A Short Historical Overview of the National Missionary of St. Paul.

The National Missionary Seminary of St. Paul is an academic institution belonging to the Missionary Society of St. Paul of Nigeria. The seminary provides for research and teaching within the framework of the requirements for the training of Catholic priests, as well as the institutions to which she is affiliated. These institutions are: the University of Port-Harcourt for the Philosophy department and the Pontifical Urban University for the theology faculty.

The origin of the seminary dates back to Mission Sunday, October 23rd, 1977, when the seminary and the Missionary Society of St. Paul were simultaneously launched at Iperu-Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria. The event was the first of its kind in the history of the Roman Catholic Church in Nigeria and the African continent as a whole. A young Church, which was used to receiving missionaries, was poised to sending indigenous missionaries abroad. The seminary cum society was founded by His Eminence Dominic Cardinal Ekandem and was established by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN.)

The theology department was affiliated to the Pontifical Urban University in 1995, while the philosophy department of the seminary was affiliated to the University of Port-Harcourt in 2004. This implies that graduates from the seminary are conferred degrees from the Urban University for the theology department, and from the University of Port-Harcourt for the philosophy department. Before the present location of the seminary at Gwagwalada, Abuja, the seminary was situated at Iperu-Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria, until 1984, when the philosophy and theology departments were moved over to Abuja. However, the probational formation of MSP and Josephites students, which is a precursor to the admission into the Abuja Campus, has continued at Iperu-Remo until this day.

The particular task of the National Missionary Seminary of St. Paul is to prepare priests for the missions. In the light of this, some other congregations also study in the seminary. These are the Society of St. Joseph (Josephites, SSJ), the Oblates of the Virgin Mary (OMV), the Via Christi Society (VC), and the Missionaries of Divine Mercy (MDM). Apart from the OMV and Missionaries of Divine Mercy that reside outside the seminary and attend lectures in the seminary, all other congregations reside in the seminary located at Gwagwalada, Abuja.
The seminary had her first graduate and sacerdotal ordination on June 22, 1985, when Rev. John Osom was ordained. Since then, there has been a yearly ordination of priests in the seminary until date. This has made the number of her living priest graduates to be one hundred and eighty seven. Since its inception, the seminary has lost four students; John Isokpehi, 1996, Joseph Atume, October 2001, Justin Ukaha, August 2002 and Sunday Ameh, October 25, 2006.

For the 2006-2007 session, the numerical representations of the seminarians are MSP-80, Josephites-11, Oblates-20, Via Christi-18, Divine Mercy-3. This amounts to a total of one hundred and thirty two (132) students.

Among other seminaries in Nigeria, the National Missionary Seminary of St. Paul has a special peculiarity just for its being the first and only indigenous African missionary seminary in Nigeria. This is because of its communal and missionary vocation that is not only expressed by students and lecturers coming from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds within and outside Nigeria but also by its ability to fulfill Pope Paul VI’s injunction that Africans should become missionaries to themselves. It also fulfils the Catholic Church’s implicit work to carry out her missionary task ad gentes.

• Different Institutes studying with us
1. The Josephites
2. The Via Christi
3. The Oblates of the Virgin Mary
4. The Missionaries of Divine Mercy

1. THE SOCIETY OF ST. JOSEPH (THE JOSEPHITES)

The society of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart is an extension of the Mill Hill Missionaries of England, founded by Herbert Cardinal Vangham in 1871. The society has since then undertaken the task of serving slaves and freemen and women of colour in the United States of America. This society is staffed by indigenous American people.
The society is over 115 years old. The lack of vocations and need for continuity in the United States made the society decide to look else where for vocations. Nigeria was the port of call where young, vibrant and spiritually endowed young men were recruited. In the year 1999, with the assistance and cooperation of a sister missionary community; the Missionary Society of St. Paul and the approval of the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria, the Josephites came down to Nigeria to begin a one-year formation programme for candidates.
A volunteer, Rev William L. Norvel, SSJ, came over to Nigeria to direct the formation process. After one year of probation in Iperu-Remo, each class of the Josephites candidates move to the National Missionary Seminary of St. Paul in Gwagwalada, Abuja for a 3-year study in philosophy.
Two years into the programme, another volunteer, Rev Brian Fox, SSJ, came down to Abuja to see to the affairs of the society and their students in Nigeria. Since the advent of the Josephites in 1999, sets of five classes, have successfully completed their formation programme, moved to Abuja, and so far four out of the five classes have successfully completed their three-year studies in philosophy and are at the moment in the United States of America to continue with their priestly formation.

2. OBLATES OF THE VIRGIN MARY

The congregation of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary is a clerical Religious Institute of Pontifical right whose members include clerics (priests) and brothers. It was founded in Italy in 1816 by venerable Fr Pio Bruno Lanteri (1759-1830). The congregation was given pontifical approval in 1826 by Pope Pius XII, and in 1998, it came to Nigeria. In Nigeria, the congregation is in Suleja, Minna Diocese, Niger State. Since 1998 until now, the Oblate Seminarians have been studying in the National Missionary Seminary of St. Paul, Gwagwalada, Abuja.
Called by the Holy Spirit, the oblates give themselves to the Father through public vows, and follow Jesus Christ under the guidance of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Their apostolate, among others, include the ministry of the Word of God, especially, through the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius, evangelization of cultures, formation of the clergy, animation of the laity, e.t.c. The oblates have a passionate love for the Blessed Virgin Mary who is the foundress of the Congregation.

3. MISSIONARIES OF DIVINE MERCY CONGREGATION

The Missionaries of Divine Mercy Congregation, which is clerical, was founded in the year 2002 by Most Rev. Dr Martin I. Uzoukwu, the Catholic bishop of Minna diocese. Minna diocese is in Niger State, Nigeria and the congregation has its mother house in a town called Erena also in Niger State. To spread the message of Divine Mercy (in accordance with the direction of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska) is the main apostolate of the congregation.
The congregation was started with nine candidates in the year 2002 but their members have grown to twenty-six by the year 2006. The seminarians are spread all over the major seminaries in the country, undergoing their studies which will prepare them for their missionary priesthood. The intention behind their being in different seminaries is for them to spread the Divine Mercy message to their fellow seminarians who will later help them propagate the message when they eventually become priests. The Divine Mercy Seminarians’ Association headquarters is at the Ss. Peter and Paul Major Seminary, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.
Members of the congregation started their studies at the National Missionary Seminary of St. Paul in the year 2005. They have their community house in Suleja Niger State.

4. VIA CHRISTI SOCIETY

Rev. Fr. Angus Fraser, Cssp, founded the Via Christi Society in 1978 at Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria. Its initial aim was to draw together baptized Christians who would bind themselves together for the service of Christ and his Church. However, as time went on, some of the members who felt a higher calling to unite themselves more intimately to Christ in the Catholic priesthood were assisted to do so. Thus, the first set interested in the priesthood were sent to the seminary in 1995. In accord with the literal meaning of its name, “the way of Christ”, the Society has as its purpose the sanctification of her members by a regular and definite life of prayer and to form members who will strive for excellence where they are found.
As it now stands, the Via Christi society is a public association aspiring to be a society of Apostolic life of Diocesan Right. It comprises both lay and clerical members- the vast majority being lay people. Her members who intend to become clerics are sent to study and undergo seminary formation at St Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary, Makurdi for Philosophical studies and the National Missionary Seminary of St Paul, Gwagwalada, Abuja, for Theological studies. So far the Society has a total of six priests and fifty-five seminarians.