The year of 2024 was special for Bigard Memorial Seminary in Nigeria, as the seminary celebrated its centenary. With your prayerful and financial support, the institution enters the Jubilee Year 2025 with enduring faith, hope, and resilience in Nigeria’s changing landscape.
A thriving institution
The 2025 academic year sees Bigard nurturing 729 seminarians across its Philosophy and Theology departments. This impressive number reflects its vital role in forming future church leaders in Nigeria.
A significant milestone was marked in 2024 with 147 candidates taking holy orders: 71 ordained as deacons and 76 as priests. These men represent numerous dioceses and religious congregations, as well as various religious orders.
Centenary celebration: A momentous achievement
The year of 2024 culminated in the grand finale of Bigard’s centenary celebration, marking 100 years since its establishment in 1924. The seminary embarked on an ambitious five-year commemorative program that began in 2019, featuring Masses at significant locations in Bigard’s history: Okpala, where the seminary resided from 1942 to 1950; Igbariam, the seminary’s birthplace in 1924; and Afaha Obong, which sheltered the seminary during the Nigerian Civil War in 1967.
Other events included cultural, music and theatre displays, outreach in schools and symposiums addressing critical topics in religious education, and pastoral formation in Nigeria today.
At the end of the year, students and staff celebrated the start of the Jubilee of Hope with a Mass attended by 25 bishops, over 900 priests, and thousands of faithful. Forty deacons were ordained at the Mass.
Current situation
Despite its successes, Bigard Seminary faces significant challenges. Nigeria’s economic policies, particularly a recent and sudden removal of fuel subsidies, have created hardships for the seminary. The cost of fuel to power the institution jumped dramatically from N1.6 million in 2023 (around £850) to N4 million (over £2,100) in 2024, putting huge strain on financial resources. And it’s not just the cost of fuel: they are also battling inflated costs for food and other essential services.
Meanwhile, the deteriorating security situation in Nigeria, marked by kidnappings and banditry, presents additional concerns for the seminary community. Rector of the seminary, Fr Albert, emphasises the importance of the Church’s role in easing the burden of Nigerian people and nurturing faith:
‘The Catholic Church in Nigeria has continued to be a beacon of hope to many Nigerians. This is because the Church continues to identify not only with the poor and the less privileged in society but also prompts the rich and the political class to their responsibilities to the people. The presence of the Church is felt even in the remotest villages in Nigeria through the parish priests and other consecrated Religious men and women dedicated to preaching the Gospel of love, hope, and charity.’
Could you help?
In mission dioceses in Africa and Asia, it costs at least £700 a year to train a student for the priesthood. Even though their families and parish communities do everything they can to support them, and the Seminaries do their best to grow their own food, it’s a struggle to cover the full costs of seminary training.
Missio has been set a unique task by the Holy Father, to channel help from our supporters in England and Wales to help build the future of our Church. With your help, we can meet the practical needs of seminarians in mission areas like Kenya, so that no vocation is turned away.
Self-sustainability initiatives
The more the seminary can do to become self-sufficient, the easier it will be to weather the uncertainties in the country at large.
So it’s wonderful to share that, with help from supporters like you through Missio over the years, Bigard has developed several self-sustaining projects. The seminarians work hard to produce their own food via the piggery, poultry, fish, and vegetable farms they have developed, which has helped through times of severe financial struggle.
The seminary also produces printed publications and provides printing services for academic work, and they’ve added an IT facility which serves as a training centre and internet facility. Meanwhile the seminary is taking vital steps to expand its solar energy capacity as a cost-effective alternative to diesel generators – a vital step when the price of diesel fuel has increased drastically.
Looking ahead as ‘Pilgrims of Hope’
As the seminary moves into the 2025 Jubilee Year, it embraces its role as ‘Pilgrims of Hope’ with renewed enthusiasm. Despite challenges for the country as a whole, and the Church in Nigeria, Bigard remains optimistic. Fr Albert shares:
‘We are grateful to God that in the midst of crisis of faith and quest for material wealth, many young people continue to respond to call to the priesthood and religious life in this part of the world. We can only say with the psalmist, “This is the Lord’s doing, it is marvelous in our eyes” (Psalm 118:23). Thus, the future of the Church in Nigeria remains bright.’
The seminary community hopes and prays for improvements in government policies to make basic commodities more affordable and reduce unemployment, which would help address broader social issues, including crime.
Thank you for supporting Bigard’s mission
Fr Albert sends sincere thanks from the entire seminary community, to all sponsors and friends for their continued support. With your donations, the institution can directly address financial challenges and advance Bigard’s mission toward self-reliance. And your prayers are a balm and a boost to the future priests as they travel the path towards ordination.
As Bigard Memorial Seminary embarks on its second century of formation, your support—both financial and spiritual—ensures that this vital institution continues to be, in the words of the rector Fr Albert, ‘a beacon of hope’ in Nigerian society.