Italian missionary sister beatified in Kenya

May 25, 2015

Sister Irene Stefani (1891-1930), an Italian Consolata Missionary sister, was beatified in Kenya on May 23.

Cardinal Polycarp Pengo of Tanzania presided at the Mass of beatification, which took place at Dedan Kimathi University of Technology in Nyeri. The nation’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta, was among the nearly 100,000 faithful who attended the Mass.

The official website of Blessed Stefani’s beatification recounted the miracle whose approval by Pope Francis cleared the way for her beatification. It was a miraculous multiplication of water in a church’s baptismal font over a four-day period in 1989, experienced by refugees who had gathered in the church during the Mozambican Civil War:

There were about 270 people, many were children. It was the hottest month of the year and there was no water in the church. They all prayed to Sr. Irene and they all got enough water for all the refugees. It was enough for all of them to drink, to refresh themselves and even to bathe a baby girl who was born in that occasion. They named her Irene.

The people with a grateful heart kept on repeating: “We are saved by the intercession of Sr. Irene,” “Sr. Irene heard us and has helped us,” “It was Mama Irene who performed the miracle.”

 

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Further information:

• Irene Stefani beatification draws Kenyan crowds (BBC)
• Sister Irene Stefani beatification in pictures (The Standard, Nairobi)
• Beatification website