She was beloved by the children and community.
Throughout her life, she was motivated by a strong missionary drive and helped prepare young Sisters for work in Africa. Despite facing great physical suffering in her old age, she remained joyful.
Pope Francis beautifully summed up her service to others as a religious by stating that “Bakhita was able to experience service not as slavery, but as an expression of the free gift of self . . . made a servant against her will — she was sold as a slave — she later freely chose to become a servant.”
St. Josephine Bakhita is the patron saint of human trafficking and Sudan and is looked upon as a source of inspiration for many experiencing physical and spiritual suffering.
The healing power of forgiveness
When Josephine became a Christian, was transformed by the words of Christ “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:24). She would say that “If Judas had asked Jesus for forgiveness, he too would have found mercy.”
Pope Francis noted how easy it is for the oppressed to become the oppressor; hurt people hurt people.
How was Josephine able to avoid succumbing to hate and resentment and instead give her life so freely with joy and love? The Holy Father said, “Only in the weakness of the oppressed can the strength of God’s love, which frees both, be revealed,” explaining that “The vocation of the oppressed is that of freeing themselves and their oppressors, becoming restorers of humanity.”
Pope Francis went on to say, “St. Bakhita’s life became an existential parable of forgiveness.” Forgiveness set St. Josephine free and made her a joyful woman capable of loving, despite the scars of her past and the many grave sins committed against her.
During the canonization Mass in 2000, St. John Paul II said, “In St. Josephine Bakhita, we find a shining advocate of genuine emancipation. The history of her life inspires not passive acceptance, but the firm resolve to work effectively to free girls and women from oppression and violence, and to return them to their dignity in the full exercise of their rights.”
St. Josephine Bakhita teaches us to humanize those we see as enemies. Furthermore, she shows us how to be free from our own slavery and fears as we are called to live a life in Christ and rest in His love.