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I did everything that was asked of me: working in the kitchen, in the sacristy, the front door, the linen room...helping wherever I could. At evening time I used to take the crucifix and I used to pray in my room. I tried to serve my Master in every way I could.

Then I was given the door-keeper's job. I enjoyed greeting children from the nursery school: they used to hug and kiss me. They used to say, "Good morning, Mother Moretta!"

As the door-keeper she was popularly known as the 'Dear African Sister'. She greeted all callers with the same fresh cordiality, welcoming them with a smile, whispering a word of comfort or answering the children's endless questions.

Her usual parting advice was, "Try to be good, love God and live as good Christians. If you could only realise what a great grace it is to know God. Had I only known God when I was a slave, what strength and comfort it would have been to me! Pray earnestly for those who do not know God."

Bakhita was in Schio during World War II. When air raids were being made on that part of Italy, people were confident Schio would be spared. "For," they used to say, "we have a real Saint living here." And Schio was actually spared.

Not so Bakhita. During the war she fell seriously ill.

A Sister seeing her so peaceful and always in prayer, asked, "Do you wish to go to heaven?"

"I wish neither to go nor to stay. God knows where to find me, when He wants me."

To another who asked how she was going on, she answered, "I am going slowly, step by step, because I have two heavy bags to carry -  one containing my own sins, the other Christ's merits. When I get to the other side, I will open my bags and say, 'Eternal Father, now judge!' and to St Peter, 'You can close that door of yours, for I'm going to stay.'"

It is 8 February 1947. The church bells of Schio are tolling. Mother Moretta is dead. Gone is the little Sister who won everyone's heart with her lovely simplicity and great charity.

Shortly before dying, to the Sisters who were sad at the thought of her imminent departure, she had said, "Don't be sad, I'll always be near you." Very true indeed. Sister Bakhita is always with us, interceding before God on our behalf and obtaining graces for those who pray to her.

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