Maria Stella de Azevedo Santos

Mãe Stella de Oxóssi (born Maria Stella de Azevedo Santos, also known as Odé Kayodê, 2 May 1925 – 27 December 2018) was a iyalorixá, or priestess, in the Brazilian Candomblé religion. She was the fifth iyalorixá (chief priestess) of Ilê Axé Opô Afonjá, a Candomblé terreiro in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. Mãe Stella was trained as a public health nurse. She was initiated into the Candomblé religion in 1939 and became the iyalorixá of Ilê Axé Opô Afonjá in 1976. Mãe Stella is noted for writing on the beliefs and practices of Candomblé for the general public, rather than practitioners. She lived in the interior of Bahia after a stroke and was interred in Salvador after her death in 2018.