This Monastery is in honour of Our Lady Queen of

“This Monastery is in
honour of Our Lady
Queen of Peace because we
need peace in our hearts,
peace in our families, peace
in our communities, peace
in our diocese, in Niger
State, in Nigeria, in
Africa and in the whole
world.”
-
Most Rev. Dr. Martin
Igwe Uzoukwu
For more information or to make donations to the monastery building
fund please contact:
His Lordship Most Rev. Dr. Martin Igwe Uzoukwu ,
The Catholic Bishop's House, 15 Ahmadu Bello Road, GRA,
P. O. Box 33, Minna, Niger State, Nigeria
Tel: +234-8037003784, Email: bpmiuzoukwu@yahoo.com
Mother M. Xavier & Mother M. Hilda with the Bishops
and priests of Minna Diocese on the Centenary Celebration
of the Foundation of the Diocese
Bishop Martin & Mother M. Xavier in August 2012
Our Lady Queen of Peace, Tyburn Monastery comes to Nigeria at KafinKoro, Minna Diocese. 8 December 2012, Feast of Mamma Maria’s
Immaculate Conception, His Lordship Most Rev. Dr. Martin Igwe Uzoukwu
blessed and laid the Foundation Stone of the new Monastery.
was laid and the Bishop blessed it and
all the people saying:
“This Monastery is in honour of Our
Lady Queen of Peace because we need
peace in our hearts, peace in our
families, peace in our communities,
peace in our diocese, in Niger State, in
Nigeria, in Africa and in the whole
world.”
The Bishop’s opening prayer
The work we are beginning today is to
enliven our faith and make us grateful
to God. The Psalmist says: If the Lord
does not build the House, in vain do its
builders labour. Whenever we look to
the interest of our neighbour or our
community or any community and
help them, we are serving God and we
are co-workers of God. Let us pray for
this house through this celebration
today as we honour our Mother the
Blessed Virgin Mary who conceived
by the power of the Holy Spirit, Today
the 8th of December 2012, that God
will bring this construction to a
successful completion and we pray
that He will protect all the workers and
help us to work here in safety without
injuries.
After the reading from 1 Cor. 3:9-11,
the Responsorial Psalm and the
Bidding Prayers the Foundation Stone
1
of crowd that was here to witness the
ceremony and they will do anything
within their power to help to see that
this Tyburn Monastery comes on
board.
INTERVIEWS: The interview
was conducted by Imelda
from the National Television
Network
Minna
(NTA
Minna).
Interview with Mr Dominic Ibrahim
(Parish Chairman SS Peter and
Paul and Deanery Chairman KafinKoro)
Interview with the architect Mr
Adamuja Gawa (a native and
community leader of Kafin-Koro)
Imelda: What is the opinion
concerning this new development of
having a monastery here in KafinKoro?
Imelda: What do you think about this
project?
Mr Ibrahim: The coming of Tyburn
Monastery would enliven the faith of
Catholics especially the people of
Kafin Koro. It is a blessing to the
people of Kafin Koro. With God’s
help everything will work out well.
When the Monastery is built,
Reverend Fathers, Sisters and Brothers
will be coming here for Retreat. I will
try my best to assist with the building
in any way that I can.
Adamuja: The monastery is a
welcome development and we are
happy about it because it is the first of
its kind in Nigeria and this is where
our people will have spiritual
uplifting, and the generation yet
unborn will benefit from this
monastery.
Imelda: Are the community members
appreciative of this development?
Adamuja: They are very appreciative
of it as you can see from the multitude
2
Imelda: How did you come to know
about Tyburn Convent?
Interview with Mr Godwin Jaromi
(a native of Kafin Koro)
Josephine: I have been a friend of
Tyburn Convent ever since I
discovered it in 2002, in London.
When I was told last year that they
might be coming to Nigeria, I couldn’t
believe it so I started praying about it
because Tyburn Monastery is a place
where you go and find sanity, sanctity
and love. There you find God and
reverence. If you are down in spirit
they give you hope of living again and
help you in praying for your needs.
