Joseph Mouren Sma

The Catholic Missions in Northern Nigeria Joseph Mouren Sma

Frs. Oswald Waller, Joseph Mouren and Ernest Belin were the first missionaries to shed literally their sweat and blood to start the first mission of Northern Nigeria in 1907. It was not an easy task by any standard. When Fr. Mouren went back to Shendam in 1957 for the fiftieth anniversary of the place, he could see two dioceses, two prefectures and thirty five residential stations with over sixty five thousand Catholics in the place that had nothing but three zealous missionaries fifty years earlier. Fr. Mouren wrote the history of the foundation and the first years of the mission at Shendam at the request of the Bishop of Jos, Mgr. John Reddington, SMA and sent it to him in April 1957. Fr. Mouren could confidently say that the facts were "rigorously exact" thanks to his habit of keeping a mission diary. In addition to getting exact facts, we enjoy the book like a novel. We admire the courage, commitment and the practical skills of the missionaries. In the midst of hardships and tragedies, we discover not only the various joys and consolations but also the great sense of humour.