By Sonnie Ekwowusi
Three Nigerian professionals were among the 25 Opus Dei priests who were recently ordained as Catholic priests by the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy, Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik, at the Basilica of St. Eugenio in Rome, Italy. The three Nigerians are Rev. Fr. Vitus Ntube, Rev. Fr. Silvanus Asogwa, and Rev. Fr. Agaba Otache. As laymen in Nigeria, the three priests had joined Opus Dei, an institution of the Catholic Church, as celibate members.
While in Opus Dei in Nigeria, the three priests had practiced their respective civil professions as ordinary citizens before discovering that God was calling them to become priests. Consequently, they left their respective professional jobs and went to Rome to complete the full philosophical and theological studies required to be ordained as deacons and then as priests. The Italian choir beautifully sang “Ezi Chukwu Nara Aja Anyi” (Oh! Precious Lord, accept our sacrifice), a popular Igbo Catholic liturgical hymn, at the ordination Mass.
Fr. Vitus Ntube is a graduate of Botany from the University of Ibadan. Prior to traveling to Rome for his priestly studies, he worked as a staff member of the Project for Human Development (Ph.D.), an NGO based in Lagos that promotes fundamental values in society. Fr. Ntube is currently completing his Ph.D. studies in Rome, focusing his research on Joseph Ratzinger’s contribution to the Theology of Religion. According to him, “Being a priest would be a way of being a collaborator of Truth and Joy, what St. Augustine calls the Gaudium de Veritate, helping everyone to discover true joy and the joy of truth.”
Fr. Silvanus Asogwa is a graduate of Microbiology from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. After his graduation, he briefly worked in a laboratory as a Microbiologist and later as a lecturer in Enugu State and Lagos State, respectively, before discovering his vocation to the priesthood. He is in the final stages of completing his Doctoral Thesis on The Trinitarian Anthropology by St. Gregory of Nissa at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome.
The third Nigerian is Fr. Agaba Otache, who hails from Benue State and was born in Kaduna State. He is a graduate of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Chemistry. He later obtained his Master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of Ibadan. It was while he was living at the Irawo University Centre, a University Residents Centre in Bodija, Ibadan, that he came into contact with Opus Dei and found his vocation. Currently, he is in Rome undergoing a Doctorate degree in Theology. He has this to say to the benefactors who are involved in the training of priests: “I want to say a big thank you for all the donations and contributions that have been so helpful to me in the journey so far. Thank you. God bless you. I promise to have you all in my prayers.”
Opus Dei is a Catholic institution that fosters the search for holiness in ordinary work among ordinary citizens working in the bloodstream of society.
