Consolata missionary Leonella Sgorbati, killed in Somalia in 2006, left a testimony of love, dedication, and forgiveness. Her last words – “Forgive, forgive, forgive” – are still relevant today. On this September 17th, as we commemorate her martyrdom, we renew our commitment to justice and peace, forgiveness and reconciliation.
By Júlio Caldeira *
As a Church, we remember today, September 17, 2026, the liturgical memorial and 20th anniversary of the martyrdom of Blessed Leonella Sgorbati, an Italian Consolata missionary sister who gave her life for the Kingdom of God in Mogadishu, Somalia, dedicating herself to the training of young nurses.
It was Sunday, September 17, 2006. After teaching at the hospital where she worked, Sister Leonella was crossing the street accompanied by Mahamud Mohammed Osman, a Muslim man who escorted her. Both were struck by gunfire. Mahamud died instantly, while Leonella was taken to the hospital. Shortly after, she too passed away. Her last words were: “Forgive, forgive, forgive.”
This phrase became the symbol of her testimony and the summary of a religious and missionary life. Faced with violence, Leonella responded with forgiveness, recalling Jesus’s words on the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34).
From Rosa Maria to Leonella
Born on December 9, 1940, in Rezzanello di Gazzola, in the province of Piacenza, Italy, Rosa Maria Sgorbati entered the Institute of the Consolata Missionary Sisters in 1963, taking the name Leonella. After her first religious profession, she studied nursing in England.
In 1970 she was sent to Kenya, where she worked in hospitals and dedicated herself to training young nurses. Between 1993 and 1999 she served as Regional Superior of the Consolata Missionary Sisters in that country.
Her mission then took her to Somalia. In 2000 she took part in opening a nursing school in Mogadishu. In a context marked by war and instability, the training of young people became a concrete way to care for life and sow hope.
In 2006, the first 34 young Somalis completed their training as nurses. They were young Muslim women, and Leonella accompanied them with the conviction that offering knowledge and opportunity meant also contributing to the future of that society.
Pope Francis authorized the decree of martyrdom for Sister Leonella Sgorbati on November 8, 2017. The official recognition that she was killed “in hatred of the faith” (in odium fidei) opened the way to her beatification, celebrated by Cardinal Angelo Amato on September 26, 2018, in Piacenza.
Joy, spontaneity, and a gift for relationship and forgiveness
Sister Marzia Feurra recalls Sister Leonella’s dedication to teaching, even in the face of health problems and severe physical pain. “She knew how to plan and valued every minute of her time,” she testifies.
This joyful and approachable side also emerges from testimonies gathered by the Postulation of the cause. Leonella loved being among people and had a warm, communicative personality. For her, mission was lived out in daily encounters, in care and closeness.
But the witness of forgiveness was already taking shape in her before her martyrdom. On August 5, 2006, a few weeks before her death, Leonella wrote in her diary about the difficulty of accepting and forgiving an accusation against her that she considered serious and unjust. In her prayer, she acknowledged the resistance within herself and asked the Madonna of Consolata for help. In the end, she wrote: “Disarm me, disarm us.”
The prayer reveals a woman who did not hide her inner struggles. Leonella knew that forgiving is not always easy and that it is often necessary to ask God for the grace to let go of the resistance we carry within us. Shortly afterward, faced with the violence that would cost her her life, her last words would themselves be an act of forgiveness.
Martyrdom is a witness of love, forgiveness, and hope
During the Holy Mass of her beatification in Piacenza, Cardinal Angelo Amato underscored the meaning of her testimony and her last words. Christian martyrdom, he affirmed, is not a violent response to violence, but a witness of love, forgiveness, and hope.
Twenty years later, the memory of Blessed Leonella Sgorbati continues to speak to the Consolata Family and to all who seek paths of peace and reconciliation. Her story reminds us that mission is fulfilled not only in great projects, but also in daily care, in formation, in closeness, and in the capacity to stand by people in difficult situations.
Leonella spent her life in service to others. She died in a land marked by violence, but her last words pointed in another direction: “Forgive, forgive, forgive.” Her prayer remains, as simple as it is demanding: “Disarm me, disarm us” — a message for a world today overwhelmed by so many wars and acts of violence.
Rezzanello opens the celebrations for the twentieth anniversary of the martyrdom of Blessed Leonella
Prayer asking for the intercession of Blessed Leonella
God the Father, You who through Your Spirit act in all peoples, cultures, and religions, look with love and compassion upon Humanity, so often lacking peace and fragile in forgiveness.
Through the intercession of Blessed Leonella Sgorbati, “faithful and joyful disciple of the Gospel,” who shed her blood for love of You and of those most in need, make us credible witnesses of Your mercy and grant us the grace we ask of You (…).
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, model and origin of every martyrdom. Amen.
* Father Júlio Caldeira, IMC, missionary in the Colombian Amazon.
