Scottish Catholic Observer

Pope Francis has led tributes to three elderly Italian nuns who had been working among the sick and poor in Burundi for the last seven who years were brutally murdered in their convent last weekend.

Two of the Xaverian Missionaries of Mary Sisters, Lucia Pulici, 75, and Olga Raschietti, 82 were found dead in their mission of Kamenge on Sunday. The third, Sr Bernardetta Boggian, 79, was discovered early on Monday morning after the intruder returned again to the convent.

Two community members, Sr Bernadetta and Sr Mercedes, had gone to the airport to collect sisters returning from the

Congregation’s General Chapter.

On retuning home they found the house closed and the curtains drawn and the two sisters left for dead in pools of blood.

The following night, startled by noises from within the house, the sisters called Fr Pulcini, the Xaverian Provincial superior in Burundi. Fr Pulcini searched the house and left after assuring the sisters all was well.

Five minutes after returning home the sisters called again. This time Fr Pucini found on his arrival that Sr Bernadetta too had been decapitated.

It is not clear if robbery was behind the killings because nothing seems to have been taken from the house. Officials believe an accomplice of the suspect remained hidden in the convent and later killed Sr Bernadetta.

Pope Francis has sent telegrams expressing his condolences for the violent deaths of the three sisters to Archbishop Evariste Ngoyagoye of Bujumbura, Burundi, and to Sr Ines Frizza, Superior General of the Xaverian Missionary Sisters of Mary.

“Deeply saddened by the tragic death of the Xaverian Missionary Sisters killed in Burundi,” the telegram reads. “The Holy Father wishes to assure his heartfelt participation in the profound suffering of the Congregation for the loss of such dedicated sisters and, in the hope that the blood they have shed may become the seed of hope to build true fraternity between peoples, raises fervent prayers for the eternal repose of their souls and for their generous witness of the Gospel. To their families, the entire Institute and those who mourn their loss,

he imparts the comfort of his apostolic blessing.”

Fr Jim Clarke, Provincial of the Xaverians in the UK, expressed his deep sadness and shock at the tragic news.

“As Xaverians here in the UK, who have worked in many of our missions with the Xaverian sisters, it has been literally like a death in the family,” he said. “It is at times like these when we unite in solidarity with all our missionaries working abroad and where we feel the sense of being a true family. Our prayers go out to all our Xaverian sisters, to the other Xaverians working in Burundi and to the perpetrators of this atrocity. We pray God’s peace may prevail and pray that God’s forgiveness may touch the hearts of those responsible.”

PIC: PA: Silvia Marsili, an official of Xaverian missionaries’ head convent in Parma, Italy, shows a photo of the three Italian missionary nuns, from left, Bernardetta Boggian, Olga Raschietti and Lucia Pulici, found slain in their convent in Burundi, Monday, September 8.