Irene Stefani
Blessed Irene Stefani | |
---|---|
Irene Stefani in 1920 | |
Born | Aurelia Mercede Stefani (1891-08-22)22 August 1891 Anfo, Brescia, Kingdom of Italy |
Died | 31 October 1930(1930-10-31) (aged 39) Gikondi, Mukurweini, Nyeri, British Kenya |
Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
Beatified | 30 May 2015, Nyeri, Kenya by Cardinal Polycarp Pengo |
Feast | 31 October |
Irene Stefani (22 August 1891 – 31 October 1930), born Aurelia Mercede Stefani, was a Roman Catholic Italian religious sister of the Consolata Missionary Sisters. She assumed the religious name Irene upon her investiture and was sent to the mission in Kenya.
She was cleared for beatification in 2014 after a miracle found to have been attributed to her intercession was ratified, and she was beatified on 23 May 2015 in Nyeri by Cardinal Polycarp Pengo on behalf of Pope Francis.[1]
Biography
Stefani was born in 1891 in the small village of Anfo as one of twelve children and was baptized in the name of "Aurelia Jacoba Mercede" on the following 23 August. Her mother died on 12 May 1907 and this left Stefani in the delicate position of the management of her siblings and assisting her father, especially in the Christian formation of her younger sisters Marietta and Antonietta, and her brother Ugo who died not long after this.[2] She received Confirmation on 6 November 1898 and later received her First Communion a few years following this.
Stefani joined the Consolata Missionary Sisters in June 1911 and became a professed member of that order on 29 January 1914 prior to the beginning of World War I. Upon entering the order, she took the name of "Irene". That same year, she was sent by Giuseppe Allamano to go to Kenya, leaving on 28 December 1914, where she arrived in January 1915 in Mombasa.
Stefani served as a nurse in Kenya and became well known and well regarded among the people that she served. This earned her the nickname "Nyaatha" (Nyina wa tha), which is a name literally translated as "mother of mercy". With the onslaught of World War I, she served in hospitals to tend to the wounded soldiers and those others wounded in the conflict. On 20 August 1916, she was appointed as a Red Cross to assist the Carriers who were forced to march exhaustingly in the African terrain. During this time, she worked in military hospitals in places such as Lindi and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. [3]
At the conclusion of the war in 1918, Stefani returned to Nyeri where she first served as an assistant formator of the first aspirants of the incipient local congregation known as the Mary Immaculate Sisters. Two years later, she was appointed to Our Lady of Divine Providence mission at Gikondi, remaining there until her death. There, she taught in schools and instructed parishioners in catechism while visiting the villages. At Gikhondi, she was the Superior of the Consolata Missionary Sisters for eight years.
In 1930, Stefani contracted a disease from one of the patients she was treating and grew physically weak in the summer, losing a considerable amount of weight, bearing this as God's will. On 20 October, she felt sick yet opted to visit a plague-stricken person, remaining at his bedside for several hours. She succumbed eleven days later, on 31 October 1930.[4]
Beatification
