St. Josephine Bakhita, 8th February

She was born in a reasonably rich family at Olgossa village in Darfur region of Sudan in the year 1869. But in about 1877, she was kidnapped by Arab slave traders and was forced to walk barefoot for about 600 miles. Then she was sold and resold several times.

She even forgot the name given to her by her family but took the name given by slave traders, Bakhita. The name Bakhita in Arabic means Lucky. She was also forcefully converted to Islam. She suffered a lot as a slave from her cruel masters till the year 1883, when she was brought by an Italian vice-consul by name Calolisto Legnani.

They returned to Italy from the present Khartoum in Sudan, which was still under siege. On November 29, 1889, an Italian court decided that Bakhita was not a slave. Then she was baptized on January 9, 1890 with the name Giuseppina Margherita. She then took her vows in the Canossian Convent on December 8, 1896. In the monastery she was employed as a cook, sacristan and porter (door keeper).

People of Schio believe that during World War-II, Schio escaped without a casualty due to the presence of the saintly Bakhita, even though there was bombing. She died on February 8th, 1947.

She is venerated as a modern African Saint. She was declared blessed on May 17, 1992 and canonized on October 1,2000 by Pope John Paul-II.