Sr. Gianna Irene tells us about her missionary experience with Sr. Leonella and the last moments of Blessed Leonella’s life.
That road…
There was a busy road separating the hospital and our house. We used to cross it every day since it was our only “exit” and “entry”. Both the hospital and our house had large courtyards where we could take a walk after work. Each Sister had an armed body guard who accompanied us from work to home and vice versa.
Sr. Leonella used to finish work before and could come to where I was, giving a hand even in “difficult cases.” If time permitted, we could take a walk around the hospital grounds before returning home.
Those walks did us good, they were precious… exchanging ideas in improving our work, our lives, and giving us the opportunity to share our difficulties, improving our relationships with each other and the staff.
That Sunday…
It was a Sunday. Sr. Leonella was at work as usual, and the three of us Sr. Marzia, Sr. Annalisa, and I were at home; it was our day off. Sr. Maria Bernarda was in Italy for her holidays.
It was shortly after 12:30p.m, we had just began to have lunch when we heard numerous gunshots. We were used to it and thus we didn’t pay attention.
After about ten minutes, there was a loud knock on the door. It was one of the orphaned children crying, “Sisters, sisters come…Sr. Leonella, Sr. Leonella….he was emotional….and he didn’t say anything else.”
We rushed to the hospital and found Sr. Leonella lying on bed in the operating room, surrounded by nurses and students trying to help. She was very pale, her eyes closed. We tried to encourage her, we helped stop the bleeding from the bullet holes.
Unfortunately, there were no doctors present, thus we called the doctor on duty. We administered infusions, and in the meantime, the doctor on duty arrived and began the blood infusion.
Those Words…
Meantime, I had left Sr. Leonella to bring other necessary things when Sr. Marzia called me and said, “Sr. Leonella wants you“. I went to Sr. Leonella: she was very pale, she saw me, and then slowly said:
I forgive, I forgive, I forgive!
Those were her last words. She had nothing to forgive me, just as I had nothing to forgive her. We always understood and loved each other, and helped each other. Those three words were for her killers!
Meanwhile, two doctors arrived, called from the other hospitals. Sr. Leonella began to have difficulty breathing then breathed her last without whimper.
It was decided to transport the body of Sr Leonella by plane to Nairobi, and the three Sisters would also have to leave Somalia.
We quickly packed our bags while the staff prepared Leonella’s body on a stretcher. We left for the airport where the plane was waiting for us.
Along the way, people looked sad, as the news had already spread throughout the country. It is impossible to describe what we felt; there was only silence.
Sr. Gianna Irene, mc
