Relics belonging to Sister Olga Raschietti, Sister Lucia Pulici and Sister Bernadetta Poggian, of the Xaverian Missionary Sisters congregation, killed in Kamenge (Burundi) on 7 and 8 September 2014.
On 7 September, Sister Lucia Pulici and Sister Olga Raschietti, Xaverian missionaries, were brutally murdered in Burundi. Despite the incident, the other nuns who lived in the house nevertheless decided to spend the night there. Among them was Sister Bernadetta Poggian, who was unfortunately killed the next day. The cause of the murder is still unknown, but the hypothesis of a robbery that ended tragically is immediately ruled out.
Lucia Pulici would have been 75 years old on 8 September. In 1970 she left for Brazil, where she worked as a nurse and midwife, mainly among the poor. In 1982, she was sent to the then Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) where she remained for 25 years until 2007, continuing her service as a nurse and midwife in the diocese of Uvira. In 2007, she was sent to Burundi in the Xaverian community of Kamenge. Last October, on the eve of her return to Burundi, she said: “I am returning to Africa, at my age and with a weak and limited physique, which no longer allows me to run day and night as before. Inwardly, however, I think I can say that the drive and desire to be faithful to the love of Jesus in the mission is always alive! The mission helps me to say in weakness: “Jesus, look, it is the gesture of love for you” in the church we keep his rosary and his cross.
Olga Raschietti (83) left in 1968 for what was then Zaire (now DRC). She carries out her pastoral and catechetical work with passion and dedication, in various dioceses in Uvira in South Kivu, also living with faith and courage the events of the wars that have recently bloodied the Great Lakes countries. In 2010, she was sent to the mission in Kamenge. She recounted in July 2013: “I am now in my 80s. On my last return to Italy, the superiors were uncertain whether to let me leave again. One day during adoration, I prayed: ‘Jesus, may your will be done, but you know I still want to leave.’ These words came very clear to me: ‘Olga, do you think you are the one to save Africa? Africa is mine. Despite everything I am happy that you are leaving: go and give your life! Since then I have never doubted” We keep one of her catechism booklets in the church.
Bernadetta Poggian (79) left for Zaire (now DRC), dedicating herself passionately to pastoral work and in particular to the promotion of women through foyers, literacy and training schools for women. In 2007, she was sent to Kamenge, Burundi, where she carries out pastoral and charitable work with a simple and fraternal approach. She wrote in August 2013: ‘We need to nurture in ourselves a look of sympathy and respect for the cultures and traditions of the peoples we meet. This attitude, as well as giving serenity to the missionary, helps to find more easily the appropriate language and gestures to communicate the Gospel. Despite the complex and conflictual situation of the Great Lakes countries, I seem to perceive the presence of a Kingdom of love that is being built, growing like a mustard seed, of a Jesus present, given for all. At this point in my journey I continue my service to my African brothers and sisters, trying to live with love, simplicity and joy. A prayer composed by her is kept in the church.
