Getting to know Bakhita, the ‘black nun’ of Sudan

Several years ago, I met a fervent Catholic lady, Delores Nelson, whose car had an unusual license plate: BAKITA.

About 30 years ago, during her meditations, Delores kept seeing a "black nun." She brought it to the attention of her spiritual director, who said she should pray to her. Later, while on a pilgrimage to Rome for the canonization of St. Katherine Drexel, Delores saw the black nun’s image hanging in St. Peter’s Square: she too was being canonized that day.

"When I inquired about who she might be," said Delores, "a Chinese lady from Hong Kong spoke to me in perfect English: 'You don’t know Bakhita?' I said, 'No.' Here was a group of about 200 Chinese people who were there for her canonization. They had all been trained in a Catholic school in China run by the Canossian Sisters, and they were there for Josephine Bakhita’s canonization… They told me all about her and gave me a scarf with her image, which I still cherish. All the people in the Chinese delegation were wearing such a scarf."

When Delores returned to the States, she told her spiritual director how she had seen the black nun in Rome. "I asked him why she wanted to know me," Delores said, "and he chuckled and said, 'She doesn’t want to know you. She wants you to make her known.'"
 
From that day, Delores has actively promoted St. Josephine Bakhita. But many still do not know this Sudanese saint.
 
Born in 1869 in Sudan, she was kidnapped at the age of 9 and sold into slavery. One of the owners gave her the name Bakhita, which means "fortunate." After several years of brutality and humiliation, she was sold to an Italian family, who took her to Italy as their maid and baby’s caregiver.
 
The parents later placed Bakhita in the care of the Canossian Sisters in Venice, where Bakhita learned about Catholicism. In 1890, she entered the Catholic Church and took the name Josephine. She entered the Canossians in 1896.

For the next 50 years, she lived a life of simplicity, witnessing God’s love through her humble works and prayers. She died in 1947, was beatified in 1992, and was canonized in 2000. She is now the patron saint of Sudan, for victims of slavery, and for trafficked persons. Her feast is February 8.