Irene Stefani beatification draws Kenyan crowds
Tens of thousands of Catholic pilgrims have attended the beatification in the Kenyan town of Nyeri of Italian-born nun Irene Stefani.
Sister Stefani went to Kenya in 1915 and worked as a nurse at British military hospitals during WW1.
She then settled near Nyeri where she was known as “Nyaatha”, meaning “mother of mercy” in the Kikuyu language.
Nyeri has held three days of beatification ceremonies, taking the nun a step closer to becoming a saint.
Read more at: bbc.com/news/world-africa-32843394Tanzanian Cardinal Polycarp Pengo on Saturday read a letter of beatification in Latin from Pope Francis, declaring that the sister “from now on will be called Blessed”.
**In 1989 almost 300 people who were taking refuge in a church during Mozambique’s civil war prayed to the nun and much-needed water was said to have appeared in the font at Nipepe church.
bbc.com/news/world-africa-32843394“It was enough for all of them to drink, to refresh themselves and even to bath a baby girl who was born in that occasion,” the Irene Stefani website says.**
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Fake nuns arrested at Sister Irene Stefani’s beatification in Nyeri**
In a daring stance, two women dressed as nuns on Friday night walked into a hostel at Kimathi University of Technology and stole two bags belonging to foreign nuns in the country for the beatification ceremony of Sister Irene Stefani.
Read more at: standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000163326/fake-nuns-arrested-at-sister-irene-stefani-s-beatification-in-nyeriAccording to eye witnesses, the women were dressed in vestments similar to those of the nuns walked into the hostels pretending to be part of a delegation that was in search of accommodation at the university. “But other nuns working in the institution became suspicious and told them off. They then handed them over to security officers who ordered them out,” said Nyeri OCPD Charles Rotich However, as they walked out, they managed to pick the bags as if they had walked in with them.
He also commented on the nun who was beatified in Kenya. He said that Sister Irene Stefani of the Consolata Missionaries served the Kenyan people with joy mercy and tender compassion. “The heroic example of these blesseds inspires in each of us to have the fervent desire to witness the Gospel with courage and self-sacrifice.” Pope Francis said
She looks like an angel in pictures, a real inspiration, it humbles me greatly to know about Blessed Irene “Nyaatha”.examiner.com/article/pope-s-message-on-pentecost-no-sinner-is-turned-away (written by the Seattle Catholic Examiner writer)
Kenya: History As Sister Irene ‘Nyaatha’ Is Beatified in Nyeri
allafrica.com/stories/201505251892.html
Italy has done very well to produce such charitable persons.Nyeri held three days of beatification ceremonies for Stefani
spyghana.com/nyeri-held-three-days-of-beatification-ceremonies-for-stefani/