Maria Carola Cecchin
The Vatican record
- 23 November 2020 — Heroic virtue declared — title Venerable (decree list, 2020)
- 13 December 2021 — Miracle through their intercession approved (decree list, 2021)
Who they were
Fiorina Cecchin was born at Cittadella, near Padua, on 3 April 1877, and joined the Cottolengo Sisters in Turin, taking the name Maria Carola.
She went as a missionary to Kenya and served at Limuru, Mugoiri, Wambugo and Nyeri. Taken ill, she died at sea on the Red Sea on 13 November 1925 while sailing home to Italy.
The miracles
Hilary Kiama Msafiri, a newborn boy — near Matiri, Meru, Kenya — 14 April 2013
Joyce Muriungi gave birth on the way to St Orsola Mission Hospital, and the baby had no heartbeat. A sister began praying through Sister Maria Carola's intercession, and after 30 minutes the baby came to life. The Vatican judged the return to life immediate, complete, lasting and scientifically inexplicable.
She was beatified at Kinoru Stadium in Meru, the second beatification held in Kenya. One more approved miracle is needed for canonisation.
Why that counted as sanctity
The case of Hilary Kiama Msafiri, a newborn boy was examined by the Church's doctors and theologians and approved as a miracle on 13 December 2021, opening the way to beatification. Beatification followed on 5 November 2022 by Cardinal Antoine Kambanda, for Pope Francis.
The cause
The cause continues. No postulation address is published here yet. Favours received through this person’s intercession, and offers of help, are best sent to the religious order or congregation they belonged to, or to the diocese where the cause was opened; either will pass them to the postulation.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - decree of 13 Dec 2021
- ACI Africa - the miracle that set the nun on the path to sainthood
- Daily Nation, Nov 2022 - Sister Maria Carola Cecchin beatified in Meru
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints — promulgated decrees (causesanti.va), summarised in our own words
- Not yet in Wikidata. Name as the Vatican spells it.
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.