They assist all who go there for
prayer. In August this year they came
to Nigeria at the invitation of Bishop
Martin Uzoukwu. They were shown
three different plots of land in
different places here in the North, but
they finally chose Kafin-Koro after
they had come here. The word that
Mother General said was: ‘This is the
place’. It was like the Holy Spirit
speaking through her, and when she
told us to come and see the place I,
Mary Dr. Abebe and the other
Josephine came here, and as soon as I
saw the place spiritually I heard the
voice: “This is the place.” So I am
grateful to God for making it a reality
today and not only that but on the day
of the Immaculate Conception of the
BVM, a day in which the Foundation
Stone is laid. Our thanks go to our
Mother Mary, the mother of our
saviour Jesus Christ. The nuns of this
monastery adore the Sacred Heart of
Jesus 24 hours a day. The Tyburn
Imelda: How do you feel about this
project?
Godwin: I appreciate God for his
eminent Goodness to the people of
Kafin-Koro
for
installing
this
Monastery. It is going to be a great
help to us to draw us closer to God and
to renew our spiritual lives in our
community. I am very happy indeed
and the community members are even
happier than I am. In fact I am the
least happy.
Interview with Mrs Josephine
Agugua (a member of the
fundraising committee)
3
Sisters are exceptional. I have seen
reverence all over the world but the
humility in them is indescribable so I
thank God Almighty for a day like
this, and for bringing Mother General
and Sister Mary Benet to Nigeria to
witness the Laying of the Foundation
Stone of Our Lady Queen of Peace
Monastery Kafin-Koro. Last year
when I went to Tyburn Convent in
London some of the Nigerian nuns
were touched by the problems we have
in Nigeria and they kept saying and
praying that if God allows Tyburn
Convent to be established in Nigeria
that through their prayers and the
mercy of God Peace will reign in
Nigeria. I took it upon me to pray for
their coming and today God has made
it a reality.
news and pray God to give me the
strength to do whatever is in my power
to assist in the building. I will go to
everyone and beg them to come along
and make it a reality, because united
we stand.
Imelda: Are you going to invite other
people to help with the project?
Imelda: How did you come to know
about Tyburn Convent?
Josephine: I have started spreading
the news all over Abuja. There is no
one who knows me who doesn’t know
about Tyburn Convent because I carry
the flag wherever I go and talk to
people about it because the Monastery
is a place to come and connect
yourself with your Connector who
brought you to this world; The God
who is the foundation of your life.
Tyburn Monastery is a place for
everybody. It is a place of purification,
a place of sanctification and a place of
blessing, so I am spreading the good
Mary: It was Josephine Agugua that
introduced me to Tyburn Convent. I
knew nothing about Tyburn Convent
but when she introduced me to it I
picked interest in it. Tyburn is a place
where people can go with their
families to stay and pray and seek
spiritual help. I was happy when she
introduced me to Tyburn because I am
retired from Central Bank of Nigeria
and now have time to serve and
worship my God and contribute to the
house of the Lord in my own way.
Since my inception into the Tyburn
Interview with Mary Odia (a
member
of
the
Fundraising
Committee)
4
Committee as a fund raiser, we have
had several meetings to ensure that the
establishment moves forward. I went
to the Pro Cathedral in Abuja with my
friends and have been creating
awareness there and in other places,
begging people on our knees to come
and aid us to raise funds for building
the Monastery. I am happy that this
day was made by the Lord and excited
with the great number of people that
were here. In my own way I will
continue to solicit help from friends,
Parishes, association meetings, in any
way that I can to raise money for this
monastery.
to the Church. The Bishop told me that
they have been to other places: to St.
Christopher, Christ the King Gwada,
Our Lady, Shiroro, St. Peters Bida.
