Blessed Leonella Sgorbati
An Italian missionary sister whose martyrdom in Somalia the Church formally recognized.
I forgive, I forgive, I forgive.
Her last words, as recorded by the Consolata Missionary Sisters Well-attested
The Life and Witness of Blessed Leonella Sgorbati.
Leonella Sgorbati gave nearly forty years to Africa as a Consolata Missionary Sister, most of them nursing and training nurses in Kenya. In 2000 she went to Mogadishu to open a nursing school for young Somalis. She was shot leaving the hospital on September 17, 2006, and her last words were that she forgave. The Church recognized her martyrdom in hatred of the faith and beatified her in 2018.
She was born Rosa Sgorbati at Rezzanello di Gazzola, near Piacenza, on December 9, 1940, into a peasant family, and was baptized the same day. She entered the Consolata Missionary Sisters in May 1963 and took the name Leonella, made her first profession in 1965, and studied nursing in England and Kenya.
Kenya held most of her working life. She served in hospitals and gave herself above all to the formation of young nurses, and from 1993 to 1999 she was Regional Superior of her institute in Kenya. When that service ended she did not retire into it. She went to Somalia.
From 2000 she founded and directed a nursing school in Mogadishu, in a country with almost no functioning health system, so that Somalis could care for Somalis. The first group graduated in 2006. On September 17 of that year, walking the short distance from the hospital where she worked, she was shot. She died in the hospital she had served, and those with her heard her say that she forgave.
Blessed Leonella is evidence that the age of martyrs did not end in antiquity. She is remembered for her vocation and her work as much as for her death, and for the forgiveness she spoke as she died.
A life, in years and approximate ages.
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1940BirthBirth at RezzanelloRosa Sgorbati is born to a peasant family at Rezzanello di Gazzola, near Piacenza, and is baptized the same day in the parish of San Savino.
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196322Enters the Consolata Missionary SistersShe enters the institute in May and receives the name Leonella. She makes her first profession in November 1965.
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1963-1970About 23 to 30Nursing training and KenyaShe studies nursing in England and in Kenya, makes perpetual profession in 1972, and begins hospital work and the training of young nurses.
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1993-1999About 52 to 58Regional Superior in KenyaShe serves six years as Regional Superior of her institute in Kenya.
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2000-2006About 59 to 65The nursing school in MogadishuShe founds and directs a nursing school in Mogadishu so that Somalis can be trained to care for Somalis. The first group receives their diplomas in 2006.
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200665Killed at MogadishuOn September 17, leaving the hospital where she worked, she is shot. Before she dies she says that she forgives.
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2017After deathHer remains are translated to NairobiIn the course of her cause her remains are exhumed on September 30 from the Consolata Sisters' cemetery at Nazareth, Limuru, and translated to the chapel of Our Lady of the Universe at Flora Hostel in Nairobi, so that she rests where people can pray. On November 8 the Holy Father recognizes her martyrdom in hatred of the faith.
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2018After deathBeatified at PiacenzaShe is beatified on May 26 in her native Diocese of Piacenza-Bobbio, in a celebration presided over by Cardinal Angelo Amato.
Dates are approximate where the surviving record is traditional or incomplete.
One place where this witness remains visible.
Chapel of Our Lady of the Universe, Flora Hostel, Nairobi
Her remains were exhumed on September 30, 2017 from the Consolata Sisters' cemetery at Nazareth, Limuru, and translated to the chapel of her institute's house at Flora Hostel. This is where a pilgrim can pray at her tomb.
Where the relics are venerated.
Blessed Leonella died at Mogadishu, but she is not buried in Somalia. Her body was taken to Kenya, where she had spent most of her life, and buried in the Consolata Sisters' cemetery at Nazareth, Limuru. In the course of her cause her remains were exhumed on September 30, 2017 and translated to the chapel of Our Lady of the Universe, the chapel of her institute's house at Flora Hostel on 5th Ngong Avenue in Nairobi, where she rests now. The Missionari della Consolata describe the place as the church of Our Lady of the Universe beside the Consolata Missionary Sisters' regional house; accounts of the 2017 translation name the same chapel at Flora Hostel. It is a chapel inside a religious house rather than a public shrine, and a visit to the tomb is arranged with the Sisters. There is no place of pilgrimage connected with her in Somalia.
A principal relic site is named, with other fragments or reliquaries noted separately.
Chapel of Our Lady of the Universe, Flora Hostel, Nairobi
Her remains were exhumed on September 30, 2017 from the Consolata Sisters' cemetery at Nazareth, Limuru, and translated to the chapel of her institute's house at Flora Hostel. This is where a pilgrim can pray at her tomb.
- The body of Blessed Leonella Sgorbati
This is a chapel inside a religious house rather than a public shrine, and access for outside visitors is not publicly guaranteed. Write or telephone Flora Hostel and ask the Consolata Missionary Sisters what is possible.
Saints Connected to Blessed Leonella Sgorbati
Kept on September 17.
September 17 is her feast, the day she was killed at Mogadishu in 2006. Her institute, the Consolata Missionary Sisters, and her native Diocese of Piacenza-Bobbio keep the day; 2026 marks the twentieth anniversary of her death.
Her body rests in the chapel of Our Lady of the Universe at Flora Hostel, the house of the Consolata Missionary Sisters on 5th Ngong Avenue in Nairobi, where it was translated in 2017. The chapel belongs to a religious house rather than to the public, and a visit is arranged with the Sisters. There is no accessible place of pilgrimage connected with her in Somalia.