10 years ago this year, on March 4, 2026, a terrible attack occurred on the Missionaries of Charity convent and nursing home for the elderly and disabled in Aden, Yemen.
Gunmen invaded the elderly home and killed 16 people, including four religious sisters. These sisters were Sister Anselm, Sister Judith, Sister Marguerite, and Sister Reginette.
Here are photos of the Missionaries of Charity Martyr-Nuns of Yemen:
On March 6, 2016, Pope Francis remembered the sisters and the 12 additional victims lost in the attack, referring to them as "the martyrs of today."
"These are the martyrs of today," Pope Francis said during his 2016 Angelus address. "They are not found on the covers of newspapers, and they do not make the news. These people are victims of the attack of those who killed them and of indifference, of this globalisation of indifference. May Mother Teresa accompany her martyr daughters of charity in Heaven, and intercede for peace and sacred respect for human life".
Bishop Paul Hinder, who was the Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia at the time of the attack, said that "the Missionaries of Charity died as martyrs."
“For me, there is no doubt that the sisters have been victims of hatred – hatred against our faith," he said. “The Missionaries of Charity died as martyrs: as martyrs of charity, as martyrs because they witnessed Christ and shared the lot of Jesus on the Cross.”
The bishop explained that the sisters prayed together each day after Mass and just before breakfast. Because of the timing of the attack, it would have been the final prayer they recited together before their deaths.
The prayer, commonly known as the “Prayer for Generosity,” is traditionally attributed to Saint Ignatius of Loyola.
The Last Prayer the Martyr-Nuns in Yemen Prayed Just Before Their Deaths
“Lord, teach me to be generous. Teach me to serve you as you deserve; to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for reward.”
Let us pray in thanksgiving for these brave sisters, and that God will give us the grace to lay down our lives for the faith if He asks us to.