Blessed Marie-Clémentine Anuarite Nengapeta

Marie-Clémentine Anuarite Nengapeta (29 December 1939 – 1 December 1964), born Anuarite Nengapeta, was a Congolese Catholic martyr and member of the Sisters of the Holy Family. Her mother had all her children along with her baptized in 1945. Anuarite ran away from home to join the convent, despite her mother's disapproval. Her short religious life was dedicated to teaching and serving as a cook and sacristan. Nengapeta was killed during the nation's civil war during the Simba revolt in 1964 when Colonel Pierre Olombe killed her after she warded off his rape attempts. Nengapeta is the first Bantu Catholic blessed, with her beatification occurring on 15 August 1985. Nengapeta was born in Wamba in the Democratic Republic of Congo on 29 December 1939 to Amisi Batsuru Batobobo and Isude Julienne as the fourth of six daughters; she belonged to the Wabudu tribe. The fifth and sixth were twins. Her father – a former soldier – dismissed his wife in order to take another wife so that he might have a son, but she turned out to be sterile. As a child she forgave her father for leaving her mother. Nengapeta – and her birth mother – were both baptized together in 1945 and she took the name "Alphonsine". It seems she was baptized twice because her original certificate of baptism was lost. One sister was Léontine Anuarite. Nengapeta once saw a goat get butchered and she refused to eat the meat because she said its blood was much like hers. Each time she finished school she went to help her grandmother with tasks. Once she began her schooling her registration had an error with her sister's name instead of the name she had been given at baptism. Her sister took her to register for her schooling but the Belgian religious sister who met them erred and signed her up with her baptismal name and sister's name. Therefore her name – just Nengapeta – is now viewed as Anuarite Nengapeta.