Saint Who?
Saints Who Were Missionaries
Blessed Leonella Sgorbati
Religious and martyr († 2006) Feast: September 17
Rosa Maria was born in an Italian village and was educated by Ursuline nuns. Inspired by their example, she decided when she was sixteen years old to become a missionary sister. Her father had died when she was ten, and her mother initially opposed her vocation. Rosa obediently waited until she was twenty-three years old to enter the Consolata Missionaries. She took the name Leonella and completed courses in nursing.
Leonella was first sent to Kenya, where she worked in hospitals as a nurse and midwife. Over time, she became a nursing instructor and regional superior for her order. In 2001, she was sent to Somalia, which had only recently emerged from ten years of civil war. There she set up a new nursing school, learned to speak Somali, and began training students. She found discreet ways to plant the seeds of the Gospel in this predominantly Muslim country. Because of the ever-present threat of violence, she was assigned an armed guard.
Immediately after Pope Benedict XVI’s Regensburg lecture, multiple attacks were made against Christians, and Leonella was one of them. She was leaving the hospital when she was shot in the back by two assailants. Before she died, Leonella said, “I forgive,” three times.
Lord Jesus Christ, send us out to spread the Good News of your salvation to all the world.
