Survivor of ’96 convent attack, Sister DiGiacomo, dies at 83

WATERVILLE – Sister Mary Anna DiGiacomo, a nun who was seriously injured in an attack at a convent that killed two other nuns in 1996, died July 20. She was 83.

DiGiacomo was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and entered the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament convent in 1951. She loved to paint, draw and eat Italian food, according to Sister Elizabeth Madden.

DiGiacomo never expressed anger toward Mark Bechard after he broke into the convent on Jan. 27, 1996, and killed two nuns and severely beat her and another nun. She was in critical condition for a month and had no recollection of the attack, which left her paralyzed on the right side of her body.

With her right side paralyzed, DiGiacomo taught herself to paint using her left hand and continued creating portrait and landscape paintings.

A service will be held Sunday at the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, with a burial to be held Monday.