Curtains Fall on Italian Nun Who Made Pope Francis’ Vestments during His Visit to Kenya

Sr. Ida with Sr. Alice Omondi. Credit: Dimesse Sisters

“Sister Ida was very excited and active as we made the vestments,” Bernadette said in her tribute to the Nun who died on Sunday, June 16.

“On the day that the Holy Father celebrated Mass at St. Paul’s chapel of the University of Nairobi, Sister Ida came back narrating excitedly how he had been close to the Pope. That was a very special experience for her, and she spoke about it for days. From that time, she became known here as the Sister who greeted the Pope,” she told ACI Africa on Thursday, June 20.

Credit: Dimesse Sisters

Sr. Ida suffered a heart attack and died at the age of 82 in her bed at the FMI Kangemi community situated in a slum neighbourhood about 16km from Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.

Bernadette said she received news about the death of the FMI Sister with shock.

Credit: Stefania Beccaro/Facebook

“I can’t believe that Sister Ida is gone. I saw her just last Friday (June 14) and she was walking around the compound, joyful as usual. And she said she’d see us on Tuesday, since we were to stay at home on Monday for the holiday. I was so shocked to learn that she had died on Sunday,” Bernadette told ACI Africa.

In Kenya, Sr. Ida will be remembered for her love for Christian families, her hard work and the numerous projects she initiated in her Congregation, popularly known as Dimesse Sisters, to uplift the poor. 

Credit: Dimesse Sisters

She will also be remembered for her deep love for Africans, and always expressing her desire to “live and die” in Kenya.

To show her love for the African way of life, Sr. Ida learnt Kikuyu, one of local Kenyan languages, and became fluent in it. Those who spoke to ACI Africa on Thursday, June 20, shared that Sr. Ida preferred to communicate in Kikuyu, even when handling official matters.

Credit: Dimesse Sisters

“Sister Ida spoke better Kikuyu than myself, even though I am a native speaker of the language. Since she also did things to perfection, she would use deep Kikuyu proverbs to teach us to do things in the right way,” Bernadette said during the June 20 interview.

At St. Joseph the Worker Kangemi Parish, Sr. Ida had a soft spot for the poorest of the poor. “She never failed to ask us how our families were doing. She always expressed deep concern for needy children and paid school fees for many of them,” she recalled.

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Credit: Dimesse Sisters

Bernadette continued, “One thing I remember most about Sister Ida is her love for family life. She found great joy in interacting with married couples and reminding them to raise their children with love.”

She also recounted Sr. Ida’s efforts to make Dolly Crafts center known. Initially a small project that only made African dolls, Dolly Crafts now provides employment to 41 women and four men who make liturgical vestments that are sold in and outside the East African nation.

Credit: Dimesse Sisters

Bernadette, who was displaced by the 2007/8 Post Election Violence (PEV) from her home in Kenya’s Narok County said that she had found a new family at Dolly Crafts, and that Sr. Ida was the most important member of the family.

Dimesse Sisters in Kenya have also paid their tributes to Sr. Ida, describing her as a loving, peace-loving, and hardworking member of their community, who did everything with admirable flawlessness.

Credit: Dimesse Sisters

“Sister Ida was nicknamed Nyakio, which in Kikuyu means a very hardworking person,” Sr. Esther, the FMI Delegation Council member, told ACI Africa on June 20.

A month before she died, Sr. Ida travelled to the Catholic Diocese of Nyahururu, where she had worked for the longest period of her Religious Life. In Nyahururu, she camped at Marmanet Catholic Parish for a week, helping with the construction of the FMI upcoming home for the elderly.

Credit: Dimesse Sisters/Kenya

Born on 12 September 1942 in Padova, Italy, Sr. Ida stayed in Kenya for 57 years and worked in different places in Nyahururu Diocese and in the Archdiocese of Nairobi. 

She worked at Manunga Catholic Church in Nyahururu before she moved to North Kinangop Catholic Parish. She also had a work stint at the Nunciature in Nairobi before proceeding to St. Joseph the Worker Kangemi Parish, where she started the community of Dimesse Sisters. 

Credit: Dimesse Sisters

From there, she went back to Nyahururu Diocese and worked at Tabor Spirituality centre before moving back to Kangemi, and later to Rumuruti Catholic Parish in Nyahururu. She met her death after coming back to Kangemi.

“Sister Ida always said that she wanted to die in Kangemi. Clearly, her prayers were answered,” Sr. Esther said, and added, “She chose to speak one of the local languages here because she wanted to identify with the people. She would always say that she wanted to live here and die here. ‘This is where my people are’, she would often say.”

Credit: Dimesse Sisters

The Kenyan-born Dimesse Sister recounted being “practically raised” by Sr. Ida, who took her in after she completed high school. Then, Sr. Ida was involved in pastoral work at North Kinangop Catholic Parish.

“I stayed with Sister Ida for three months after I completed high school. During this time, she gave me all the orientation I needed to become one of the Dimesse Sisters. And when I eventually joined the Congregation, she never stopped being a mother to me,” she said.

Credit: Dimesse Sisters

“Sister Ida was outstanding in so many ways. She was focused and disciplined, loving and generous to a fault. She did everything to perfection and never tolerated shortcuts. In our community, she was the brains behind our numerous projects,” Sr. Esther said.

Sr. Ida a day with Dimesse Novices. Credit: Dimesse Sisters/Kenya

An emotional Sr. Alice Omondi recounted the five years she spent with Sr. Ida at Tabor Hill.

“I was just a small girl. And Sister Ida struck me as a very loving person. She taught me cleanliness. She was always the first to say ‘sorry’ whenever she had a disagreement with any member of the community. Her warm smile was stupendous, and she taught me to be kind and welcoming especially to the poor,” Sr. Alice told ACI Africa on June 20.

Credit: Dimesse Sisters

Recalling her final encounter with Sr. Ida, Sr. Alice said, “June 15, a day before Sister Ida died, was Saint Alice Feast Day. Since we have a culture of celebrating our patron saints, Sr. Ida spoke to me at length, both on calls and via text messages. We spoke on the Sunday that she died, and she sounded very happy.”

Credit: Dimesse Sisters/Kenya

“Sister Ida loved me, and I loved her so deeply,” Sr. Alice told ACI Africa before she broke down. She later continued, “Seeing her on that bed, her room so tidy with her simple possessions neatly arranged in their places broke me, and I wept so bitterly.”

Sr. Alice encouraged members of her congregation to emulate Sr. Ida’s values of simplicity, hard work, and modesty, as well as her love for spiritual life.

Credit: Dimesse Sisters

“Let’s continue with the love that Sister Ida fostered in our communities. Let us also keep the places where we stay, and our places of work clean, just as she taught us. Let us be modest, following the example of our beloved Sister,” Sr. Alice said.

Credit: Dimesse Sisters/Kenya

“Sister Ida always sewed our habits, making them loose and long. She never wanted us to have short and tight habits. Let us stick with this culture of dressing modestly,” she said.

Credit: Dimesse Sisters/Kenya

Sr. Ida will be laid to rest on Monday, June 24 at Hope Centre in the Diocese of Nyahururu. Her requiem Masses have been organized at St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Kangemi on Friday, June 21, at the Dimesse Sisters in Karen on Saturday, June 22, and at St. Benedict XVI Hospital, Nyahururu on Saturday, June 22.