The beatification of Sister Irene Stefani, popularly known as Nyaatha (mother full of mercy) is the culmination of 30 years of thorough investigation and expansive research covering Africa and Europe.
It is also the first ever such event on African soil and an experience of once in the lifetime of a Christian, if ever at all.
At the grounds of Dedan Kimathi University of Science and Technology in Nyeri County, the papal decree of His Holiness Pope Francis I will be delivered by the Papal Legate, declaring Sr Irene Stefani blessed. It will be exactly 85 years since her death in Gikondi in 1930.
This means that from now henceforth, Catholic Christians all over the world may invoke her name for intercession and beseech her for any special prayer, healing or deliverance. She will be a step away from the communion of saints canonised since time immemorial.
And this does not come easy. It was in September 1984, that the then Bishop of Nyeri Diocese, (now the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Nyeri), Ceasar Maria Gatimu, opened the diocesan inquest for the beatification of Sr Irene. A similar inquest was opened the following month in Turin, Italy by the then Archbishop of Turin, His Eminence Anastasio Cardinal Ballestrero.
These twin events in Italy and Kenya effectively opened long and thorough investigations into the life and times of Sr Irene.
On February 15, 2011, on the eve of the feast of Blessed Joseph Allamano, the team of cardinals and bishops of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, examined and gave their approval for the proclamation of the heroic virtues exercised by the servant of God.
Through this act, the Church officially acknowledged that Sr Irene had lived the Gospel with love and heroism.
Born Aurelia Giacomina Mercede on August 22, 1891, Sr Irene was the fifth among the 12 children of Giovani Stefani and Annunziata Massari, from the tiny village of Lombardy, near the western shores of Lake Idro in Val Sabbia, Italy.
JOIN THE CONVENT
At the tender age of 13, little Mercede confided to her mother her desire to join the convent and become a Catholic nun. But first, she had to complete her studies. Her desire persisted until June 1911, when her father entrusted her to the Missionary Institute of the Consolata, for a religious life.
Mercede was received into the congregation by none other than the founder of the Consolata Missionaries, Canon Joseph Allamano, in Turin, on June 21, 1911, becoming the first postulant from Brescia to join the newly founded Consolata Missionary Institute.
As was the norm then, she assumed the name Irene.
On January 29, 1914, with four other novices, in the hands of Canon Allamano, Irene pronounced the vows of chastity, obedience and poverty, thereby taking her profession for the sisterhood.
Shortly afterwards, together with four other sisters, with only a few months of religious profession, they were appointed for missionary work in Africa, and the departure date set for December 28, 1914.
After receiving the news of her missionary destination, a very excited Sr Irene wrote a letter to her father (her mother had since died), and to her former parish priest, Father Francis Capitanio, informing them of the development. But due to ill health, her father was not able to make it to Turin to bid good bye to his daughter, who was now on her way to Africa.
However, he wrote her an emotional farewell letter, which was rich in faith and total surrender to the will of God, assuring her of his total support and that of his family, in all her endeavours. But as fate would have it, Sr Irene did not receive the letter, until many months later, when she was already in Africa.
The journey to Africa via Genova, Livorno in Napoli, and through the Suez Canal and Port Said, took slightly more than one month, arriving at the Port of Mombasa on January 31, 1915.
They then took a train to Limuru, which was at the time, the missionary procure for the Consolata order, where they were received by the Apostolic Vicar of Nyeri, Philip Perlo.
They were posted to Nyeri, where Sr Irene met her first regional superior, Sr Margherita de Maria, Father Angelo Bellani and Brother Bartholomew Liberini.
She assisted in coffee plantations and taking care of the sick and the aged, as well as learning the Kikuyu language, culture and traditions.
During World War I, she helped in treating wounded soldiers, even as nearly all the priests of the Consolata Mission in the Mount Kenya region were taken into exile to South Africa by the British government. She would walk to far-away places, carrying her mobile pharmacy and wearing what came to be known as ‘‘boots of glory’’.
During the war, she spent several months in what was called missionary life, offering treatment in the so-called military hospitals.
TO ACT AS CARRIERS
There were over 300,000 Kenyan young men enrolled by the British government to act as carriers. These are what came to be called “carrier corps”, hence the name of the part of Nairobi called Kariokor.
She travelled with them to far-away places such as Voi, Mombasa and even Dar es Salaam, dressing their wounds and giving them food and medicine.
It is in honour of her work among the British soldiers, that in today’s beatification ceremony, the British soldiers training in Kenya will carry her coffin to her final resting place at Our Lady of Consolata Cathedral in Nyeri Town.
Apart from treating them, giving them the “medicine of soul” she would also preach to them, giving them the “medicine of God”.
The missionary life of Sr Irene is comparable to the story of the Good Samaritan, who is touched by the needs of the neighbour.
Always smiling and providing service to mankind, Sr Irene served people of all denominations in places as Tumutumu School, which was founded by the Presbyterians.
She would visit people in their houses and go to schools. Her last missionary walk on the Hills of Gikondi was made in order to reach and treat Julius Ngare, a teacher who had been infected by the bubonic plague, and who died in her arms.
A few days later, on October 31, 1930, Sr Irene also died, having been infected with the plague by her patient.
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