| WHAT: | Solemn Vespers: Feast Day of St. Josephine Bakhita |
| WHEN: | Tuesday, Feb. 8, 6 p.m. |
| WHERE: | The Catholic University of America Caldwell Chapel 620 Michigan Ave., N.E. Washington, D.C. |
| DETAILS: | The Office of Campus Ministry and its social justice group, Students on the Mount, will celebrate Solemn Vespers on the feast day of St. Josephine Bakhita, a former slave from the Darfur region of Sudan who was canonized by Pope John Paul II. Now becoming known as a patron saint for an end to human trafficking and slavery, she was born in 1869 and sold into bondage as a young girl. Later freed, she joined the international Canossian Daughters of Charity in Italy, where the sisters ran schools. St. Josephine Bakhita provided services that included cooking, sewing, doing embroidery, and greeting students at the sisters' schools in Schio, Italy. Within her congregation, she is still known as "Mother Moretta" or black mother. Beatified in 1992, Sister Josephine Bakhita was canonized on Oct. 1, 2000. The CUA community will celebrate her feast day in solidarity and prayer with a solemn celebration of evening prayer following the 5:10 p.m. Mass in Caldwell Chapel. Monsignor Kevin Irwin, dean of the School of Theology and Religious Studies, will preside and preach. The CUA Chamber Choir will perform under the direction of Leo Nestor, Justine Bayard Ward Professor of Music and director of the Institute of Sacred Music. For more information, call 202-319-5575. |
| SPONSOR: | Office of Campus Ministry |