Sister Stefani’s beatification is a lifetime event

The beatification of Sister Irene Stefani of the Consolata Missionaries in Nyeri next weekend is the second such major occasion in the over 100-year history of the Consolata Missionary Institute.

This historic international and spiritual ceremony will begin with a vigil mass on Friday, May 22 at Gikondi Catholic Parish, where Sister Stefani worked since arriving in Kenya in 1915, before she died in 1930. The actual ceremony will follow the next day at the Dedan Kimathi University of Science and Technology.

Popularly known as Nyina wa Tha (Nyaatha), which means a mother full of mercy, Sister Stefani died of bubonic plague, which she contracted while treating a patient identified as Ngari, in Gikondi area of Mukurwe-ini in Nyeri.

And the fact that the national government has taken over the preparation and the hosting of this event, the first of its kind on the African soil, is a clear indication of the magnitude and significance of this occasion. President Uhuru Kenyatta has declared the beatification ceremony a State event.

FIRST OF ITS KIND

Thousands of pilgrims from all over the world are expected in Kenya to bear witness of this event, which will be presided by the Papal Legate — a personal appointee of Pope Francis.

Beatification and canonisation ceremonies are led by the Holy Father himself, or a person appointed by him. This goes to show the weight and importance of such an event — a high honour and elevation granted to an individual by the Catholic church.

The number of local and international visitors expected at the event is a pointer to the importance and significance of the ceremony.

These visitors, most of whom have arrived, are coming from around the world, particularly representing countries in which the Consolata Missionaries have set base.

The entire leadership of the Consolata Fathers and Sisters from around the world, including the Superior General based in Rome, will attend the ceremony.

The miracle that elevated Sister Stefani to this status happened in Mozambique, and therefore a large number of pilgrims are coming from that region, that also covers South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Swaziland, Malawi, Botswana and Namibia.

Surviving members of the family of Sister Stefani, including her nieces and nephews are already in the country at the special invitation of the Catholic Archdiocese of Nyeri and the Consolata Missionaries.

The Congregation of the Causes of Sainthood at the Vatican, will also be represented in a big way, including the postulator of the Congregation Msgr. Pasqualetti Gortado, who is also a Professor of Liturgy at the Pontifical Urbanian University at the Vatican.

He is charged with the mission of delivering the approved Liturgical Beatification Prayers and Documents also known as Hymnos.

CONSOLATA MISSIONARIES

Founded by Blessed Joseph Allamano in 1900, the Consolata Missionary Institute (IMC) has spread to all parts of the world, spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.

They first arrived in Kenya in 1902, where they founded the first mission in Tuthu in Murang’a. A museum now stands where they celebrated their first Mass on June 29, 1902 in Tuthu.

From Murang’a they spread to the rest of the Central region, opening up missions in Nyeri, Meru, Isiolo, Embu, Marsabit, Mararal, Moyale, Mandera, Samburu, Loyangalani, Bargoi, Suguta Marmar, and indeed the rest of Kenya, where they have their headquarters in Westlands in Nairobi that also serves Uganda.

Today, some of the largest schools and hospitals in far-flung areas such as northeastern Kenya were founded by the Consolata Missionaries. Nkubu Nursing Training School and Hospital in Meru, Wamba Training and Maternity Hospital in Mararal, Kieni Nursing and Training Hospital in Embu are just a few of their institutions.

The main celebrant will be Tanzania’s Polycarp Cardinal Pengo, the Archbishop of Dar-es-Salaam, who is also the President of the Symposium of the Catholic Bishops of Africa and Madagascar – SECAM, the continental body of the Catholic Bishops in Africa.

If the first ever Consolata Missionary Beatification ceremony in Rome in October 1991, is anything to go by, then Kenyans and Africans in general are bound to witness a lifetime event that will remain in their memories for a long time to come.

I was at the Vatican on Saturday, October 7, 1991, when the founder of the Consolata Missionaries, Blessed Joseph Allamano was beatified by Pope John Paul II. It was a function I have not forgotten nearly 25 years later.

More than 100 Kenyans from across the country attended the ceremony, whose preparations had been going on for more than two year.

It was my first trip ever to Rome and the Vatican.

After the beatification ceremony, a few pilgrims selected from different parts of the world went to meet the Pope. I was in the front row, and was therefore able to shake his hands, and he gave me a small rosary that I cherish. I gave the gift to my mother who used it to pray until she died in 2011.

The beatification ceremony was held at the Saint Peter’s Square, where thousands of pilgrims were gathered.

The following Sunday, we went for the first mass of the beatification at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (St. Mary Major), whose chief celebrant was our very own Maurice Michael Cardinal Otunga whose own process of beatification is underway.

We later flew to Turin and visited Castelnouvo di asti, the birth place of Blessed Joseph Allamano, among other places in Italy.

The Consolata Missionaries have left an indelible mark in the cultural and socio-economic development of Kenya. Wherever they have been, and particularly in the marginalised areas of Northern and North Eastern Kenya, they have greatly improved the lives of the people in those regions. In many cases, they will be the only ones providing humanitarian services to those areas.

Out of the 26 Catholic bishops in Kenya, the Consolata Missionaries boasts of four — Bishop Peter Kihara of Marsabit, Bishop Anthony Ireri Mukobo of Isiolo, Bishop Virgilio Pante of Mararal, and Bishop Emeritus of Marsabit, Right Rev Ambrose Ravasi.

On the International scene, many Kenyan Consolata priests and nuns are holding senior positions in the institute’s hierarchy and many are serving in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia, as well as heading seminaries and training institutes of the Consolata Missionaries all over the world. Before being appointed Bishop, Father Mukobo was the Rector of the Consolata Major Seminary in Bogota, Columbia.

SCHOOL HEADMISTRESS

When I went to Brazil a few years ago, the vice rector of the Consolata Seminary in Sao Paolo was a Kenyan Consolata priest. Another Kenyan priest was in charge of a large cathedral in Salvador in the state of Bahia, while a sister was headmistress of a girls’ school in Brazil.

The first Consolata Mission in Mongolia was opened by a Kenyan priest, while others are serving in Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Congo DRC, Chad, Central African Republic and Burkina Faso.

These are the Consolata Missionaries for you whose confrere is being beatified and declared Blessed on Kenyan soil. And who knows, she could also be on her way to become the first of these missionaries to be canonised.

Francis Peter Muroki is an MA student of Mass Communication at Daystar University. For more than 20 years he has worked as editor of The Family Magazine, The Seed Magazine, and for Consolata Fathers. [email protected]