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Sister ‘Nyaatha' awakens sleepy Nyeri County

 Sister Irene ‘Nyaatha’ Stefani

This weekend’s beatification of Sister Irene ‘Nyaatha’ Stefani  in Nyeri is the first of its kind in Africa.

The rest have happened in Rome, Italy, where Sister ‘Nyaatha’ came from as part of the Consolata Sisters who sent her to Kenya in 1915.

The Italian connection to Nyeri, besides the Italian War Memorial Church and the Italian War Camp is evident in the baptismal names Nyerians pick - Emilio, Octavia, Basillioh, Donatus and Nemesius.

Sister ‘Nyaatha,’ also called ‘Mercedes’ as a young girl, lived like she didn’t own one; survived World War I (from which she baptised over 3,000 carrier corps), famine, endless dangers, but eventually succumbed to what people of Gikondi in Nyeri called murimu wa brake (the ‘brake’ disease) caused by fleas in mice.

‘Brake’ was their version of ‘plague’ that rocked Gikondi in 1930. Sister ‘Nyaatha,’ a trained nurse who skipped lunch to serve the sick, contracted ‘brake’ from a teacher she had gone to treat in Gathiriti location of Gikondi. Nyina wa atha (mother of mercy) as she was nicknamed died that October 31 after ignoring warning not to touch the sick teacher. She was 39.

The beatification of Sister ‘Nyaatha’ began in 1985 after she was made a ‘Servant of God’ in the early 1970s.

It is a long process, except for the times when the years are waived under exceptional circumstances: Pope John Paul II beatification got a waiver of three years, while Mother Teresa’s was five years. Once beatified, she will be known as the ‘Blessed’ Sister Irene Stefani. She died 85 odd years ago in Nyeri where she left an enduring legacy that will culminate in the beatification - which is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person’s entrance into heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name.

The four stages towards sainthood include beatification when the individual becomes ‘Servant of God,’ then ‘Venerable’ when the heroic virtues of the ‘Servant of God’ have been established.

‘Blessed’ is the third stage after validity of the individual’s miracles is established; and finally sainthood - which can take 10 years after beatification - which is declared by the Pope and is no small honour.

And that is what the ceremony in Nyeri is all about.

 

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