Sister Leonella, Martyr

Gunmen shot and killed Sister Leonella Sgorbati and her bodyguard, Sunday, 17 September 2006, at the entrance of the children's hospital where she worked in Mogadishu, Somalia. She uttered the words "I forgive, I forgive" in Italian after being targeted in an apparent execution-style killing. Sister Leonella, whose birth name was Rosa Sgorbati, had lived and worked in Kenya and Somalia for 38 years. She and her bodyguard had been walking the 10 meters from the Mogadishu hospital to the sister's home, where three other nuns were waiting to have lunch with her.