Thousands turned out on this week to pay their respects to three elderly nuns brutally murdered in Burundi.

Sister Lucia Pulici, 75, Sister Olga Raschietti, 82, and Sister Bernadetta Boggian, 79, were slain in their convent in the Kamenge area of the Burundi capital, Bujumbura. 

They were part of the Xaverian Missionary Sisters of Mary and had served in Africa for over half a century, mostly in the Democratic Republic of Congo, although the last nine years were spent in Burundi.  

Thousands attended the Requiem Mass in their honour on Wednesday before their remains were taken to the DRC for burial in a Xaverian cemetery in Bukavu town.  

Sr Silvia Marsili, Vicar General of the Xaverian Missionaries told CNA that the nuns were "a great example of people enamored with Jesus, enamored with the people among whom they lived". 

"They had the ability to make friends ... people capable of entering into others, meeting them, welcoming them with love," she said.  

Christian Butoyi Claude, 33, is in police custody and confessed to the killings, the Huffington Post reports. 

However, Sister Delia Guadagnini suspects more than one person carried out the crime.  

"We don't believe in the police;s version," she told Fides news agency.  "We do not think this horrible crime was committed by a single person."