Pope puts nun who worked in Nyeri on path to becoming saint

When Pope Francis announced that six men and women would be made saints and later signed a decree recognising the miracles needed for the beatifications, hardly anyone thought that a person linked to Kenya would feature in the list released in June last year.

To the surprise of many, the name of Sister Irene Stefani who died in Kenya on October 31, 1930, prominently featured in the list of those to be beatified this year. Incidentally, she died of plague after administering medicine to villagers in Gikondi, Mukurwe-ini, Nyeri County, who had contracted the disease.

When Sister Irene died, one of her students at the time is reported to have said: “Sister Irene has not been killed by an illness; it is love that killed her”.

Besides her work as a nurse, Sister Irene, an Italian, was a member of the Consolata Missionaries Sisters and she assisted those who were wounded in Kenya and Tanzania during World War 1.

NYINA WA THA

Indeed, she was popularly known among parishioners at the Gikondi Catholic Church as “Nyaatha”, a short form of “Nyina Wa Tha”, which in the Gikuyu language means “mother of mercy”.

Pope Francis has delegated Cardinal Angelo Amato, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints at the Vatican, to conduct the beatification ceremony in Nyeri on May 23.

Beatification is a tradition in the Catholic Church that declares a person blessed and is part of the process of canonisation to sainthood. The ceremony is presided over by the Pope or his representative.

Several miracles have been identified and documented as proof that she qualifies for beatification.

According to the Catholic Church, Sister Irene will be the first to be proclaimed as a Blessed Servant of God in Kenya, and the second in the Consolata Missionaries after its founder, Blessed Joseph Allamano.

EXTRAODINARY MIRACLE

The church’s doctrine specifies that an extraordinary miracle must have happened after Christians prayed through the name of a person expected to be beatified. It is believed that in the case of Sister Irene, an extraordinary miracle happened.

Documents shown to the Daily Nation team which visited the Consolata Missionaries in Mathari, on the outskirts of Nyeri town, indicated that the miracle happened at a local church in Napepe, Mozambique.

According to the documents shown by Fr Joseph Gitonga, catechists from different parishes in Mozambique prayed through Sister Irene and baptismal water was increased, allowing the servants of God to use it for three-and-a-half days.

Father Gitonga said the catechists had been isolated in the Napepe Catholic Church together with other people who had taken refuge there in 1989.

“It’s so amazing that the people were able to use the water both for drinking and bathing, including washing a baby girl born at that time,” he said. The baby was named Irene.

The priest said since then, many more miracles had happened through Sister Irene’s intercession.

“Believers travel all the way from Mozambique, Italy, Korea, India, Ethiopia and across the world to come to Mathari Church to plead with sister Irene Stefani to pray for them,” said Fr Gitonga.

SHOW GRATITUDE

According to him, many return to the church to show their gratitude.

Some people have described Sister Irene as “boots of glory”, because she would walk and run long distances as she made her way to help people.

“Those dusty boots, worn by her walking, remain as a witness of the kilometres she covered under any kind of weather, at any time of the day or night,” said one witness account.

On September 14, 1930, Sister Irene visited Nyeri for her annual retreat. It is said that while there, Jesus let her hear some special words; “Sin crucifies Jesus again. “Better a thousand deaths than a single sin.” “Missionary equals apostle and martyr”.

Consolata Missionaries Sisters’ documents at Gikondi show that there was an epidemic of plague and Sister Irene got sick soon after arriving there.

On Sunday October 26, 1930, during the feast of Christ the King, Sr Irene led the prayers at mass, but started shivering. She went to bed saying that she was feeling like little time was remaining for her. 

Some women came to visit her and started crying when they saw how sick she was. She comforted them saying: “Do not cry, I am going to heaven!”

The following day, October 31, 1930, Sister Irene died while repeating the names Jesus, Mary and Joseph.