Celebration in Honor of Saint Bakhita Marking 20 Years of CATHII - SNJM Québec

As part of its 20 th anniversary, the Comité d’action contre la traite humaine interne et internationale (CATHII) — (Action Committee against internal and international human trafficking) organized a celebration on February 8, in tribute to Saint Bakhita, at Saint-Bonaventure’s parish in Montreal’s east end.

Sr. Lise Gagnon, snjm and Sr. IsaBelle Couillard, sgm, two CATHII members can be seen.

A large number of people attended the ceremony, presided over by Father Roland Laneuville, of the Missions étrangères (Foreign Missions) and Fr. Pierre Bergeron, who replaced the parish priest on sick leave. A choir sang songs composed, for the occasion, by Madame Renaude Grégoire, Rhama Desjarlais and IsaBelle Couillard, sgm.

The Mass, which had been videotaped, is available on the Internet. A word of caution, however. The sound is only operational from the ninth minute of the recording, during the entrance hymn. The celebrant can be heard very well, but the sound of the choir is not very audible. Fortunately, the words of the hymns are displayed in a box on the right-hand side of the screen.

Who is Joséphine Bakhita?

The Church celebrates Saint Josephine Bakhita on February 8. She was born in 1869 in Darfur, Sudan, and was kidnapped at the age of 9 by human traffickers. Sold several times, she became the property of the Italian consul in Khartoum when she was 14. She was treated with kindness. Two years later, she was in the service of a couple of the Consul’s friends in Italy. It was during her stay with this Italian family that she discovered the Canossian nuns.

It was only after a court case in 1889 that she obtained the right to remain in the convent. Baptized a year later, she received confirmation before asking to become a religious in 1893.

For more than 50 years, she was entrusted with various tasks in the kitchen, linen room and janitor’s office at the Congregation in Schio, in the Province of Vicenza. In this community, where she was much appreciated, she was nicknamed “Little Black Mother” (Madre Moretta).

Joséphine Bakhita died after a long illness on February 8, 1947. Beatified in 1992, she was canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 1, 2000.