KENYA: Road to Sainthood: One Month to Canonization of Founding Father of Consolata Missionaries
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
On Sunday, October 20, 2024, the Holy Father will canonize 15 new saints among whom is the founding father of the Institute of Consolata Missionaries (IMC) for men and the Consolata Missionary Sisters for women.
In a video clip giving the history of the saint-t- be, after the Canonization of Blessed Joseph Allamano in Rome, members of the Consolata Institutes will have a thanksgiving Mass in Kenya’s capital on Saturday, November 9, at Nairobi University grounds.
Pope Francis announced the canonization of this Italian priest on July 1, after presiding over the celebration of the Canonical Hour of Terce of Divine Office and the Ordinary Public Consistory for the Canonization of Blesseds.
According to the clip, the miracle attributed to Blessed Allamano’s intercession that leads to his canonization occurred in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest in the State of Roraima. On February 7, 1996, the first day of the novena to Blessed Allamano. A man belonging to the Yanomami ethnic group by the name Sorino, was attacked by a jaguar that seriously wounded him in the head, opening the skull. He was hospitalized at Boa Vista and cared for by the Consolata Sisters who did not cease to pray for his healing through the intercession of their Father Founder.
Everyone invoked the Blessed Allamano and the sisters who were caring for him together with a priest and a Consolata Missionary brother placed Allamano’s relic under the pillow of Sorino’s bed. Sorino miraculously recovered his health in a few months and still lives in his Indigenous community.
The Diocesan inquiry for the study of the alleged miracle took place in March 2021 in Boa Vista, while the process of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints ended on May 23, 2024, with the approval of the decree recognizing the miracle.
After the Pope’s announcement, the Superiors General for both Institutions of the Consolata Missionaries accepted the message with joy saying, “He who gave us the Consolata spirit, has always been a light for us.”
Blessed Allamano was born on January 21, 1851, and dedicated his life to missionary work. In 1901 he founded the IMC and in 1902 the first four missionaries arrived in Kenya. In 1910, he founded the Consolata Missionary Sisters. He died on February 16, 1926.
The charism of the Consolata Missionaries reflects Allamano’s spirit and vision characterized by a commitment to evangelization specifically among those who have not heard the Gospel and the profound devotion to our Lady Consolata.
Other Blesseds to be canonized together with Allamano the Blessed Manuel Ruiz López and seven companions, Francesco, Mooti and Raffaele Massabki, Marie-Léonie Paradis, Elena Guerra, and Blessed Carlo Acutis, the first-millennial to be made a saint.
