allAfrica.com: Uganda: Masaka Prays for Nun to Be Made a Saint (Page 1 of 1)

The grave of a Catholic nun, who died in 1979 at Bwanda in Masaka Diocese has become a centre of attention as thousands of people flock to it expecting miracle solutions to their various problems.

Severely deformed children who could not walk at all and were born with the condition are said to be walking, people who suffered from what they believed to be incurable ailments now claim to have regained good health after praying at the grave, while others with marital or social problems have overcome them allegedly due to the dead nun's intercession.

The late Sister Amadeus Byabali's grave lies among hundreds of others at the graveyard of the Mother House of the Daughters of Mary Congregation, Bwanda in Masaka Diocese. It is a special white grave on top of which a lockable glass box about two cubic feet has been fixed. Some of the faithful who visit the grave slide some letters and money into the little hole on the glass container.

The letters, according to Sister Catherine Nakatudde, coordinator of the Sister Amadeus Beatification Cause, are addressed to the dead nun and they are supplications or confessions or testimonies. The Sister and her committee use the money offered by the visiting believers to run activities associated with the Sister Amadeus Beatification Cause.

The grave has even attracted the official recognition of the Catholic Church leadership in Masaka. On Sunday April 13th 2008, the Vicar General of Masaka Diocese, Monsignor Joseph Kato Ssempungu, officiated at High Mass and also celebrated with several other priests at Bwanda Mother House. He said he was there to represent Bishop John Baptist Kaggwa who was on an official visit to Germany.

In his sermon he encouraged the congregation to pray to God so that the late Sister Amadeus may perform the miracles necessary for her canonisation. He was however quick to add that they should pray for miracles that make them better Christians. "You should also emulate the life of Sister Amadeus. So many nuns have lived here but apparently this one stands out as having been deeply religious."

He later led the congregation to the grave of Sister Amadeus where more prayers were said. At the graveside, it was the Chancellor of the Diocese, Father Edward Ssekabanja, a learned theologian who also holds a PhD in Canon Law, who addressed the pilgrims. He said, "As you pray for miracles, you have to know that the miracles we expect to present to Rome have got to be supported by scientific evidence.

If it is the cure of a disease it should be one which medical doctors have examined and declared incurable by modern medical science. It should not be your usual herbalists and medicine men in shrines." It is the Vatican that decides on canonisation matters and any reported miracles have to be assessed by the church's historians and theologians.

Five-year-old Maria Nambassa, reportedly a multi-deformed child since birth and unable to walk or speak, was said to be walking and had began muttering some words within a few months of praying to God through Sister Amadeus.

Her mother, Namwandu Lugemwa Nassaka, was there with the child to testify to this. Four-year-old Rosemary Nabagesera, also born an invalid, was able to walk recently reportedly after her family reciting a specially designed prayer to Sister Amadeus. Her mother Mary Pascasia Nabisiika was there with young Nabagesera to testify to this before the mesmerised congregation.

Mary Nannyonga, who now lives in South Africa, testified that she was cured of a skin ailment that doctors had told her was incurable. She said it was a priest, Father Magembe of Bukalango Parish along Hoima road, who first told her about Sr. Amadeus and recommended prayers through the dead nun. She thereafter went to the grave at Bwanda where she prayed and obtained instant cure.

"I became healthy and even attractive enough to find a husband with whom I live happily with our children. He could not travel to be here with me but I can assure you, he too is now a strong believer in the power of Sister Amadeus' intercession."

If enough acceptable miracles are performed, Sister Amadeus will be incrementally elevated to the levels of vulnerable, beatified, blessed and then to sainthood. She is yet to be elevated to the first level of vulnerable, according to Father Anthony Kakumba, the Parish Priest of Villa Maria, who spoke to Daily Monitor as the congregation left the dead nun's grave soon after the prayers.

Sister Amadeus Byabali was born in 1908 at Kibanga, Buyaga County in Hoima Diocese. She became a nun of the Daughters of Mary Congregation in 1930 and served in various Catholic Parishes in Uganda.

She is mostly remembered for founding a religious congregation, The Sisters of our Lady of Fatima, when she served at Rushoroza Parish in Kabale Diocese. According to the Superior General, Mother Mary Vincent, Sister Amadeus was so inspiring that she got several young women at Rushoroza to accept religious life and founded the organisation within the four years of her stay at the parish, between 1951 and 1954. She never went back again to the same place, not even for a visit, but the religious congregation is serving and said to be strong in Kabale Diocese.

A committee has been formed to collect information and data about the miracles performed by the late Sister Amadeus. Father Cosma Kaboggoza heads the committee as key advisor on theological matters. Sister Catherine Nakatudde is the coordinator of the committee while Sister Theresa Nakamya Nnambaziira takes charge of the Finance Committee.

Masaka Diocese now is praying for the canonisation of two of its departed religious people. Rev Father Aloysious Ngobya was buried near the Blessed Virgin Chapel in the compound of Kitovu Cathedral and is said to be performing miracles and drawing hundreds of pilgrims every year.

At Bwanda during the prayers at the grave of Sister Amadeus, Reverend Father Ssekabanja warned the believers to be focused. "If you pray through Sister Amadeus you should stick to her. But if you are the same person praying through both Father Ngobya and Sister Amadeus it may be hard for you to tell which of the two performed the miracle that you might get performed."

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