From here they went to the pilgrim
place at Nanati. To my greatest
amazement at the Grand Finale of the
Centenary celebration which took
place in August on the feast of the
Assumption of the BVM, they came
out to publicly declare that they have
chosen Ss Peter and Paul Kafin-Koro
as the site for their establishment. I
have been praying for some time that
God should bless us with a Convent
but the prayer was answered in a big
magnitude for instead of a Convent we
were given a Monastery. This would
be the first of its kind in the whole of
the Northern Region which has
Sixteen Dioceses so it is a great
blessing for us. If there is any time that
this generation requires quiet time to
spend with God in prayer in order to
strengthen their spiritual life in this
age that is full of technological
advancements, noise here and there
that one hardly finds time to travel
inwards. As one of the saints would
say, the greatest journey is not the
Physical Journey, but the Inward
Journey. I think that a Monastery gives
one the opportunity to make that
inward journey. So for us it is a great
opportunity and a big prayer answered
and we are proud and happy that the
Monastery is coming here. My prayer
is that God will continue to use it to
bring Souls to himself. In one of the
sessions that I had with Mother
Interview with Rev. Fr. Godwin
Yari (Parish Priest of Ss Peter and
Paul Kafin-Koro)
Fr. Godwin: A few months ago the
Bishop called me and told me that he
was coming with a number of nuns,
that they were looking for a place to
open a monastery. When they came I
welcomed them, took them round and
showed them all the Land that belongs
5
General she said that the Monastery
will be open to everyone no matter
what their creed or religion. That is a
great joy to me that even if you are not
a Christian and want to spend some
quiet time to commune with God the
Monastery will be readily available.
This sums up Christ’s teaching – God
is Love. For me it is an expression of
that.
Congregation had to flee from
Montmartre, from France because of
laws against religious communities
and when we got to London the
Archbishop said: let these nuns who
have come from the Mount of the
Martyrs in Paris come to the place of
the English Martyrs. And so that is
what happened and when we got there
all the people roundabout said “You
are the Tyburn Nuns”, and we can’t
even stop them calling us the Tyburn
Nuns. But we have a church title
which is the Adorers of the Sacred
Heart of Jesus of Montmartre and we
are Benedictines and that is why we
are coming here to start a Benedictine
monastery of Nuns.
Interview with Very Rev. Mother
Mary Xavier (Superior General of
the Tyburn Nuns)
Imelda: Why did you choose KafinKoro from all the places you were
taken to?
Mother General:
Bishop Martin
invited us to come and said he would
take us all over the diocese and show
us where he thought we might like to
be. He showed us several places and
we didn’t feel anything about them all.
It wasn’t something in our heart but as
soon as we came to Kafin-Koro and
saw all those people and they all
waved at us as if we were their long
lost friends, and I don’t know why
they did, but we felt we were warmly
welcome by these so friendly people.
So that is how it happened. And then
when the Bishop brought us and
showed us the place he would like us
Mother General: If you want to
know what the Tyburn Nuns are about,
it is a place in London where 500
years ago nearly more than 100
Catholic Martyrs for the Faith and a
lot of priests died for celebrating the
Holy Mass and for refusing to accept
the King of England as the Supreme
Head of the Roman Catholic Church
because they honour the Pope only as
that. And so they gave their lives for
that and in the early 1900s there
wasn’t even a shrine of reverence or
memory there for them. Our religious
6
to have, we thought that this was just a
gift from heaven, from God. The
Parish Priest tells us that he has been
praying for years to have Nuns here.
So I think it is God’s Holy Will.
people to come and spend time in
quiet prayer in the presence of Holy
Jesus in the Sacrament along with the
Sisters. We are always there to help
people in their needs or to listen to
their problems and to give them
spiritual and religious advice and help.
That is what we do. And we say the
Mass is the Sun of our Life because it
is the centre around which our day
revolves. We will have a place in the
Monastery, for people to come and
spend some days of quiet prayer and
retreat and more spiritual reading and
reading of the Bible more seriously for
their spiritual lives. That’s really the
way we live and we always find, as St
Benedict says in his Rule – the Rule
we keep - that guests are never lacking
in a Monastery, because they are
always coming to the Monastery.
