A Maltese nun was a "key witness" in identifying Sr Angèle-Marie Littlejohn, who was murdered in Algeria in 1995, and who was recently beatified, a news conference heard on Friday.

Sr Yvonne Gera, who lived in Algeria for 22 years, was serving as secretary to the Archbishop when a group of 19 missionaries were targeted.

Sr Yvonne Gera.

The missionaries, including Sr Littlejohn, a nun of Maltese descent, had been warned they would be targeted during the Algerian Civil War, but stayed on anyway.

It was Sr Yvonne Gera who received the call informing her and the Archbishop that the 19 missionaries - whom she knew personally - had been murdered. Details were given by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) director Stephen Axisa during a news conference.

A nun of Maltese descent, Sr Angèle-Marie Littlejohn, was one of those murdered in 1995. She was killed 10 minutes after leaving Sunday Mass with her companion Sr Bibiane.

Sr Angèle-Marie was deeply attached to Algeria, its people and the mission

We must not be afraid. We only live in the present moment... the rest is not ours

On Sunday, September 3, 1995, a sister shared her fear of the violence after Mass, but Sr Angèle-Marie replied: “We must not be afraid. We only live in the present moment... the rest is not ours.”

Sr Gera was also the one to inform the cardinal, who was so grief-stricken by the news that he refused to eat, fell ill, and died a few days later.

When the Aid to the Church in Need found out that the Maltese nun killed in Algeria would be beatified, they turned to Sr Yvonne to recount her experience.

She said she had to accompany the Archbishop to the hospital in Algeria, to identify the beheaded bodies, Mr Axisa said.

"It was shocking to her," he added.

The Church has been working to uncover the link between Sr Angèle-Marie and Malta after the Pope announced the martyrs would be beatified.

After working with the National Archives, the certificate of the deceased's father was unearthed, the head of the Emigrants' Commission Philip Calleja explained.

"It was discovered that her father, William Littlejohn, had been born in Malta in Għargħur and left Malta for Tunis, where Sr Angèle-Marie was born," he added.

A cause for their beatification opened in 2007 and Pope Francis signed the decree confirming that they died in "odium fidei" (hatred of the faith), recognising them as martyrs.

The ceremony of their beatification took place on December 8 in the cathedral of the diocese of Oran, Algeria.

In an interview with ACN, Sr Yvonne, who still lives in Malta, said the 19 martyrs had refused to leave despite the war in Algeria.

"They continued taking care of people," she said.

Mass celebrating the beatification of Sr Angèle-Marie will be held on Sunday, January 13 at the Għargħur parish.