Sister Lionella Sgorbati: her slogan was “tender loving care for pregnant women and lactating mothers”.
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| Sister Lionella Sgorbati, who worked in Kenya for many years. She was killed in Somalia in 2006 and is considered a martyr by the church. PHOTO | COURTESY |
An Italian Catholic church nun who worked in Kenya as a midwife is set to be made a saint by Pope Francis in May.
Sister Lionella Sgorbati, who worked in Kenya, was killed in Somalia in 2006 and is considered a martyr by the church.
She
is the second Consolata nun with Kenyan roots on the course to
sainthood after Sister Irene Stefani (Nyaatha), whose process of
canonisation is on-going. Born in 1940 in Italy, she came to Kenya in
1970.
“For 13 years she worked
in Consolata Hospital at Mathari and Nazareth Hospital in Kiambu, mainly
as a midwife. She was also the head of Consolata Nursing School, Nkubu,
until 1993 when she was elected the regional superior of Consolata
Sisters in Kenya, a task she undertook until 1999. Under her care,
about 4,000 babies were born,” says Father Joseph Mwaniki, a lecturer at
Tangaza University College and an expert in the “Processes of
Beatification and Canonisation”. While working at Mathari Consolata
Hospital in Nyeri, her slogan was “tender loving care for pregnant women
and lactating mothers”.
She
would repeatedly remind nurses to give TLC (tender loving care) to
mothers so that a new-born brings happiness to the mother and her
family.
SPECIAL CARE
Sr
Lucy Karweru recalls how the former principal tutor at Nkubu Hospital
would give special care to first-time mothers and ensure they went
through labour with ease.
“First-time mothers are usually very scared, especially because they have heard all sorts of things that happen during labour. But Sr Sgorbati worked to reduce the tension by showing them care,” she said in an interview at the hospital.
For those that
experienced severe pain, she would massage their back to ease the
pressure while uttering reassuring and comforting words.
She
ensured that mothers-to-be didn’t go through discouraging or traumatic
delivery in her bid to make childbirth memorable to them.
This
was anchored on offering emotional support and physical comfort during
labour and after delivery, advising mothers on how to breastfeed and
hold the baby.
Since there were not many qualified nurses in Nyeri, the sister would respond to midnight calls without complaining.
MATERNITY WING
“It did not matter to her that she had spent the entire day working. If woken up in the middle of the night, she would rush to the maternity wing,” Sr Lucy recalled.
As the
principal tutor at Consolata Mission Hospital, Nkubu Nursing School,
between 1985 and 1993, she is remembered for the high standards she set
at the institution.
The
Meru-based mission hospital administrator, Father Silas Mwiti, said
Sister Leonella was keen on high standards of training, valued skills
and knowledge and emphasised on integrity and moral uprightness.
“She was very hard working and laid a strong foundation for the nursing school,” Fr Mwiti said.
Sister Catherine Joan, the current principal tutor and a student of Sister Leonella, has fond memories of her.
“She
taught us midwifery and was very social and intelligent. Sister
Leonella was very keen on imparting skills on students and was very
careful not to release half-baked nurses,” Sister Catherine said.
She said the students were very fond of Sister Leonella, who treated them as her daughters.
TEACHER
“Any time she came from leave, the students would abandon whatever they were doing to welcome her. I have never seen a teacher so close to her students,” the principal said.
In
November 1993, she was elected as the regional superior of Consolata
Missionary Sisters in Kenya and retained the position until 1999. She
then went on sabbatical in 2000 and in
2001 she spent several months in Mogadishu, Somalia, looking at the potential for a new nursing school.
The
Hermann Gmeiner School of Registered Community Nursing opened in 2002
with Sr Sgorbati in charge. The first 34 nurses graduated from the
school in 2002, with the World Health Organisation awarding them
certificates and diplomas since Somalia has had no substantive
government since 1991. Sr Sgorbati was a fluent Somali-speaker.
According
to Fr Mwaniki, on Sunday, September 17, 2006, barely four days after
her arrival back in Somalia where she had gone to give classes in the
medical school, two men hiding between vehicles shot her seven
times. Her guard, Mohamed Mahmud, a Muslim father of four children,
tried to fire back but he was shot dead, too.
LOST BLOOD
“She
was taken to hospital and helped by her own students; she had already
lost a lot of blood and even breathing was difficult. Sr Marzia Feurra, a
fellow sister, clearly heard Sr Lionella utter her last words in
Italian before she died: “perdono, perdono, perdono” (I forgive, I forgive, I forgive). And this way, she offered her life for the sake of poor Somalis,” says Fr Mwaniki.
“At
the imitation of Christ, Sr Lionella’s last words were forgiveness for
those who killed her. This is the most authentic Christian testimony
that a real martyr can give, showing the victory of love over hatred and
evil.”
Her body was airlifted to Kenya where she was buried on September 21, 2006, in the cemetery of Nazareth Hospital.
Fr
Mwaniki, who is in Rome to conclude his PhD in the History of the
Church, says that at her death and later at her funeral, there was a
widespread opinion, both in Kenya and Somalia, that she was killed
because she was a Christian.
Her
process of beatification officially started in 2013, and everything
concluded in 2017, with the decree of Pope Francis of November 2017.
Before
the Pope’s decree is promulgated, the Church requires that the servant
of God be exhumed. This was done on September 30, 2017, under Bishop
David Kamau of Nairobi at Nazareth Hospital cemetery. Her remains are
now in the Chapel of Flora Hostels which, after the beatification, will
become another centre for devotion by the faithful.
CONSOLATA SISTERS
Sister
Joan Agnes Matimu, the regional superior for Consolata Sisters, says it
is an honour for Consolata Sisters to have two saints from their
congregation in Kenya.
“We may not have been there when Sister Stefani was here, but Sister Lionella was one of us. When I joined Consolata Nursing School in Nkubu, she welcomed me. And when I took my first vows as sister, she received me. We ate and cried together, we agreed and disagreed. But in the end, she taught us to work for humanity and spread the word of Jesus Christ. We are proud of this achievement,” she said.
The
beatification comes after that of Sister Irene “Nyaatha” who was
declared “Blessed” in May 2015 at a big ceremony in Nyeri. Nyaatha took
her vows on January 12, 1912, where she became Sr Irene Stefani.
After
completing her novitiate on January 29, 1914, she became a full
Consolata missionary. With three other young sisters, she left for Kenya
on December 28, 1914, arriving in January during the First World War.
She was posted to Gikondi, Nyeri.
Later,
she joined other missionaries as a Red Cross volunteer in Voi.
Inevitably, she succumbed to plague at 39 years on August 31, 1930.
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