Prayer for the Beatification of the Servant of God
O God, you granted your Servant Maurice Micheal Cardinal Otunga the Grace to be an exemplary pastor at the service of the Church, making him a symbol of humility and love for the poor and less fortunate in the society, while denying and detaching himself from the pleasures of the world.
Grant, we beseech thee, that we may also learn to respond faithfully to the demands of the Christian vocation, converting all moments and circumstances of our life into opportunities of loving you and our neighbours with joy and kindness, and of serving the kingdom of God with humility.
We humbly request you to grant your servant Cardinal Otunga a share in the Glory of Heaven which is promised to those who have served you well. Through his intercession Bless the Church, our country, Our Families and Children, and grant us the favours we humbly request.. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
First Anniversary, Church Remembers Beloved Cardinal
“This is the second phase. There they go over the documentation again, seeing if the negative depositions have been properly resolved. Then they have to ascertain that a miracle has been experienced by somebody through the intercession of this person. After that, the person will be declared Blessed, and he or she can be venerated publicly in the church: the picture can be affixed on the wall, mass can be celebrated in his honour, etc.”
The process might take long, but Fr Bellagamba noted that “it takes several years at the diocesan level.” Born in central Italy, Fr Bellagamba first worked in Kenya 1958-63 but came to know Cardinal Otunga well from 1984-1994 while teaching at CUEA where the cardinal was chancellor.
Fr Bellagamba, who served as the Vice General Superior of the Consolata Missionaries in Rome from 1999 to 2005 and now works in formation at Allamano House, the Consolata theological seminary in Nairobi, said Cardinal Otunga had “a great sense of the Divine; a great sense of the Supernatural. His prayer life was exceptional. His gentleness, kindness, was very, very attractive. He would take time to talk to you. He was so simple – not simplistic, because he was shrewd but he was simple in the sense that he was not double-faced. What he believed, what he thought, he said.”
During the 7th anniversary of the death of Cardinal Otunga, while addressing journalists after the memorial service, the Postulator, Fr Bellagamba said the process was at its second stage, where the committee is studying written works of as well as on the late Cardinal Otunga. “We have covered the first stage, where the Vatican has accepted the late Cardinal Otunga as Servant of God,” he explained.