Cardinal Dominic Ekandem and the Growth of the Catholic Church in Nigeria, by Cosmas K.O. Nwosuh, MSP. Ambassador Publications. Nigeria, 2012.

As a reviewer of this 541 page book, I have a special interest in this book while it was in its earlier stages as I proof read it for the author. Poring over the many pages for several months, I tried to make it readable for English speakers as I rid it of many Nigerian idioms, long sentences, and some strange sayings and punctuation practices. That was my commission from Father Cosmas. In the process I learned many new concepts and ways of life in Nigeria; it was a good experience and an excellent time to become acquainted with the first Cardinal in Nigeria.

This book is not considered to be the biography of Cardinal Dominic, but much time is spent in relating the story of his life. Since Father Cosmas is from the first generation of the Missionary Society of St.Paul of Nigeria, of which the Cardinal is its founder and the first Cardinal of Nigeria, this book becomes a labor of love and a gift to the late Cardinal Dominic.

Who was Cardinal Dominic Ekandem? Father Cosmas writes that he is one of the great men in the history of the church in Nigeria. He was the first bishop in West Africa in modern times, and the first cardinal in Anglophone West Africa, a pioneer and a trailblazer in Roman Catholicism in Nigeria. He was a model priest and pastor and contributed much to the growth of the Catholic Church in Nigeria. He was a man of strong faith, foresight, and tenacity.

Father Cosmas gives the early life of the Cardinal, his family background, his early education, priestly ordination, and ministry as a priest.  He proceeds to his life as a bishop and leader during the Vatican Council II and the Nigerian Civil War, noting his relationship with the Nigerian Church during that war. The implementation of the Vatican Council directives and the Cardinal's election to the presidency of the National Episcopal Conference of Nigeria were critical events, as well as his call to become a Cardinal. He is to be remembered also as founder of a missionary order and greatly devoted to the education and formation of priests.

This book is well documented and contains valuable information not only of Cardinal Dominic's life story but also of the growth of Catholicism in Nigeria. 

(Thanks to Sr. Irene Hartman OP for this review.) 



St. Robert Bellarmine (1542 - 1621) September 17

When Robert Bellarmine was ordained in 1570, the study of Church history and the fathers of the Church was in a sad state of neglect. A promising scholar from his youth in Tuscany, he devoted his energy to these two subjects, as well as to Scripture, in order to systematize Church doctrine. He was the first Jesuit to become a professor at Louvain.

His most famous work is his three-volume Disputations on the Controversies of the Christian Faith. Particularly noteworthy are the sections on the temporal power of the pope and the role of the laity. He incurred the anger of monarchists in England and France by showing the divine-right-of-kings theory untenable. He developed the theory of the indirect power of the pope in temporal affairs; although he was defending the pope against the Scottish philosopher Barclay, he also incurred the ire of Pope Sixtus V.

Bellarmine was made a cardinal by Pope Clement VIII on the grounds that "he had not his equal for learning." While he occupied apartments in the Vatican, Bellarmine relaxed none of his former austerities. He limited his household expenses to what was barely essential, eating only the food available to the poor. He was known to have ransomed a soldier who had deserted from the army and he used the hangings of his rooms to clothe poor people, remarking, "The walls won't catch cold."

Among many activities, he became theologian to Pope Clement VIII, preparing two catechisms which have had great influence in the Church.

The last major controversy of Bellarmine's life came in 1616 when he had to admonish his friend Galileo, whom he admired. Bellarmine delivered the admonition on behalf of the Holy Office, which had decided that the heliocentric theory of Copernicus (the sun as stationary) was contrary to Scripture. The admonition amounted to a caution against putting forward-other than as a hypothesis-theories not yet fully proved. This shows that saints are not infallible.

Bellarmine died on September 17, 1621. The process for his canonization was begun in 1627 but was delayed until 1930 for political reasons, stemming from his writings. In 1930, Pope Pius XI canonized him and the next year declared him a doctor of the Church.