Sister Irene Stefani Beatification Ceremony, Kenya - Catholic Stock Photo

In a photograph taken 23 May 2015, and made available by Make It Kenya, priests gather in front of a dias and an image of Sister Irene Stefani during a ceremony to mark her beatification. Sister Irene was an Italian nun and missionary who is beloved in Nyeri and its environs for her selfless service to wounded World War One soldiers and ailing locals alike. Thousands of Catholic faithful, clery, government officials, residents and visitors gathered in the Kenyan town of Nyeri today, 23 May, to witness Africa’s first beatification ceremony for Sister Stefani, who was known as Aurelia Jacoba Mercede until she joined the Consolata Missionary Sisters and changed her name in 1911.