The Josephine Bakhita Centre Opening at St Philomena’s Catholic High School

Having welcomed an additional form of entry to Year 7 in September 2024, bringing the total number of Year 7 students on roll at St Philomena’s Catholic High School for Girls to 264, across 9 forms of entry, we were delighted to receive the keys to our new building in December 2023.

On Wednesday 21st February 2024, we welcomed Episcopal Vicar Canon Victor Darlington to bless our new building named after St Josephine Bakhita.

We began with a Liturgy of Blessing inside our School Chapel where we were joined by our Altar Servers, Student Prayer Leaders, Catholic Life Leaders and our Chapel Choir. Our Prayer Leaders led us in prayer and our Chapel choir provided our liturgical music to commemorate this special blessing. Episcopal Vicar Canon Victor Darlington then proceeded to bless the building.

Saint Josephine Bakhita was born in 1869 in the Darfur region of Sudan. She was kidnapped by human traffickers at the age of seven and was bought and sold over a dozen times. Saint Josephine Bakhita travelled to Italy with her master and was placed in the custody of the Canossian Sisters which is where she came to learn about God. St Josephine Bakhita was beatified on May 17th 1992 by Pope John Paul II and was canonised by him on October 1st 2000. She is the patron saint of victims of modern slavery and human trafficking.