Catholics celebrate Nyaatha as Pope Francis historic visit draws nearer

Fr Peter Githinji of Our Lady of Consolata Cathedral in Nyeri Town shows Rosina Wanjiru, 101, the altar that will be used by Pope Francis to celebrate mass during his visit to Kenya next month. Pope Francis, who will visit Kenya from November 25 to 27, will celebrate mass in Nairobi in a function that is expected to draw one million faithful. [PHOTO: KIBATA KIHU/STANDARD]

NYERI: As Kenyans look forward to Pope Francis’ first visit here, Catholics worldwide will Saturday celebrate the first memorial feast of Blessed Sister Irene “Nyaatha” Stefani who was beatified on May 23 in Nyeri County.

Nyaatha’s beatification was the first to be held in Africa. Such events were in the past held in Rome.

Last week, the 100-year-old altar used during the beatification was identified as the ideal platform for Pope Francis to celebrate mass during his first visit to the country later next month.

A team, led by the coordinator of the Papal visit, Fr Stephen Okello, inspected the altar last Sunday at Mathari Pastoral Centre.

The altar was consecrated for use during the beatification of Blessed Sister Nyaatha at the Dedan Kimathi grounds on May 23 by Papal Delegate and Dar-es-Salaam’s Polycarp Cardinal Pengo and Kenya’s head of the Catholic Church, John Cardinal Njue. It was later taken to Mathari Mission Complex where it is stored.

“The altar is historic since it was crafted more than 100 years ago by the Consolata Missionaries soon after their arrival to Kenya. It is also notable that the same altar was used during the beatification of Blessed Sister Nyaatha,” said Fr Okello.

The inspection tour was part of the ongoing preparations ahead of the Papal visit. About one million Christians, mostly Catholics, are expected to attend the mass celebrated by the Pope.

The chocolate altar that is made of hard wood will be transported to Nairobi where it will be prepared for Pope Francis’ mass.

“It measures eight feet long and three and half feet wide and is three feet high, giving it the standard measurements,” said Fr Okello.

The altar’s base has various engravings on its four sides, among them the Holy Eucharist, a bird feeding its hatchlings, a dove and a fish and a lamb.

It also has the Latin inscriptions ‘Redemisti Nos Domine Senguine Tuo’, which means, “You saved us Lord by your blood’.

Father Peter Githinji, the Postulator of the Cause of Beatification of Nyaatha said the altar will be taken to Nairobi after the first Feast of Blessed Sister Nyaatha, adding that a ceremony will be held before it is handed over to the Papal visit organising committee.

Although it is the norm for the Catholic Church to preserve in its archives anything that the Pope uses, Father Githinji said the altar will be returned to Nyeri.

“We are in agreement that the altar will be brought back to Nyeri because of its significance to the local faithful. This will enhance the feeling of pride associated with the late nun and also Pope Francis who assented to her beatification. We feel blessed by this gesture,” Githinji said.

Sister Irene Nyaatha was in May beatified according to the doctrines of the Catholic Church.

But were it not for the late Pope John Paul II, Kenyans would not have hosted the beatification, despite Sister Nyaatha having spent her final 15 years in Gikondi, Nyeri County.

Previously, the Canon Law only allowed such a high profile rite to be conducted in the Vatican, but in 1983, Pope John Paul II allowed an amendment in the Canon Law, known in the church links as Santorum Martyr.

The amendment changed the tradition where beatification or canonisation can be held where the subject lived or worked.