How Catholic Church will lay Bishop Korir to rest

Workers break the ground for the construction of a special tomb where the head of the Catholic Diocese of Eldoret Bishop Cornelius Korir will be buried. [Silah Koskei, Standard]

The late Bishop Cornelius Korir will be buried on Saturday inside the Sacred Heart Cathedral, in accordance with Catholic traditions.

On Monday, The Standard was allowed access to a special tomb where the head of the Catholic Diocese of Eldoret will be interred, being built under close supervision of Uasin Gishu County engineers.

The tomb ? 2.9 metres long and 1.225 metres high ? is located at the Grotto of the blessed Virgin Mary, a small room inside the church premises.

The construction plan indicates the late cleric’s remains will be interred inside a room behind the altar in a concrete-reinforced structure.

The tomb, similar to a cabin with two opening doors, will accommodate the remains of the bishop inside the coffin.

At the same time, inscriptions of his personal details, including his date of ordination and the date of his death, will be written on an adjacent slab.

“Mkitendee kazi chakula kidumucho” (Work for food that endures) reads the inscription on the slab.

Korir, christened a ‘peace icon’, will be the first Bishop in the North Rift to be laid to rest inside the church.

He died on October 30 at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital.

“The official retirement of every bishop is 75 years and Korir was 67. He died while serving in the Eldoret diocese.

“His body will be interred inside the cathedral as per Catholic traditions,” said Father Fredrick Njoroge of the Eldoret diocese.

The Catholic Church has laid out an elaborate burial ceremony to include some of the most solemn Catholic rituals.

On Friday, as his body is removed from the morgue, women in uniform will light candles as they walk towards the cathedral in prayer.

Several requiem masses will be conducted the evening before the burial. The services will be celebrated throughout the night.

Favourite vestment

The bishop will be buried in his favourite vestment.

“The church will select the vestment he loved most and bury him in it,” said Father Joseph Odongo, the Kitale Catholic Church youth coordinator.

According to Father Njoroge, most of the rituals will be similar to those conducted for any baptised Catholic.

The Standard has learnt there were two suggestions for Korir’s final resting place.

It was either at the Altar of Peace because the cleric was a renowned peace icon or inside the cathedral. The Altar of Peace is located within the Eldoret cathedral compound.

“The decision to bury Korir inside the church was agreed upon on Thursday last week by the conference of Catholic bishops who sent Nyeri Archbishop Anthony Muheria to identify the place where he will be laid to rest.

“They chose the special room because he remains the church shepherd,” explained father Njoroge.

In Kenya’s Catholic history, few bishops have been buried inside a church since most of them die after their retirement.

Clerics buried inside a church include former Nyeri Diocese Bishop Gatimu Ngandu (1987), his successor Nicodemus Kirima (2007), Tiberius Mugendi of Kisii diocese (1993) and Bishop Longinus Atundo of Bungoma (1996).

Archbishop of Nairobi Maurice Cardinal Otunga was buried in accordance with his wishes at Saint Austin’s cemetery in Nairobi on August 2015.