Annalena Tonelli

Life & Legacy

Annalena Tonelli (2 April 1943 – 5 October 2003) was an Italian Catholic lay missionary and social activist. She worked for 33 years in East Africa, where she focused on tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, campaigns for eradication of female genital mutilation, and special schools for hearing-impaired, blind and disabled children. In June 2003, Tonelli was awarded the Nansen Refugee Award, which is given annually by the UNHCR to recognize outstanding service to the cause of refugees. In October 2003, she was killed inside her hospital by two gunmen.
She is the subject of a book, Stronger than Death: How Annalena Tonelli Defied Terror and Tuberculosis in the Horn of Africa, by Rachel Pieh Jones. In February 2020, the Bishop of Forlì-Bertinoro, Livio Corazza, and Bishop of Djibouti, Giorgio Bertin, have jointly initiated the preliminary steps of opening Tonelli's cause for beatification.