Patroness of the M.A. in Human Rights Program. Born in Sudan in 1869, Saint Josephine was kidnapped at the age of seven and sold into slavery. She was sold several times, eventually becoming a nanny for an Italian family. Josephine gained her freedom and became a Canossion Sister, where she spent her life preparing missionary sisters to work in Africa and exemplified Christian charity.
When asked what she would do if she could meet her captors, she replied: “If I were to meet those who kidnapped me, and even those who tortured me, I would kneel and kiss their hands. For, if these things had not happened, I would not have been a Christian and a religious today.”
