Day of Prayer for Victims of Human Trafficking

http://www.catholic-ew.org.uk/Home/Featured/Human-Trafficking/Background

Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales.
Catholics in England and Wales are being invited to pray for all victims of human trafficking on the Feast Day of St Bakhita, 8 February 2014.

"The Day of Prayer for the Victims of Trafficking is an opportunity to remember and pray for the thousands and thousands of victims of trafficking throughout the world,” said the Lead Bishop for Migration, Bishop Patrick Lynch.

“It is especially appropriate that the day itself coincides with the feast day of St. Josephine Bakhita who despite the suffering she experienced as a slave was a wonderful witness of how to live a life rooted in faith, inspired by hope and characterized by love. I would, therefore, encourage all people - young and old - to make a special effort to join in this Day of Prayer."

St Josephine Bakhita is the Sudanese Saint who at the age of nine was kidnapped and sold into slavery. She suffered terribly at the hands of her kidnappers so much so that she forgot her birth name. Her kidnappers gave her the name ‘Bakhita’ which means ‘Fortunate’.

At the age of 35 she was bought by the Italian Consul and was eventually brought to Italy where she was entrusted to the care of the Canossian Sisters in Venice. It was there that she came to know and experience God’s love. She became a Catholic in 1890 and made her final profession as a Canossian Sister in 1896. For the next fifty years she led a life of simplicity, prayer and service (especially as the doorkeeper in the convent) always showing kindness to everyone especially the children in the street. In her final years she suffered from sickness and the haunting memories of the beatings and floggings she received whilst in slavery. She died in 1947 and was canonized in October 2000.

Human trafficking now ranks as the second most profitable worldwide criminal enterprise after the illegal arms trade. The practical response of the Church and its charities, led in the main by Women Religious, is to raise awareness of this horrendous crime and to provide help and support for the most vulnerable victims.

The Office for Migration Policy (OMP) of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales is working in partnership with the Metropolitan Police Service to raise awareness of the impact of human trafficking in the UK and the rest of the word. OMP is also liaising with two dicasteries of the Vatican, (The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Itinerant People) to develop closer collaboration with the Episcopal Conferences of countries of origin as well as transit and destination countries so that prevention, pastoral care and reintegration of trafficked people can be improved.

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St Josephine Bakhita

Biography of St Josephine Bakhita

Name

Saint Josephine Bakhita

Born
c. 1869 in Olgossa, Darfur, Sudan

Died
8 February 1947

Year of beatification
1992 (17 May)

Year of canonisation
2000 (1 October)

Feast Day
8 February

St Josephine Bakhita, also known as ‘Mother Moretta’ (our Black Mother) bore 144 physical scars throughout her life which were received after she was kidnapped at the age of nine and sold into slavery. Such was the trauma experienced that she forgot her birth name and her kidnappers gave her the name Bakhita meaning ‘fortunate’. Flogging and maltreatment were part of her daily life. She experienced the moral and physical humiliations associated with slavery.

It was only in 1882 that her suffering was alleviated after she was bought for the Italian Consul. This event was to transform her life. In this family and, subsequently in a second Italian home, she received from her masters, kindness, respect, peace and joy. Josephine came to discover love in a profound way even though at first she was unable to name its source.

A change in her owner’s circumstances meant that she was entrusted to the Canossian Sisters of the Institute of the Catechumens in Venice. It was there that Bakhita came to know about God whom, ‘she had experienced in her heart without knowing who He was’ since she was a child. She was received into the Catholic Church in 1890, joining the sisters and making final profession in 1896.

The next fifty years of her life were spent witnessing to God’s love through cooking, sewing, embroidery and attending to the door. When she was on door duty, she would gently lay her hands on the heads of the children who attended the nearby school and caress them. Her voice was pleasing to the little ones, comforting to the poor and suffering. She was a source of encouragement. Her constant smile won people’s hearts, as did her humility and simplicity.

As she grew older she experienced long, painful years of sickness, but she continued to persevere in hope, constantly choosing the good. When visited and asked how she was, she’d respond: ‘As the Master desires’.

During her last days she relived the painful days of her slavery and more than once begged: ‘Please, loosen the chains... they are heavy!’.

Surrounded by the sisters, she died on 8 February 1947.