They come to find God here. We are
very grateful to the Bishop and the
people of Kafin-Koro and I was
touched today that so many have come
here when they could have gone and
done other things. They came here
and spent the whole day which
Mother M. Xavier & Sr Mary Benet
pounding tomatoes in the Convent of
Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy
Imelda: What is the difference between
the Tyburn Nuns and the ordinary
nuns?
Mother General: Until now you
haven’t had here what we call
Contemplative communities which
spend a lot of time in prayer rather
than going out and talking to people
and teaching people, or nursing
people, or doing Social Work which is
what a lot of Nuns do, or doing
Missionary Work. Strictly speaking
we are here to praise God and to
welcome people who want to come
and be more spiritually dedicated to
God. And so our Chapel is open every
day for people to come, and we have
exposition and adoration of the
Blessed Sacrament and we invite
7
Mother M.Xavier, Bishop Martin, Mother M.
Hilda & Esther Ogbeni – with Diocesan
newspaper ANIMATOR
concluded with this beautiful Mass
with the Bishop.
Imelda: When I read the book about
the Monastery, I saw in one of the
pages that it takes five years to
become a Tyburn Nun. What are the
stages?
Mother General: When you first
come you become what we call a
Postulant and that comes from a Latin
word which means asking. And so the
Postulants are asking what is it all
about, and so they live with the
Community and they follow the
Community prayer timetable and
Community work times. Then when
they feel they are settled or they feel it
is really right for them and that is what
God is asking of them to do, then they
can ask to become a novice after six
months. When they become a novice
they receive the Benedictine habit and
a white veil and they do more novitiate
studies on the Bible, the Catechism of
the Church and Church history, the
Sacraments, the Liturgy and Prayer
and the Monastic way of life. They
have to study all those things but in
addition to that each sister in the
Novitiate as a novice for two years
receives special help and guidance in
her own personal life and spiritual life
from the Novice Mistress to help her
come closer to God and understand
better her vocation. After two years
she can ask if she can make vows for
three years to test whether she can
Mother General & Mother M. Hilda with Bishop
Martin & Religious Sisters in August 2012
really live this life. And these vows
are made for three years and we don’t
take the same vows as most other
religious orders take. The vows we
take are what we call the Monastic
Vows which are Stability of living in
the Monastery and according to the
Benedictine Rule. The second one is
Conversion of Life: keeping on
turning to God all the time and making
him the centre of our life because St
Benedict says that when Novices
come, the only thing you have to find
out about them is whether they are
truly seeking God and not just wanting
a place of quiet and peace. To truly
seek God they have to learn to know
themselves and to know God better
and to pray very deeply in a personal
way. The other vow is the Vow of
Obedience and as Jesus when He came
down to earth was obedient unto
death, we make a vow of obedience to
keep the rule and commandments of
God, the Rule and discipline of the
Holy Church until death in the
Monastery. All this takes five and half
8
years, so it is nothing you can do in a
hurry.
Eucharistic Heart of Jesus. The
Eucharistic Heart is a missionary
Heart that reaches out to people. So
we want people out in the world to
come and share with us the life we live
in the Monastery. We want lay people
to come and adore the Eucharistic
Heart of Jesus so that the grace from
the Sacred Heart which is the grace
that comes from the Blessed Trinity
can be transmitted through hearts
because God speaks to human hearts.
So we open our hearts to Jesus and
receive his blessings and learn to love
him, to know first of all that we are
loved, to appreciate that love and to
learn to love God in return, and that is
true happiness. We are already loved
by God, being aware of this love we
try to respond to it until we attain the
beatific vision where love is perfect in
heaven. That is what our vocation is
all about. It is a life of prayer, the heart
of the Church, a life of reparation for
sins. It is a life of sacrifice. It is a total
sharing in the redemptive Mystery of
Christ, sharing in the cross, in his
prayer and sacrifice; being intimately
united with the Sacred Heart in his
Mission: working with him, being his
instruments, allowing him to act
through us. That is what our life is all
about.
Imelda: Can a reverend sister become
a Tyburn Nun?
Mother General: That’s right, she
could if she wanted to and God was
calling her.
