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St. Josephine Bakhita, "Fortunate" One of God

© by Sheila M. Coyle

by Sheila M. Coyle

This month I had planned on writing about St. Joseph, husband of Mary and foster father of Jesus. But when my copy of The Josephine Harvest arrived on December 15, I was drawn to the cover picture, of a woman with warm brown eyes spanning the misery and victory of the years, the recently canonized Saint Josephine Bakhita.

Just what is the story of St. Josephine? Well, most of it we would probably not want to know, because she was kidnapped at seven or nine years old in her native Sudan in 1875. The fright of this experience made her forget her name. Her kidnappers named her "Bakhita" meaning "the fortunate one." A Sudanese slave subjected to torments, cruelties and indignities most of us could not even imagine.

Oddly enough, her cruel captors were the vehicles used by God to bring about her conversion and eventual freedom. You would think it would be the other way around, wouldn't you? There is not revenge in those brown eyes sparkling with a hint of the Divine, but the knowledge of a woman deeply loved by her heavenly Father.

Imagine a child pulled from the arms of her mother and father, sister, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. Then this same child, an orphan, trudging with bare feet as in an aftermath of a tornado, on hot stone paths or in freezing snow carrying bundles, and burdens that the world does not even see. She longs for the gentle call of her mother's voice. Instead, each morning she is wakened with lashings, insults, and baser acts committed against those helpless and forgotten children of God.

However, not forgotten completely. St. Josephine's canonization is timely, and hopefully draws attention to the plight of present day Sudanese Slaves. St. Josephine, watching and praying from heaven has been waiting for people to listen, and help. Yes, it is 125 years after her birth and so little has changed in this area of assault to human dignity and worth.

Just what were the virtues that made St. Josephine a Saint?

I would imagine that patience would be at the near top of the list. But more than likely, it is her lack of bitterness to transgressors, and even her gratitude to them for bringing her to Italy, where she was treated kindly and led to conversion through the Daughters of Charity, the Canossian Sisters. They ran a boarding school where Josephine's mistress' child attended, and when the mistress wanted to take Josephine back to Africa, she boldly said that she would stay with the Sisters and practice her faith. Her Mother Superior had the church and secular leaders help in securing Josephine's freedom since slavery was illegal in Italy. At the age of 41 Josephine became a Canossian Sister and lived in Schio, Italy until her death in 1947.