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Luigia Rosina Rondi was born in Pedrengo, Italy into a humble Catholic family on December 10, 1924.
When she grew up, she became a member of the Sisters of the Poor, Palazzolo Institute. This order, not to be confused with the Little Sisters of the Poor founded by St. Jeanne Jugan, was founded by Blessed Luigi Maria Palazzolo in Italy in 1869. Most of the sisters are nurses, and the order prides itself on caring for the poor and orphaned children.
In religious life, Luigia was known as Sister Floralba, and she went to Africa in 1952 to serve as a nurse what is known today as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Except for six years working with leprosy patients in Kinshasha, capital of D.R. Congo, Sister Floralba worked in the hospital of Kikwit. At the time of her death, she had served in Africa for 43 years and was the head nurse of the operating room.
The hospital the sisters ran in Kikwit had eleven pavilions by 1995 with 450 beds. Sometimes, patients had to sleep two or three to a bed the need was so great for hospital nursing care.
In 1995, Sister Floralba was attending the operation of a man named Kimfumu. The surgeons thought the man had a perforated ulcer, but when they opened him up, they discovered his intestines were dissolving. Two days later, the man died. Soon, Sister Floralba developed a high fever and was hospitalized. At first, she thought maybe she had contracted typhoid. However, her conditioned worsened, and her three good friends, Sister Dinarosa Belleri, Sister Clarangela Ghilardi, and Sister Danielangela Sorti put her in the back of their four-wheel car and drove her 50 miles to the clinic in Mosango. By the time they arrived at the clinic, Sister Floralba was unconscious.
The sisters stayed with Sister Floralba all night, praying and nursing her. One of their tasks was holding her arm to prevent the intravenous drip from becoming dislodged. Sister Floralba died on April 28, 1995 at the age of 71. All three sisters who attended their friend, Floralba, also died from Ebola.
When Sister Floralba died, her body was carried all through the hospital where she had worked for so many years. Her body was they taken to the cathedral where she remained in an open coffin. No one knew, at the time what killed her. Only later, as Ebola became known, did they learn that she, and her friends, died from Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).
Interestingly, the Ebola epidemic of Kikwit remains one of the most famous medical and sociological case studies of Ebola and how a community deals with such a devastating disease.
Sister Floralba, along with five other sisters, were declared Venerable in 2021.
