Nigeria has emerged as one of the world’s leading sources of priests, helping to fill many vacancies left by declining numbers of seminarians in Western nations. But Nigeria did not have its first native Catholic priest until the 1920 ordination of Fr. Paul Emechete.  When Emechete was born in southern Nigeria in 1888, Catholic missionaries had recently arrived in his hometown. From an early age, he came into contact with the Church through mission schools and traveling catechists. Despite coming from a background rooted in a regional traditional religion, he was baptized into the Catholic faith in 1898. Some 16 of his relatives — including his father while on his deathbed — would also convert to Catholicism.  As a young man, Emechete ventured away from his local community to find a higher-paying job in order to help his widowed mother. While working for a merchant, he was accused of fraud and imprisoned. His jail, however, was close Read More…

Meet the first native Nigerian priest