Kenya celebrates beatification of Sr Irene 'Nyaatha' Stefani

Sr Irene 'Nyaatha' Stefani

Uo to 100,000 people gathered at Dedan Kimathi University in Nyeri central Kenya on Saturday for the beatification ceremony of Sister Irene 'Nyaatha' Stefani, an Italian nun who worked for many years in this East African nation.

Millions more watched the event live on television. The ceremony was conducted by Archbishop Polycarp Pengo of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Archbishop John Njue of Nairobi, Kenya. President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto, were among many dignitaries who attended the event, as well as Stefani's relatives from Italy.

"It is important for them (relatives) to see where sister Irene lived, where she was buried and to see all the people from Kenya and how they loved her,'' said Stefania Euerini, one of Stefani's grandnieces who attended the event.

Stefani, who belonged to the Consolata Missionary Sisters, first came to Kenya in 1915 and died there in 1930 at the age of 39.

A miracle in 1989 in Mozambique was attributed to her. A group of about 270 people trapped in a church were in danger of death when they prayed to Sister Irene and the little water in the baptismal font, measuring between four and six litres, was multiplied to enable them to drink and wash for four days, before help arrived from outside, a priest in charge of Nairobi's Consolata Shrine explained.

In Kenya she was nicknamed ``Nyaatha,'' which means ``mother of mercy'' in the local Kikuyu language. In Kenya she also served as a Red Cross nurse and treated East African soldiers wounded during World War I.

Source: VIS