Flora Cantábrica

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Roman Martyrology: Virgin, born in the region of Darfur, in Sudan, who, while still a child, was kidnapped and sold in various African slave markets, suffering harsh captivity. Upon obtaining her freedom, she embraced the Christian faith and entered the Institute of Daughters of Charity (Canosianas), and spent the rest of her life in Schio, in the Italian territory of Vicenza, dedicated to Christ and at the service of her neighbors ( † 1947

Her life was deeply marked when some slavers came to Olgossa and captured her sister. In her biography he wrote: «I remember how much Mom cried and how much we all cried.» She also recounted her own experience encountering slave seekers.

When I was approximately nine years old, I was walking with a friend in the countryside and we suddenly saw two foreigners appear, one of whom said to my friend: ‘Let the little girl go to the forest to look for some fruit for me. Meanwhile, you can continue on your way, we will catch up with you shortly. Their goal was to capture me, so they had to keep my friend away so she couldn’t raise the alarm.

Without suspecting anything I obeyed, as she always did. When I was in the forest, I realized that the two people were behind me, and that was when one of them grabbed me tightly and the other took out a knife with which he threatened me, telling me: ‘If you scream, you will die!’ Follow us!'»
It was those men who gave her the name Bakhita without understanding where she would lead. Bakhita was taken to El Obeid where she was sold to five different masters in the slave market. She tried to escape, but without success. Her fourth master was the worst at humiliating and torturing her. When she was about 13 years old she was tattooed, 114 incisions were made and to avoid infections they put salt on her for a month. She says in her biography: «I felt like she was going to die at any moment, especially when they put the salt on me.»

The Italian merchant Calixto Leganini bought Bakhita in 1882. She was the fifth master. She writes: «This time I was really lucky because the new boss was a good man and I liked him. I was not mistreated or humiliated, something that seemed completely unreal to me, and I was even able to feel at peace and tranquility
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