Life and times of Sr. Irene
Sr. Irene was born in August 22, 1891 in Anfo, a small village in Northern Italy. She joined the Consolata Missionary Sisters in 1911 and she was trained in religious life as well as a nurse.
In 1914, she took her vows a s a sister and soon after was sent by Blessed Joseph Allomano the founder of Consolata fathers and sisters missionaries to Kenya. After a long and exhausting journey by ship, she arrived in Mombasa on January 1915.
As you are well aware, the first World War had already begun in 1914. When she arrived in Mombasa she could not come upcountry. Because of her training in nursing, the British asked her to take care of the soldiers and Courier Corps who were wounded in the war both in Mombasa and Tanzania. As the war was ending she was able to come up country and join the Consolata missionaries in Mathari, the headquarter of the vicariate /Diocese ready to give her services to the people of Nyeri. Her exemplary life at Gikondi in Mukurweini Sub-County Sr. Irene was sent to serve with other sisters at Gikondi Parish as a nurse. She gave herself, body and soul as a nurse giving healthcare, caring for the sick. It is said by some of her contemporaries
that many were the times that she spent the whole day without eating in order to serve many patients.
Because of this loving service and total
dedication, the people of that area nicknamed her as “Nyaatha” which is a name translated as “a person of mercy”.
According to the documents that the missionaries kept in Gikondi Parish, it is written that there was an epidemic of plague and Sr. Irene got sick
soon after arriving in that area. She contracted the disease as she was treating one of the patients even after being warned by other sisters
not to attend to the patient because she could be affected. Out of love, faith, dedication, prayer and full obedience to God, she identified herself with the sick, the hopeless and the dying. These heroic virtues are the DNA that makes community on the material day and years to come.
She died on 31 st October 1930. She was buried at Mathari Diocesan cemetery.
Sr. Irene was born in August 22, 1891 in Anfo, a small village in Northern Italy. She joined the Consolata Missionary Sisters in 1911 and she was trained in religious life as well as a nurse.
In 1914, she took her vows a s a sister and soon after was sent by Blessed Joseph Allomano the founder of Consolata fathers and sisters missionaries to Kenya. After a long and exhausting journey by ship, she arrived in Mombasa on January 1915.
As you are well aware, the first World War had already begun in 1914. When she arrived in Mombasa she could not come upcountry. Because of her training in nursing, the British asked her to take care of the soldiers and Courier Corps who were wounded in the war both in Mombasa and Tanzania. As the war was ending she was able to come up country and join the Consolata missionaries in Mathari, the headquarter of the vicariate /Diocese ready to give her services to the people of Nyeri. Her exemplary life at Gikondi in Mukurweini Sub-County Sr. Irene was sent to serve with other sisters at Gikondi Parish as a nurse. She gave herself, body and soul as a nurse giving healthcare, caring for the sick. It is said by some of her contemporaries
that many were the times that she spent the whole day without eating in order to serve many patients.
Because of this loving service and total
dedication, the people of that area nicknamed her as “Nyaatha” which is a name translated as “a person of mercy”.
According to the documents that the missionaries kept in Gikondi Parish, it is written that there was an epidemic of plague and Sr. Irene got sick
soon after arriving in that area. She contracted the disease as she was treating one of the patients even after being warned by other sisters
not to attend to the patient because she could be affected. Out of love, faith, dedication, prayer and full obedience to God, she identified herself with the sick, the hopeless and the dying. These heroic virtues are the DNA that makes community on the material day and years to come.
She died on 31 st October 1930. She was buried at Mathari Diocesan cemetery.
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