Luckily for us, not only do they serve as role models of hope and witnesses of God's mercy, but they also serve as effective benefactors and intercessors on our behalf if we only take the time to get to know them, their lives and to ask for their intercession. On February 8, we celebrate the feast day of St. Josephine Bakhita, a slave from the Darfur region of Sudan who eventually joined the Canossian Daughters of Charity in 1896. Pope Francis today called for action in the fight against human trafficking and has appealed to government leaders to be strong in the fight against the scourge of human trafficking. You can read his message here. Now, rather than give you a detailed history on St. Bakhita's life, our friends at Catholic Online have done a fantastic job summarizing her life in the video below. In 1958, the process of canonization began for Josephine under Pope John XXIII. On December 1, 1978, Pope John Paul II declared her venerable. Sadly, the news of her beatification in 1992 was censored in Sudan. But just nine months later, Pope John Paul II visited Sudan and honored her publicly. He canonized her on October 1, 2000. Saint Josephine Bakhita, the patron saint of Sudan, pray for us.