The cause of beatification commenced on 22 July 1985 under Pope John Paul II and Stefani was declared a Servant of God; this acted as the formal beginning of the cause and it saw the accumulation of documents and testimonies in order to support the cause.[5]
On 2 April 2011, Pope Benedict XVI declared her to have lived a life of heroic virtue and declared her to be Venerable.[5]
On 12 June 2014, Pope Francis approved a decree that recognized a miracle attributed to Stefani's intercession which cleared the way for her beatification. It was celebrated by Cardinal Polycarp Pengo on 23 May 2015 in Nyeri.[6]
References
- ^ "Blessed Irene Stefani". Saints SQPN. 18 January 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
- ^ "Life and times of Sr. Irene". Sr. Irene Stefani. Archived from the original on 8 November 2015. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
- ^ "Blessed Sr. Irene Stefani". Consolata Sisters. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
- ^ "The Pope Announces the Beatification of a Catholic Nun in the Archdiocese of Nyeri on Saturday 23rd May 2015". Dedan Kimathi University of Technology. 15 January 2015. Archived from the original on 21 February 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
- ^ a b "Blessed Ireen Nyaatha". Archdiocese of Nyeri. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
- ^ "Irene Stefani beatification draws Kenyan crowds". BBC News. 22 May 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
External links
- Hagiography Circle
- Saints SQPN
- Sister Irene Stefani – Servant of God Archived 10 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine
- v
- t
- e
Stages of canonization: Servant of God → Venerable → Blessed → Saint
- Gabriel
- Michael in the Catholic Church
- Raphael
- Anatolius
- Anthony of Kiev
- Athanasius the Confessor
- Chariton the Confessor
- Dominic
- Edward the Confessor
- Francis of Assisi
- Francis Borgia
- Homobonus
- Lazarus Zographos
- Louis Bertrand
- Maximus the Confessor
- Michael of Synnada
- Paphnutius the Confessor
- Paul I of Constantinople
- Peter Claver
- Salonius
- Sergius of Radonezh
- Theophanes the Confessor
- Pio of Pietrelcina
- Gregory the Great
- Ambrose
- Augustine of Hippo
- Jerome
- John Chrysostom
- Basil of Caesarea
- Gregory of Nazianzus
- Athanasius of Alexandria
- Cyril of Alexandria
- Cyril of Jerusalem
- John of Damascus
- Bede the Venerable
- Ephrem the Syrian
- Thomas Aquinas
- Bonaventure
- Anselm of Canterbury
- Isidore of Seville
- Peter Chrysologus
- Leo the Great
- Peter Damian
- Bernard of Clairvaux
- Hilary of Poitiers
- Alphonsus Liguori
- Francis de Sales
- Peter Canisius
- John of the Cross
- Robert Bellarmine
- Albertus Magnus
- Anthony of Padua
- Lawrence of Brindisi
- Teresa of Ávila
- Catherine of Siena
- Thérèse of Lisieux
- John of Ávila
- Hildegard of Bingen
- Gregory of Narek
- Irenaeus
Fathers
- Alexander of Alexandria
- Alexander of Jerusalem
- Ambrose of Milan
- Anatolius
- Athanasius of Alexandria
- Augustine of Hippo
- Caesarius of Arles
- Caius
- Cappadocian Fathers
- Clement of Alexandria
- Clement of Rome
- Cyprian of Carthage
- Cyril of Alexandria
- Cyril of Jerusalem
- Damasus I
- Desert Fathers
- Desert Mothers
- Dionysius of Alexandria
- Dionysius of Corinth
- Dionysius
- Ephrem the Syrian
- Epiphanius of Salamis
- Fulgentius of Ruspe
- Gregory the Great
- Gregory of Nazianzus
- Gregory of Nyssa
- Hilary of Poitiers
- Hippolytus of Rome
- Ignatius of Antioch
- Irenaeus of Lyons
- Isidore of Seville
