Charity registration No. SC002876   Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Main Menu Notices 2 Page 4 Notices Sunday February 12th. 2012 Early life Josephine Bakhita was born free in the little village of Olgossa, a  village in the western Sudanese region of Darfur in 1869. Her  father was the brother of a tribal chief. At the age of nine, she was  kidnapped by Arab slave traders and over the course of the next  eight years was sold and resold five times in the markets of El  Obeid and Khartoum. The trauma of her abduction caused her to  forget her own name, and the name we know her by is a compound of the name given her by the slavers (bakhita, the Arabic word for  lucky) and the Christian name she took in adulthood.  She was also  forcibly converted to Islam.  Life as a Slave Josephine suffered much brutality during her captivity. On one  occasion, one of her owner's sons beat her so severely that she  spent a month unable to move from a straw bed. She later recalled  that her most terrifying memory was of her fourth owner, an  Ottoman Army officer, having her (in common with all his other  slaves) marked as "his" by a process resembling both scarification  and tattooing. Her memoirs, written in Italian many years later,  recall that a dish of white flour, a dish of salt and a blade were  brought by a woman, who drew patterns on her skin and then cut  deeply along the lines before filling the wounds with salt and flour  to ensure permanent scarring. More than sixty patterns were cut  into her breasts, stomach, and arms. Conversion Her final owner was an Italian diplomat, Callisto Legnani. He and  his friend, Augusto Michieli, brought her to Italy. She became  nanny to the Michieli's daughter, Mimmina. In 1888 or 1889  Bakhita and Mimmina were left in the custody of the Canossian  Sisters in Venice while the Michielis moved to the Red Sea on  business. In 1890 she was baptised. Freedom When the Michielis returned to collect her and their daughter,  Bakhita did not want to leave. Mrs. Michieli tried to force the  issue, but the superior of the school that Bakhita and Miss  Mimmina had attended in Venice complained to the authorities. An  Italian court ruled that since Sudan had outlawed slavery before  Bakhita's birth, and since in any case Italian law did not recognize   slavery, Bakhita had never in  fact been a slave. Bakhita had  now reached the age of  majority, and she found herself  in control of her own destiny  for the first time in her  life.Awakening to the  knowledge and love of God, her  "Master" above all masters and  her response in faith, love and  gratitude, she chose to remain  with the Canossians.  Nun  On 9 January 1890 Bakhita was  baptised with the names of  Giuseppina Margherita and  Fortunata (which in Arabic  stands for Bakhita). On the  same day she was also  confirmed and received  communion from the cardinal patriarch of Venice himself!  On  7th December, 1893 she entered the novitiate of the Canossian  Sisters and on 8th December, 1896 she took her vows, welcomed  by the future Pope Pius X. In 1902 she was assigned to the  Canossian convent at Schio, in the northern Italian province of  Vicenza, where she spent the rest of her life. Her only extended  time away was between 1935 and 1939, when she stayed at the  Missionary Novitiate in Vimercate (Milan); mostly visiting other  Canossian communities in Italy, talking about her experiences  and helping to prepare young sisters for work in Africa.  A strong  missionary drive animated her throughout her entire life - "her  mind was always on God, and her heart in Africa". During her 42 years in Schio, Bakhita was employed as the cook,  sacristan and portress (door keeper) and was in frequent contact  with the local community. Her gentleness, calming voice, and  ever-present smile became well known and Vicenzans still refer  to her as Sor Moretta ("little brown sister") or Madre Moretta   ("black mother"). Her special charisma and reputation for  sanctity were noticed by her order;  >>>>>>>  The amazing story of Sister Josephine Bahkita From a slave to a saint—the power of God’s love