Cenacolo Vivo · Meeting of Peoples
Memory
Garden
Holy and Capable
Where life becomes seed
An inner garden dedicated to the sisters who gave their lives in mission.
"Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."
— Jn 12:24
"Holy and capable. The one without the other is worth little for those who tread the apostolic path. First: holy, that is, free from sin and humble. But that is not enough: charity is needed — charity that makes people truly capable."
— St Daniel Comboni, Writings 6655
Sudan · The Mahdiyya · 1880 – 1903
Sr. Teresa Grigolini
S. Martino Buonalbergo (VR) 1853 · Italy, 21 October 1926
Comboni described her as: "intelligence, ability, charity and distinguished piety — that is the type I have in mind!" Superior of the first missionaries in Sudan, she was captured by the Mahdiyya in 1882 and remained a prisoner for nearly sixteen years. She endured inhuman conditions without ever abandoning her faith.
Sr. Maria Bertuzzi
Malcesine 1859 · El-Obeid, 18 February 1880
She was twenty years old. She arrived at El-Obeid after months of travel and died ten days later — the first flower gathered on African soil. They called her "my little one".
Sr. Maria Caspi
Verona 1852 · El-Obeid, 16 May 1880
Comboni's "firstborn". She died with the words: "How happy I am to go to Heaven from this African land."
Sr. Maria Rosa Colpo
S. Luca di Crosara 1848 · Malbes, 20 September 1881
Buried in the shade of a baobab tree at Malbes. She was always cheerful. "She had died and yet she seemed to be smiling at us still." (Sr. Teresa Grigolini)
Sr. Eulalia Maria Pesavento
S. Michele Extra 1856 · El-Obeid, 27 October 1882
She died during Mahdist captivity at Delen — no light, no coffin, wrapped in a mat. She was not yet 26 years old.
Sr. Amalia Andreis
S. Maria di Zevio 1852 · El-Obeid, 7 November 1882
She wrote to her father: "Death is a sacrifice we must offer to our God… we must resign ourselves to this great step and make this sacrifice with love."
Sr. Concetta Corsi
Barletta 1850 · Omdurman, 3 October 1891
A prisoner for nine years. She died twenty days before the liberators arrived. She said: "There is nothing else for me — I die content."
Venerable
Sr. Giuseppa Scandola
Bosco Chiesanuova (VR) 1849 · Lul, Sudan, 1 September 1903
One of the first five to depart with Comboni in 1877. She worked her entire life in Khartoum, El-Obeid, Cairo, and finally Lul. She offered her own life to God in exchange for that of a gravely ill young missionary. He recovered; she died a few days later.
Africa · Witnesses of the Twentieth Century
Sr. Liliana Rivetta
Gavardo (BS) 1943 · Uganda, 10 August 1981
Killed in Uganda at 37. She had chosen to remain with her people in their most difficult hours.
Sr. Teresa Dalle Pezze
Negrar (VR) 1957 · Mozambique, 3 January 1985
"I do not think this is the right moment to leave these people when they need our help most." She stayed. She was 27 years old.
Sr. Maria de Coppi
Santa Lucia di Piave 1939 · Mozambique, 7 September 2022
Killed at 83 in the Mozambique she had chosen as home for her entire life. "I was touched to the very depths of my heart… in the end it changed the course of my life."
Amazon · 2017
Sr. Luisa Manuel & Sr. Giuseppina Lupo (Giusy)
Amazon, 24 June 2017
Luisa, from Mozambique (1970), and Giusy, from Italy (1980): born on the same day, in different years and on different continents. Missionaries together in Sant'António do Matupi from 2015. "They knew how to listen to the song of life, and they joined their voices to make it even more beautiful."
"To keep the memory of these sisters alive is to accompany from within every step, every event, every gesture — it is to read in their lives faith, hope and charity."
— Archive of the Nigrizia Mothers
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