Up to 100,000 people from all over the world gathered in Nyeri to witness the ceremony at Dedan Kimathi University in which Sister Irene Stefani was declared "Blessed Irene," Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper reported Saturday.
Millions more watched the event live on television, according to the newspaper.
The ceremony was conducted by Archbishop Polycarp Pengo of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Archbishop John Njue of Nairobi, Kenya.
Stefani, who belonged to the Consolata Missionary Sisters, first came to Kenya in 1915 and died there in 1930 at the age of 39, according to a website dedicated to her beatification.
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In the case of Stefani, a 1989 miracle in Mozambique a country she had never visited was attributed to her.
The miracle reportedly happened when a group of about 270 people in danger of death prayed to Sister Irene "and the little water in the baptismal font, measuring between four and six liters, was multiplied to enable them to drink and wash for four days, before help arrived from outside," the Daily Nation reported, citing a priest in charge of Nairobi's Consolata Shrine.
During her time in Kenya she also served as Red Cross nurse and treated East African soldiers wounded during World War I.
At Nyeri's Gikondi Catholic parish, where she served for many years as leader of the Consolata Missionary Sisters community, "she remained memorable for her charity toward her sisters, the guests, and anyone who would go to that house for different reasons," according to the website dedicated to her beatification.