Dedan
Kimathi University of Technology is
hosting the beatification of Sister Irene Stefani who died on
31st October, 1930 in Gikondi, Mukuruweini in Nyeri County.
Beatification
is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person’s entrance
into heaven and their ability to intercede on behalf of believers who pray in
their name. It is the third of the four canonization stages and an individual
is given the title “blessed” following their beatification.
Born in
22nd August, 1891, Aurelia Mercede Stefani joined Consolata Missionary
sisters in 1911 and was sent to Kenya by Blessed Joseph Allomano where she
arrived in 1915. She served in Nyeri as a nurse. She was nicknamed by the
locals "Nyaatha" short for Nyina Wa Tha which means a Merciful
person. She however contracted a disease in line of duty in 1930 to which she
later succumbed to in Gikondi Mukurweini. This is also where she was buried.
According
to the Catholic Church, Sister Irene Stefani’s beatification process started in
1985 when she was recognized as a servant of God. In 2011 Pope Benedict XVI
named her venerable to mean that she had lived a heroic life and in 2014 Pope
Francis approved a decree that recognized a miracle attributed to Stefani's
intercession which cleared the way for her beatification which will be
celebrated on 23rd May 2015 in Dedan Kimathi University of Technology,
Nyeri.
For
more information visit http://www.irenestefani.or.ke/
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