Interview with Sr. Mary Benet
(Temporary
Professed
Tyburn
Sister)
Imelda: Tell us more about the Tyburn
Nuns.
Sr. Mary Benet: Our Charism is
Eucharistic Adoration and Liturgical
Worship. We are Benedictines and so
we sing the Divine Office seven times
a day and live the Benedictine Rule.
Our main Charism is perpetual
adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
We also have Lay Adorers who come
to adore in our Chapel because we
encourage people to come to the
Imelda: How can you describe the
life?
Sr. Mary Benet: It is a beautiful life,
It is something you can’t express in
words; it overwhelms you completely;
9
it is joyful; it is peaceful; it is also
painful as you share daily in the Cross,
but it is a joyful pain, something you
would like to experience; it is a
Calling and if you are called then you
are given the grace; it is everything
that is Christ.
associating with them but the moment
they become established you will
hardly see them because they will be
inside praying continuously. Their life
is a life of Prayer and Penance. We
hope that with their prayer and
penance and our own prayers that God
will surely help us in this world
especially in this northern part of
Nigeria where we are seriously
praying for peace.
Interview with Sr. Patricia Iheke
D.M.M.M (Daughters of Mary
Mother of Mercy)
Imelda: So the Reverend Sisters here
will be working hand in hand with
them?
Imelda: What do think of the Tyburn
Monastery?
Sr. Patricia: Yes for sure. As you can
see they are with us living with us in
St Joseph’s and we are taking them
around. When they come here to live
we will equally be working hand in
hand with them.
Imelda: Are they in support of it?
Have they all accepted it?
Sr. Patricia: The Tyburn Nuns came
all the way from London to establish a
Monastery in the Northern part of
Nigeria. It is a very good thing to have
a Monastery because although the core
aim of all religious orders is to pray
for the world, for the salvation of souls
and sanctification of the human race,
the Tyburn way of life is a special one
because they are called to pray
intensely. Unlike other religious who
have other apostolates like working in
the schools, in hospitals and at various
places, their work is to stay inside the
Monastery and pray. Now we are
Sr. Patricia:
Yes if they don’t
support it they would not have come to
live with us.
10
Catholic Women’s Association welcome the
Tyburn Nuns at Minna Cathedral
to Peter is saying it to all of us. Now if
the people are able to practice this in
their homes it is then easier to come to
the Monastery when it is built here and
it will help them in their homes and in
their personal lives to be able to spend
one hour with Jesus listening to him,
and Jesus will surely talk to them.
When we draw closer to Jesus we are
drawing closer to our Mother the
Blessed Virgin Mary because Jesus is
the Son of Mary and Mary is the
Mother of Jesus. As Jesus is the
Divine Mercy Incarnate, so also Mary
is the Mother of Mercy: as Jesus is the
Prince of Peace so also Our Lady is
the Queen of Peace. This is why this
Monastery is named after our MotherOur Lady Queen of Peace. We want
Peace in our hearts, peace in our
communities, peace in the State, peace
in Nigeria and peace in all over the
world. As you listen to the News you
hear of fighting here, quarrelling there
and so on. With the Monastery coming
over here people will be encouraged to
spend more time listening to God in
the Blessed Sacrament. So I am very
happy that this is happening in our
own diocese in my own time. I am so
happy.
Interview with Most Rev. Dr.
Martin Uzoukwu (Catholic Bishop
of Minna Diocese Nigeria)
Bishop Martin: We thank God that
this Monastery is coming to Nigeria
and that it is coming to Minna
Diocese. The Tyburn Monastery has a
long history and as you know they are
Benedictines. The reason why I want
them here is that we want this place to
be a watershed for prayer. Their
specific apostolate is Adoration of the
Eucharist so the Eucharistic Adoration
will be taking place here and it is
perpetual
adoration
morning,
afternoon and night. Already as a
Promoter of the Divine Mercy
wherever I go I am calling people to
keep and spend one hour with the Lord
Jesus 15min to read the Scripture,
15min to pray the Rosary, 15min to
meditate on the Scripture reading as
well as the Rosary and 15min to pray
the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Because
Christ said: “Come to me all who
labour and are overburdened and I will
give you rest”, and He complained to
Peter, “Simon Peter could you not
watch one hour with me?” Saying that
Imelda: I learnt that you actually
invited them to make a foundation in
Nigeria. Do you have any specific
reason for this?