- Jerome of Stridonium
- John Chrysostom
- John of Damascus
- Maximus the Confessor
- Melito of Sardis
- Quadratus of Athens
- Papias of Hierapolis
- Peter Chrysologus
- Polycarp of Smyrna
- Theophilus of Antioch
- Victorinus of Pettau
- Vincent of Lérins
- Zephyrinus
- Abda and Abdisho
- Boris and Gleb
- Charles de Foucauld
- Canadian Martyrs
- Carthusian Martyrs
- Child Martyrs of Tlaxcala
- Christina of Persia
- Devasahayam Pillai
- Dismas the Good Thief
- Forty Martyrs of England and Wales
- Four Crowned Martyrs
- Gerard of Csanád
- Great Martyr
- The Holy Innocents
- Irish Martyrs
- John Fisher
- Korean Martyrs
- Lorenzo Ruiz
- Martyrs of Lübeck
- Luigi Versiglia
- Martyrology
- Martyrs of Albania
- Martyrs of Algeria
- Martyrs of Cajonos
- Martyrs of Drina
- Martyrs of China
- Martyrs of Gorkum
- Martyrs of Japan
- 21 Martyrs of Libya
- Martyrs of La Rioja
- Martyrs of Laos
- Martyrs of Natal
- Martyrs of Otranto
- Martyrs of Prague
- Martyrs of Sandomierz
- Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War
- Martyrs of Zenta
- Maximilian Kolbe
- Óscar Romero
- Pedro Calungsod
- Perpetua and Felicity
- Peter Chanel
- Pietro Parenzo
- Philomena
- Saints of the Cristero War
- Stephen
- Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
- Titus Brandsma
- 17 Thomasian Martyrs
- Thomas Becket
- Thomas More
- Three Martyrs of Chimbote
- Ulma Family
- Uganda Martyrs
- Vietnamese Martyrs
- Valentine of Rome
- Victor and Corona
- Zanitas and Lazarus of Persia
- Adeodatus I
- Adeodatus II
- Adrian III
- Agapetus I
- Agatho
- Alexander I
- Anacletus
- Anastasius I
- Anicetus
- Anterus
- Benedict II
- Boniface I
- Boniface IV
- Caius
- Callixtus I
- Celestine I
- Celestine V
- Clement I
- Cornelius
- Damasus I
- Dionysius
- Eleuterus
- Eugene I
- Eusebius
- Eutychian
- Evaristus
- Fabian
- Felix I
- Felix III
- Felix IV
- Gelasius I
- Gregory I
- Gregory II
- Gregory III
- Gregory VII
- Hilarius
- Hormisdas
- Hyginus
- Innocent I
- John I
- John XXIII
- John Paul II
- Julius I
- Leo I
- Leo II
- Leo III
- Leo IV
- Leo IX
- Linus
- Lucius I
- Marcellinus
- Marcellus I
- Mark
- Martin I
- Miltiades
- Nicholas I
- Paschal I
- Paul I
- Paul VI
- Peter
- Pius I
- Pius V
- Pius X
- Pontian
- Sergius I
- Silverius
- Simplicius
- Siricius
- Sixtus I
- Sixtus II
- Sixtus III
- Soter
- Stephen I
- Stephen IV
- Sylvester I
- Symmachus
- Telesphorus
- Urban I
- Victor I
- Vitalian
- Zachary
- Zephyrinus
- Zosimus
- Agabus
- Amos
- Anna
- Baruch ben Neriah
- David
- Elijah
- Ezekiel
- Habakkuk
- Haggai
- Hosea
- Isaiah
- Jeremiah
- Job
- Joel
- John the Baptist
- Jonah
- Judas Barsabbas
- Malachi
- Melchizedek
- Micah
- Moses
- Nahum
- Obadiah
- Samuel
- Seven Maccabees and their mother
- Simeon
- Zechariah (prophet)
- Zechariah (NT)
- Zephaniah
- Agatha of Sicily
- Agnes of Rome
- Angela of the Cross
- Æthelthryth
- Bernadette Soubirous
- Catherine of Bologna
- Brigid of Kildare
- Catherine Labouré
- Catherine of Siena
- Cecilia
- Clare of Assisi
- Eulalia of Mérida
- Euphemia
- Faustina Kowalska
- Faustina and Liberata of Como
- Genevieve
- Hiltrude of Liessies
- Joan of Arc
- Kateri Tekakwitha
- Lucy of Syracuse
- Maria Goretti
- María de las Maravillas de Jesús
- Narcisa de Jesús
- Patricia of Naples
- Rosalia
- Rose of Lima
- Teresa of the Andes
- Teresa of Calcutta
- Trasilla and Emiliana
- Ubaldesca Taccini
- Josephine Bakhita
- Catholic Church portal
- Saints portal