The larger family of late President Mwai Kibaki is mourning the death of an extra-ordinary member who served as a Catholic Church nun for 55 years after joining the sisterhood in her teenage years.
Sr. Mary Philippa Njeri Muriithi who joined the Little Sisters of Jesus order as a teenager died last week only hours after asking a Catholic Father to pray for her and anoint her with holy oil. The strange events leading to her last minutes of life painted a deeply spiritual woman of faith who knew her end had come.
The story of her frantic efforts to find a Catholic Father to prayer, bless and anoint her with holy oil paint an eerie image of a person who had a premonition about her death.
When she could not find a Catholic Father near their residence, she hired a boda boda which took her to where the priest was and asked him to pray for her and anoint her with oil.
When she finally found him, the Catholic Father dressed up in the religious garb prayed for her and anointed her with holy oil and returned to her residence where she lived with other nuns.
It was while she was resting on her seat that she peacefully passed away much to the surprise of the other nuns who later narrated the extra-ordinary events leading to her death at 76.
Her brother and former Laikipia Governor Nderitu Muriithi penned down a moving tribute that painted an image of a great woman of God, a hero of faith and deeply spiritual.
She was buried on Friday at the Loreto Convent, Msongari after a funeral mass conducted by the Nairobi Metropolitan Archbishop Philip Anyolo.
Sr. Mary Phillipa has a checkered service for the Catholic Church serving in several African countries among them her motherland Kenya, Ethiopia, Egypt and Tanzania and spoke several languages fluently. She has studied in several countries among them England, India and Italy.
She was also trained as a nurse in Mathari Hospital and later worked in the Eastern Deanery of Nairobi in a team of Community Health Workers offering Home based care in the slums.
Sister Philippa also worked in Kericho and transferred to Kajiado where she worked until her demise on Tuesday 19th November 2024 after.
“Our elder sister gave her life to the Church and served the public with a lot of humility and devotion. We celebrate her outstanding achievements in devotion to the Church and her fraternity of the Little Sisters of Jesus.”
“We will remember her as a precious gift to our family and the community at large and we know she is still our prayer warrior, only now in heaven. May the Lord take her soul in his hands and offer her everlasting peace,” said Nderitu.
