Mother of martyred nun ‘at peace’

The mother of a nun murdered in Yemen says she is comforted by the fact that her daughter died while serving the Church, writes Fredrick Nzwili. Sr Judith, known as Anastasia Kanini in Kithaayoni, the remote village in eastern Kenya where she grew up, was murdered by terrorists on 4 March, with three fellow Missionaries of Charity and 12 others. They were serving in a convent and nursing home in Aden when it was attacked.

 “Times and events belong to the Lord,” Sr Judith’s mother, Agnes Kasangi, told The Tablet, speaking in the local Kamba dialect via cell phone. “I am at peace. She died in the service of the Lord as she had always wanted.”

Judith, nicknamed Kadogo (Tiny) was the third born in a family of eight children of the single mother who supported the children by growing crops on a small farm. Visiting the family from time to time, and in letters, Sr Judith was always an encouragement. “She told us she had been called to serve as a sister and was now married to the Church,” said Mary Munyiva, her youngest sister.