WASHED IN THE BLOOD: NUNS SERVED, DIED IN AFRICA

Even in more normal times, October in Liberia would have been a busy period at the convent. For the five women, Sisters of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, the work never seemed to end: the healing ministrations at the clinics, the teaching, the merciful errands to the neighborhoods and the great mission of bringing a sense of self-sufficiency to the women of Gardnersville. Each day brought more of the same; each day presented a new challenge.

They had come to Liberia from Illinois, and – for all their differences in personality – they had sprung from remarkably similar backgrounds. They had come of age in small towns, and, in time, each had made her way into a life dedicated to God and – of passionate importance to them all – the poor and illiterate and powerless women of Africa.

But now the times were not normal. Daily, they could hear the sound of small arms fire and mortars. Up and down the streets, roadblocks sprang up. Strange and frightening visitors loomed at the door. The civil war was coming closer by the day.

To stay or flee? The choice was never taken seriously. There was work to be done. That was why they had come. That was why they would stay.

The end came quickly and savagely: For two of them, a roadside ambush; for the other three, gunmen at the convent gates. And so they died, far from home, in another continent, sustained to the end by faith and by the work to be done, for God and for the women of Liberia.

This is their story.