He recounts his vocation and how praying the rosary strengthened his faith in a predominantly Muslim area, where living the Catholic faith means risking one's life every day.
Cosmas Agwu Uka is a priest of the Diocese of Umuahia, Nigeria. He studied a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy at the Pontifical University of the Holy CrossShe was a student in Rome, thanks to a study grant from the CARF Foundation. She recounts her vocation and how praying the rosary strengthened her faith.
He was born on June 29, 1990. His father, Stephen Ukwa Uka, now deceased, and his mother, Felicia Uka, were living in the northern part of Nigeria at the time.
Cosmas' father worked as a civil servant while his mother was a merchant. Both were, and are, Catholics and raised their children in the Catholic religion. Cosmas was baptized at St. Joseph's Cathedral in Kaduna on July 21, 1990 and is the last of six children, four girls and two boys.
Looking back, it is very interesting for me to see that, throughout my education, I have only attended missionary schools. In fact, I started my early childhood education at St. Joseph's Nursery and Kaduna Primary School. From there, we moved and I went to St. Anne's Nursery and Primary School in Kakuri, still in Kaduna State.
It was at St. Anne's that he first received the call to the priesthood. The desire to become a priest motivated him to begin catechetical classes to receive Holy Communion, even at an early age. It was then that he joined the group of altar servers and served at the altar.
In their childhood, all the children had joined a group called Rosary Crusade, where they were taught to pray the rosary every day and to read the Bible. This took place within a predominantly Muslim areaI have been in a situation where living the Catholic faith means risking my life every day, but this situation only strengthened my faith.
"When they imposed the white cassock on me, it meant to me what I was going to be inside and also that I was going to be a light in the world. It was a great responsibility, but it gave me joy," says the Nigerian priest.
Having completed his primary education, his parents, remembering that Cosmas had expressed a deep desire to become a priest, enrolled him in the minor seminary of the Immaculate Conception Ahiaeke Umiahia in Abia State. There he began to gradually and more closely understand his call to the priesthood.
This desire was further fueled by the exemplary and dedicated formators who were in the seminary at the time. "Being in the seminary I came to love the Eucharist through the daily celebration of Holy Mass," comments Cosmas.
From the minor seminary he went on to the year of spiritual discernment, after completing a year's apostolic work. In the spiritual year he was invested with the cassock, a fundamental stage in his journey towards the priesthood.
"The cassock at that time meant that I had put my hands to the plow and could no longer look back. The white cassock also meant to me what I was going to be inside and that I was going to be a light in the world. It was a great responsibility, but it gave me a lot of joy," says Cosmas, a Nigerian priest.
Cosmas, began his philosophical and theological studies in 2009 and finished in 2017. Good formation is essential to be a good priest, it is a pillar of his vocation, as it teaches him to appreciate the wisdom of the Church in order to be a good shepherd in the lives of the faithful.
"An edifying and inspiring aspect of my seminary formation was the fact that at the end of each academic year we were sent to do apostolic work. Each seminarian was assigned to a locality where we lived among the people, taught them, prayed with them and nourished their faith," he recounts emotionally.
Fulfilling the philosophical and theological requirements, and having been installed as a lector and acolyte, he was ordained a deacon in December 2017, later ordained a priest on July 21, 2018. "Since the day of my ordination it has become clearer to me that God really directs the affairs of men. This is so because providentially I was ordained on the same date of my baptism, July 21. A happy and significant coincidence," he comments, smiling.
After his ordination to the priesthood, he was sent to work in the seminary as a formator. "It was truly a wonderful experience to return to help accompany vibrant young seminarians in discerning their call to the priesthood. My life as a priest has been full of great experiences, beginning with the celebration of the sacraments and especially with the daily celebration of Mass," comments this priest.
The need to go to Rome to study was based on the request of the provincial major seminary to send more priests to the seminary to meet the demands of the spiritual, intellectual, pastoral and human formation of the seminarians.
"My bishop, Msgr. Lucius I. Ugorji, who is the provincial president of the seminary commission, decided that I should go to Rome to study philosophy, at a Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, in order to obtain the required qualification that would enable me to teach at the major seminary.".
My bishop applied for a grant from the Foundation. Aid to the Church in Need. However, due to the large number of scholarship applications, our application was not accepted. Great was my joy when I received the news that there was a possibility for me to train in Rome thanks to the support of CARF Foundation . So we applied for a grant so that I could study at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, all thanks to the support of the CARF Foundation.
"My time in Rome is truly wonderful and uplifting. The philosophical study has been eye-opening and mind-blowing. Therefore, I will always be indebted to the CARF Foundation and its benefactors for giving me this opportunity to study at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. I remain grateful for this help given to me and I assure you of my prayers".
Gerado Ferrara
Degree in History and Political Science, specializing in the Middle East. Responsible for the student body at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.