Bishop Martin: Yes I invited them. I
went to the United Kingdom and
found them. They spend their time
11
took them to several places but as soon
as we entered here they looked at one
another and said, “It is here that we
will stay, we prefer here if Bishop will
agree to give us this place.” And then I
said, “Yes! I came to the UK inviting
you to come to the Diocese and I
prepared a few places and you have
chosen this place. Who am I? It is the
Lord who has chosen, it is fine with
me, and I surrender.”
Kafin Koro property – Mother M. Hilda with
Rev Fr Godwin, Sr Pat, Esther, another Sister,
the two parish boys (August 2012)
Imelda: What are the responses of the
community members here and the
people of Niger State?
adoring Our Lord Jesus Christ in the
Blessed Sacrament and as I told you
this is what I do as a promoter of the
Divine Mercy, telling people to spend
time with Our Lord Jesus Christ, so as
soon as I found out that this is their
major job and apostolate I was in love
with that Community and I invited
them. They were surprised also that I
was able to come to their own home.
They gave me food and I said no, I
want to see you people and discuss. I
want you to come to Nigeria, to our
Diocese and I will give you a parcel of
land. This land you see here we gave it
to them. I had wanted to do some other
thing with it but prayer is number one,
and not only prayer but Eucharistic
Adoration. So this is why I invited
them and I am happy that they
responded positively.
Bishop Martin: The woman who
spoke to us, who donated about five
bags of cement is actually from a
village not far from here and she is the
President of the Diocesan Laity
Council. So as she speaks, she speaks
for the Laity Council, so I can say that
the Nigerlites are behind this project.
You can also see what happened here
that a Parish donated fifty bags of
cement, and already the Kafin-Koro
Parish have donated thirty bags of
cement and part of it was used today
for the Foundation ceremony. They
Imelda: Why was Kafin-Koro chosen
out of other places?
Bishop Martin: The Nuns will be
able to answer this question better. I
12
Workmen and Bishop Martin in the Kafin-Koro Church of Ss Peter & Paul
have also provided the Sand and
Blocks that we used today, so I can
say that they are happy that this
Monastery has come here. You could
hear them clapping when they talk
about the Monastery in Kafin-Koro.
The clapping was affirmation that yes
we desire this; yes we prayed for this
even without knowing it, and now it
has come. Praise the Lord!
and when we look at it then we shall
start going around begging. I am used
to begging for the greater glory of God
for projects like this, because it is not
only me that will benefit from it; the
prayers that they will say here will rise
up to heaven and the prayer is for all
of us. I am very grateful. May God
bless all of you in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
Imelda: Are you also seeking support
from members of the Public like the
government?
Bishop Martin: Yes we will go into
that. The architect was here this
morning and they have done the
planning and are going to give us the
cost of that and the Bill of Quantity,
13
Minna Diocese:
People of Shiroro
The Market – Kafin-Koro
Minna Diocese
8 December, 2012
Kafin-Koro
14
8 December, 2012
Kafin-Koro
Blessing Ceremony
8 December, 2012
Kafin-Koro
Blessing Ceremony
8 December, 2012
Kafin-Koro
Blessing Ceremony
15
8 December, 2012
Mother M. Xavier at
Kafin-Koro
Blessing Ceremony
8 December, 2012
Sr Mary Benet at
Kafin-Koro
Blessing Ceremony
8 December, 2012
Kafin-Koro
Blessing Ceremony
16
8 December, 2012
Kafin-Koro
Blessing Ceremony
8 December, 2012
Kafin-Koro
Blessing Ceremony
8 December, 2012
Kafin-Koro
Blessing Ceremony
May God bless all of you in the
name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.