Leonella Sgorbati
Roman Catholic Church | |
---|---|
Beatified | 26 May 2018, Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta e Santa Giustina, Piacenza, Italy by Cardinal Angelo Amato |
Feast | 17 September |
Leonella Sgorbati, born Rosa Maria Sgorbati, (9 December 1940 – 17 September 2006) was an
In 2008 her cross was deposited in the San Bartolomeo all'Isola church.[8] She was beatified on 26 May 2018 in Piacenza.[9][2]
Life
Rosa Maria Sgorbati was born on 9 December 1940 in Gazzola near Piacenza as the last of three children to Carlo Sgorbati and Giovannina (called Teresa) Vigilini. Her baptism was celebrated moments after her birth in the San Savino parish church. The Sgorbati family later relocated to Milan on 9 October 1950 for her father to find work; he died on 16 July 1951.
In her teens, she desired to become a religious sister working in the missions, though (at age sixteen when she announced it) her mother did not approve of this choice and asked that she wait until she turned 20.
African mission
Sgorbati underwent a nursing course in England from 1966 until 1968 before being sent in September 1970 to Kenya.
She was also keen to train tutors for the nursing school and so returned to Kenya with three of her now-graduated nurses in order to register them for further training at a medical training college. But Sgorbati faced difficulties in obtaining her own re-entry visa to Mogadishu due to the new rules of the Islamic courts that now controlled the town and its environs. She did manage to return to Mogadishu on 13 September 2006 after having vacationed in her homeland that February.[1]
Murder
On 17 September 2006 Sgorbati was gunned down outside her children's hospital just after 12:30 pm when she finished teaching and was crossing the road to go to the monastery, where three other sisters were waiting to have lunch with her.[6][8] Her guard and driver Mohamed Osman Mahamud (a father of four) was also killed.[1][2]
The attack was believed to be in response to the controversial comments that
The morning she died she was upset at the backlash that the pope had received from his address in Regensburg. She went out in the morning to the nursing school and at the end of her lessons in the afternoon smiled at her guard and driver who waited for her outside. The distance across the road was nine meters but the pair made it around five or so meters when the attack occurred. En route to the hospital she was pale and feverish with
Somalian officials vowed justice for the nun's murder with two suspects arrested and Somalia's
Funeral and exhumation
The funeral was celebrated on 21 September in the Consolata Chapel in Nairobi with the Bishop of Djibouti Giorgio Bertin presiding. The Italian ambassador to Kenya was present as was the Kenyan United Nations representative. In his remarks Bertin said that she stressed a message of love and togetherness adding that "together life is possible". Her colleague at the mission in Kenya (Sr. Rose) remarked at her funeral that "she was ever so generous" to all she met and worked alongside.[6][3][7] Her remains were buried in Nairobi and later exhumed for canonical inspection on 30 September 2017 before being placed in a church in Nairobi and then buried in December there.[1]
Recognition
Pope Benedict XVI referred to the slain sister as a "servant of love" in his speech after the Angelus prayer to 3000 people at Castel Gandolfo.[5]
On 13 October 2008 a Mass was celebrated for the occasion of the cross that she wore being transferred to the San Bartolomeo all'Isola church in Rome.[8] Pope Francis venerated her cross relic on his visit to the church on 22 April 2017.
Beatification
The diocesan process was held in Mogadishu from its inauguration on 16 October 2013 until its solemn closure not long after on 15 January 2014. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints validated this diocesan investigation on 19 September 2014. Pope Francis confirmed on 8 November 2017 that Sgorbati was killed in odium fidei ("in hatred of the faith").[9]
The beatification took place on 26 May 2018 in Piacenza with Cardinal
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Blessed Leonella (Rosa) Sgorbati". Santi e Beati. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- ^ a b c d e Inés San Martín (9 November 2017). "Nun killed in backlash over Regensburg declared a martyr". Crux. Archived from the original on 6 October 2018. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- ^ a b "Hundreds say farewell to Sister Leonella". SOS Children's Villages International. 22 September 2006. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- ^ a b c d e "BBC NEWS - Africa - Italian nun shot dead in Somalia". BBC News. 18 September 2006. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
- ^ a b "Pope: Sr. Leonella Sgorbati, an authentic Christian witness". Asia News. 24 September 2006. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f "Slain nun 'was willing to die'". News 24. 21 September 2006. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- ^ a b c "Tribute to Sister Leonella Sgorbati, killed in Somalia". Independent Catholic News. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- ^ a b c d e "Rome: Delivery of the cross of Sr. Leonella Sgorbati to the Basilica of San Bartolomeo, Memorial of witnesses to faith - Texts and photos". 13 October 2008. Retrieved 10 November 2017.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b "Promulgation of Decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints". Vatican Press Office. 9 November 2017. Retrieved 10 November 2017.