In July, in preparation for the feast of Blessed Leonella Sgorbati, we paused to reflect on the human and Christian meaning of forgiveness, in light of the experience of Jesus Christ and of Sister Leonella, His faithful disciple.
Forgiveness is a gift; it consists not only of refraining from repaying evil with evil—thereby yielding to the instinct for revenge—but of offering new possibilities to those who commit wrong. It is a gift for the one who offers forgiveness, as the act brings positive effects: it frees one from resentment and from dwelling on past wrongs, while directing one’s energy toward living the present moment to the fullest.
The forgiveness shown by Blessed Leonella Sgorbati was not a spur-of-the-moment act at the very hour of her death, but the culmination of a way of life cultivated day by day through concrete choices—choices that were not always easy, yet were made with the awareness that this was the path dictated by true love.
The final words—”I forgive, I forgive, I forgive”—whispered by Blessed Leonella in Mogadishu on September 17, 2006, after she had been struck by seven gunshots, were the fruit of her profound love for Jesus and her desire to be united with Him, following the path of her “Bridegroom.”
Sister Leonella’s capacity for forgiveness manifested in three dimensions:
A CONSCIOUS CHOICE
Sister Leonella was fully aware of the risks she faced while working in Somalia during a period of intense tension and extremism. Her diaries reveal a clear-eyed understanding of her situation, accompanied by a serene sense of irony: “There is a bullet with my name on it, and only God knows when it will arrive.”
A DAILY COMMITMENT
Those who knew her recall Sister Leonella saying that one learns to forgive and overcome fear only little by little, day by day, by promptly resolving conflicts within the community or the workplace. Her final, threefold cry of “Forgiveness” was the culmination of a lifelong desire.
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
During the “Allamano Month” spent at Castelnuovo Don Bosco in February 2006, Sister Leonella clearly perceived a call to live out the Eucharistic mystery to the point of laying down her life. She returned to Somalia aware that the time was “near,” serenely accepting her destiny.
During the years she served as Regional Superior for Kenya (1993–1999), Sister Leonella frequently urged the Sisters—through her circular letters—to let God work in and through them. She encouraged them to be transformed and empowered to forgive, so that they might live out their community life and mission with true depth and quality.
Martyrdom and openess to the other
Sister Leonella’s mission took place in a country that was 99.9% Muslim – scarred by years of civil war and fundamentalism -which called for a “silent martyrdom.”
An ultimate act of love. Sister Leonella did not live detached from this social context; on the contrary, she deeply loved the people she served by training young nurses at the SOS Hospital school in Mogadishu.
A shared sacrifice. Mohamed Mahmud—her Muslim bodyguard and a family man—also lost his life in the same attack that claimed Sister Leonella; he had courageously tried to shield her with his own body. Their simultaneous deaths—a Western Christian woman and a Somali Muslim man—embody the profound conviction Sister Leonella often voiced: that there is a real possibility of walking, living, and laying down one’s life together, transcending all cultural or religious barriers.
United with the mystery of Christ’s Love. For Sister Leonella, forgiveness was the ultimate expression of her total self-giving to God. In her writings, she prayed that the Lord might “love within her.”
The three words she spoke to her killers at the moment of her death faithfully echoed the words of Jesus on the Cross, transforming a tragic act of violence into an offering of love and a sign of hope—described by Pope Benedict XVI as the “most authentic Christian witness.”
Sister Leonella’s example continues to bear unexpected fruits of peace; a case in point is the testimony of an Anglican believer who, thanks to her words of forgiveness, was himself able to forgive a grave wrong he had suffered thirty years earlier.
Forgiveness has the power to halt the spiraling cycle of hatred and vengeance – which tends to spread – and to restore interpersonal relationships, thereby building the kingdom of peace that Jesus came to bring; the benefit forgiveness bestows upon the one who grants it is, above all, peace of heart.
“Only God knows how fruitful this act of Leonella’s was, and the extent to which the blood and water flowing from her seven wounds became life, care, remedy, and balm for the world, reaching ‘places’ that neither our legs, nor our intellect, nor our good will, nor our physical presence—however beautiful and praiseworthy—could ever reach. Sisters, this is how the mission is fulfilled, because this is how Christ fulfilled it.” (MC General Directorate, Circular No. 3, Nepi, December 25, 2019).
The example of Blessed Leonella reminds us that human beings cannot forgive on their own, relying solely on their own strength. When the harm suffered is extreme, the strength to forgive transcends mere human will.
We are called, first and foremost, to allow ourselves to be forgiven by Jesus and to draw upon the strength of the Holy Spirit, who makes the impossible possible; Only then—once anger and resentment have passed—can the person open themselves up again to life and empathy, and allow the love they have received to reach others as well.
