Enrol Now

Bakhita

Josephine Bakhita is the Patron Saint of South Sudan and of human trafficking survivors, having come to know and trust in God through the harshest of circumstances.

Bakhita’s legacy

To come to know God—the true God—means to receive hope. We who have always lived with the Christian concept of God, and have grown accustomed to it, have almost ceased to

notice that we possess the hope that ensues from a real encounter with this God. The example of a saint of our time can to some degree help us understand what it means to have a real encounter with this God for the first time. I am thinking of the African Josephine Bakhita, canonized by Pope John Paul II….She was born around 1869—she herself did not know the precise date—in Darfur in Sudan. At the age of nine, she was kidnapped by slave-traders, beaten till she bled, and sold five times in the slave-markets of Sudan. Finally, in 1882, she was bought by an Italian merchant for the Italian consul Callisto Legnani, who returned to Italy as the Mahdists advanced. Here, after the terrifying “masters” who had owned her up to that point, Bakhita came to know a totally different kind of “master”—in Venetian dialect, which she was now learning, she used the name “paron” for the living God, the God of Jesus Christ. Up to that time she had known only masters who despised and maltreated her, or at best considered her a useful slave.

 

Now, however, she heard that there is a “paron” above all masters, the Lord of all lords, and that this Lord is good, goodness in person. She came to know that this Lord even knew her, that he had created her—that he actually loved her. She too was loved, and by none other than the supreme ‘Paron’, before whom all other masters are themselves no more than lowly servants. She was known and loved and she was awaited. What is more, this master had himself accepted the destiny of being flogged and now he was waiting for her “at the Father’s right hand”. Now she had “hope” —no longer simply the modest hope of finding masters who would be less cruel, but the great hope: “I am definitively loved and whatever happens to me—I am awaited by this Love. And so my life is good.” Through the knowledge of this hope she was “redeemed”, no longer a slave, but a free child of God.”

Acutis

Carlo Acutis strove to cooperate as generously as possible with God’s grace, a journey that brought him many experiences united by a burning desire to serve God and others.

Learn more

Bakhita

Josephine Bakhita is the Patron Saint of South Sudan and of human trafficking survivors, having come to know and trust in God through the harshest of circumstances.

Learn more

Bosco

Saint John Bosco sought to combine catechetical training and fatherly guidance, hoping to unite the spiritual life with one’s work, study and play.

Learn more

Glowrey

Mary Glowrey was a pioneering early female doctor and trailblazing medical missionary in India, designated a ‘Servant of God’.

Learn more

MacKillop

Mary MacKillop left a culture of exemplary living for her followers to emulate, paving the way for the education of poor children and a variety of ministries that addressed the needs of 19th century Australia.

Learn more

Nagle

Known as the “Lady of the Lantern,” Nano carried her lantern through the dark streets of Cork City, Ireland, guiding the lost, the sick, the elderly and the marginalised.

Learn more

Ozanam

Frederic Ozanam dedicated his life and work to dispensing not only food and physical sustenance to the needy and marginalised, but also the transformative love and compassion of Christ.

Learn more

Romero

Oscar Romero’s life and legacy are a symbol of hope in the face of harsh adversity, and the rich and incredible power of faith in our true God.

Learn more