Early life She was born around 1869 in
Darfur (now in western Sudan) in the village of Olgossa, west of
Nyala and close to Mount Agilerei. She was one of the
Daju people; her respected and reasonably prosperous father was brother of the village chief. She was surrounded by a loving family of three brothers and three sisters; as she says in her autobiography: "I lived a very happy and carefree life, without knowing what suffering was".
Enslavement In 1877, when she was 7–8 years old, she was seized by
Arab slave traders, who had abducted her elder sister two years earlier. She was forced to walk barefoot about to
El-Obeid and was sold and bought twice before she arrived there. Over the course of twelve years (1877–1889) she was sold three more times. 'Bakhita' was not the name she received from her parents at birth. It is said that the trauma of her abduction caused her to forget her original name; she took one given to her by the slavers,
bakhīta (بخيتة),
Arabic for 'lucky' or 'fortunate'. She was also
forcibly converted to
Islam. In El-Obeid, Bakhita was bought by a rich Arab who used her as a maid for his two daughters. They treated her relatively well, until after offending one of her owner's sons, wherein the son lashed and kicked her so severely that she spent more than a month unable to move from her straw bed. Her fourth owner was a Turkish general, and she had to serve his mother-in-law and his wife, who were cruel to their slaves. Bakhita says: "During all the years I stayed in that house, I do not recall a day that passed without some wound or other. When a wound from the whip began to heal, other blows would pour down on me." She once said that the most terrifying of all of her memories there was when she (along with other slaves) was marked by a process resembling both
scarification and
tattooing, which was a traditional practice throughout Sudan. As her mistress was watching her with a whip in her hand, a dish of white flour, a dish of salt and a razor were brought by a woman. She used the flour to draw patterns on her skin and then she cut deeply along the lines before filling the wounds with salt to ensure permanent scarring. A total of 114 intricate patterns were cut into her breasts, stomach and into her right arm. By the end of 1882, El-Obeid came under the threat of an attack of
Mahdist revolutionaries. The Turkish general began making preparations to return to his homeland and sold his slaves. In 1883, Bakhita was bought in
Khartoum by the Italian
Vice Consul Callisto Legnani, who did not beat or punish her. Two years later, when Legnani himself had to return to Italy, Bakhita begged to go with him. At the end of 1884 they escaped from a besieged Khartoum with a friend, Augusto Michieli. They travelled a risky trip on camelback to
Suakin, which was the largest port of Sudan. In March 1885 they left Suakin for Italy and arrived at the port of
Genoa in April. They were met there by Augusto Michieli's wife, Maria Turina Michieli, to whom Legnani gave ownership of Bakhita. Her new owners took her to their family villa at Zianigo, near
Mirano, Veneto, about west of
Venice. When Turina Michieli returned to take her daughter and maid back to Suakin, Bakhita firmly refused to leave. For three days, Michieli tried to force the issue, finally appealing to the attorney general of the
King of Italy; while the superior of the Institute for baptismal candidates (
catechumenate) that Bakhita attended contacted the
Patriarch of Venice about her protégée's problem. On 29 November 1889, an Italian court ruled that because the British had outlawed slavery in Sudan before Bakhita's birth and because Italian law had never recognized slavery as legal, Bakhita had never legally been a slave. For the first time in her life, Bakhita found herself in control of her own destiny, and she chose to remain with the Canossians. On 9 January 1890, Bakhita was baptized with the names Josephine Margaret Fortunata (the Latin translation of the Arabic
Bakhita). On the same day, she was also
confirmed and received
Holy Communion from Archbishop
Giuseppe Sarto, the
Cardinal Patriarch of Venice and later Pope Pius X. 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 (doorkeeper) and was in frequent contact with the local community. Her gentleness, calming voice, and the 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 first publication of her story (
Storia Meravigliosa by Ida Zanolini) in 1931, made her famous throughout Italy. During the
Second World War (1939–1945) she shared the fears and hopes of the townspeople, who considered her a saint and felt protected by her presence. Bombs did not spare Schio, but the war passed without a single casualty. Her last years were marked by pain and sickness. She used a wheelchair but she retained her cheerfulness, and if asked how she was, she would always smile and answer: "As the Master desires." In the extremity of her last hours, her mind was driven back to her youth in slavery and she cried out: "The chains are too tight, loosen them a little, please!" After a while, she came round again. Someone asked her, "How are you? Today is Saturday," probably hoping that this would cheer her because Saturday is the day of the week dedicated to
Mary, mother of Jesus. Bakhita replied, "Yes, I am so happy: Our Lady... Our Lady!" These were her last audible words. Bakhita died at 8:10 PM on 8 February 1947. For three days, her body
lay in repose while thousands of people arrived to pay their respects. Her remains were
translated to the Church of the Holy Family of the Canossian convent of Schio in 1969. ==Legacy and canonization==