St. Josephine Bakhita

Today is the feast of St. Josephine Bakhita, a woman born in the 19th century in southern Sudan.  As her life is described here, she was a slave beginning at age 7, eventually accompanying her owner's daughter to Venice where she learned about and was attracted to Catholicism. Baptized at age 22, she eventually gained her freedom and became a religious sister.  

In the homily at her canonization mass, Pope John Paul II, spoke of the inspiration of her life:

"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, pray for us!