Sister Annelvira Ossoli, left, is pictured in Kinshasa, Congo, in 1985. She was among six members of her congregation who contracted Ebola while caring for others suffering from the virus in Kikwit, Congo, in 1995. The Vatican recently advanced the canonization cause for all six sisters with a proclamation of their “heroic virtues.” (CNS photo/courtesy Congregation of the Sisters of the Poor)
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY — Less than a month after he recognized the “heroic virtues” of three Italian women religious who died caring for Ebola patients in Congo, Pope Francis did the same for three others who also contracted the disease and died in 1995.
Sister Danielangela Sorti of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Poor feeds a child in Tumikia, Congo, in 1992. (CNS photo/courtesy Congregation of the Sisters of the Poor)
At a meeting March 17 with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, the pope formally recognized that the other three sisters also lived the Christian virtues to a heroic degree. A miracle attributed to their intercession would be needed for their beatification.
The six sisters, natives of northern Italy, are buried near the cathedral in Kikwit as a sign of their service and devotion to the local people.
Sister Vitarosa Zorza of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Poor is pictured with children in Kinshasa, Congo, in 1992. (CNS photo/courtesy Congregation of the Sisters of the Poor)
The three decrees signed by the pope in March concern:
- Sister Annelvira Ossoli, a midwife and nurse elected superior of the African province of the sisters in 1992. When the sisters assigned to Kikwit began to get sick, she went to the town to help out. She died at the age of 58 on May 23, 1995, just a month after the first sister succumbed to the disease.
- Sister Vitarosa Zorza began working in Africa in 1981. She, too, volunteered to go to Kikwit when the pandemic began. She died May 28, 1995, at the age of 51.
- Sister Danielangela Sorti, a nurse, was working in Tumikia but volunteered to assist one of the sick sisters in Mosango. She contracted Ebola the first night and was transferred to Kikwit, where she died May 11, 1995, a month before her 48th birthday.
Pope Francis also signed four other decrees recognizing “heroic virtues,” the Vatican said March 18.
