Colourful celebrations in sleepy Nyeri mark end of 28-year religious process

President Uhuru Kenyatta, First Lady Margaret Kenyatta, Deputy President William Ruto and former president Mwai Kibaki were among dignitaries who graced the ceremony. PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI |

What you need to know:

  • Prof Donatus Mathenge, secretary of tribunal that investigated the life of Sr Irene, speaks about the process that led to beatification.
  • “What we saw first were the boots she was buried in, they were intact, then later we found the bones which we took for reburial”.

In mid-1970, there was a growing concern about the holiness of Sister Irene Stefani and her possible canonisation as a saint. Research about her life and work was done both in Turin, Italy and in Nyeri Diocese, Kenya.

This resulted in the publication of the first booklet about her life by Ghi Scarponi Della Gloria. Later Sister Giani Paola Mina extracted an abstract from the publication and named it Her life a light

Through the general superior of Consolata Sisters in Turin and the entire congregation made a request to the Vatican through the Bishop of Brescia that Sister Irene be declared a servant of God. Following the canonical procedures, the Vatican through the office of Causes of Saints raised the status of Sister Irene to that of the Servant of God.

Soon after, Vatican directed two tribunals to be set up to inquire about her life.  The tribunal in Turin was established to focus on her life based on her writings while the tribunal in Nyeri, Kenya, was to focus on her heroic virtues as demonstrated by her life in Gikondi Parish.

When the Bishop Caeser Gatimu concluded the tribunal’s work and signed, the report was packaged and addressed to the office of the Causes of Saint in 1986, and Bishop Gatimu was supposed to take the documents to the Vatican.

But just when he was about to embark on his journey, he fell ill,  and was  hospitalised for six months leading to his death on  February 20, 1987.

EXHUME THE REMAINS

It was then that Dr Mathenge was given the task of taking the documents to the Vatican. Wanting to know from the cardinal he met in Rome when Sr Irene would become a saint, Dr  Mathenge was shown a document of another candidate dated 800 AD, which surprised him as he left the office.

In 1994, he was delegated by the Archbishop Nicodemus Kirima to exhume the remains from Gikondi for reburial at Mathari Chapel. Together with a pathologist and  lawyer, they embarked on the task.

“What we saw first were the boots she was buried in, they were intact, then later we found the bones which we took for reburial,” recalls Dr Mathenge.

Dr Mathenge explains that  there are four stages  in the canonisation process in the Catholic Church.

The first stage towards sainthood is called the Servant of God. The second is Venerable, being declared upon a decree of heroism or martyrdom by the Pope after thorough investigation in his or her life by the relevant offices in the Catholic Church.

The third is Blessed; after clear miracles which are evaluated by scientists and theologians. This if achieved through the ceremony of Beatification, which is only decided by the Pope.

The final stage is sainthood, which takes place after more scrutiny and acknowledgement of other miracles by the office of Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

On June 12, 2014 Pope Francis put his signature to the Decree of the Beatification of Sr Irene.

According to her biographer Mina Gian Paola, the  miracle attributed to the intercession of Sister Irene is the multiplication of the water of the baptismal font of the parish church of Nipepe (Diocese of Lichinga, Niassa, Mozambique).

It is said  that  in January of 1989, war  broke out between the Frelimo and Renamo and some of the victims sought refuge in the church. The refugees soon ran out of water. It is then that they prayed, invoking the name of Sr Irene, and it is said they had enough to quench their thirst and even bathe.

Dr Mathenge  says: “The happenings could not scientifically or  humanly be explained by anybody, it was then that it was declared a miracle”.

According to Dr Mathenge, the name Irene means peace in Greek and adds that it was Sr Irene’s desire and vocation to serve the poor in Gikondi where she was based together with her colleagues as a nurse.

She gave herself, body and soul, caring for the sick. It is said by some of her contemporaries that many were the times that she spent the whole day without eating in order to serve many patients.

Because of this loving service and total dedication, the people of that area nicknamed her as “Nyaatha” translated as “mother of mercy”.

According to the documents that the missionaries kept in Gikondi Parish, it is written that there was an epidemic of bubonic plague and Sr Irene contracted it from one of her patients.

She had been warned by other sisters not to attend to the patient because she could be infected but went ahead to treat him.

These heroic virtues are the DNA that makes one a blessed and a saint. She died on October 31, 1930.