International Day of St. Josephine Bakhita
13 February 2018
Today, February 8, has been designated as the International Day of Prayer for Victims of Human Trafficking. It is also the feast day of St. Josephine Bakhita - patron of trafficking victims.
St. Josephine Bakhita was born in 1869 in Sudan. Around 1877, she was kidnapped and sold into slavery by Arab slave traders. During her time as a slave, she was beaten, tortured, and scarred. Eventually, in 1883, she was sold to the Italian Vice Consul, Callisto Legani, who took her with him back to Italy. Here she eventually joined the Canossian Sisters and devoting herself tyo a life of sanctity.
She passed away on February 8, 1947, and was canonized on October 1, 2000, by St. John Paul II.
