WE CELEBRATE WITH GRATITUDE THE ANNIVERSARY OF OUR GREAT HERO IN FAITH.
55TH ANNIVERSARY OF PASSING INTO ETERNAL GLORY OF OUR BELOVED FATHER FOUNDER : ARCHBISHOP CHARLES HEEREY, CSSP.(7TH FEBRUARY 1967 – 7TH FEBRUARY 2022).
OUR GREAT HERO IN FAITH; MAY YOUR REWARD BE GREAT IN HEAVEN. AMEN.
WE CELEBRATE WITH GRATITUDE THE ANNIVERSARY OF OUR GREAT HERO IN FAITH.
55TH ANNIVERSARY OF PASSING INTO ETERNAL GLORY OF OUR BELOVED FATHER FOUNDER : ARCHBISHOP CHARLES HEEREY, CSSP.(7TH FEBRUARY 1967 – 7TH FEBRUARY 2022).
OUR GREAT HERO IN FAITH; MAY YOUR REWARD BE GREAT IN HEAVEN. AMEN.
Remember your leaders who preached the word of God to you. And as you reflect on the outcome of their life, imitate their faith.( Hebrews 13:7)
“Our greatest treasure is our faith and the loss of this treasure is an eternal loss. It is a gift of God freely given to us. Of ourselves we cannot receive it but it is only of ourselves that we can lose it” (Archbishop Charles Heerey, CSSP Pastoral letter, 1952).
Archbishop Charles Heerey, CSSP of a blessed memory; the beloved father founder of our Religious Institute: Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Mother of Christ was born in Ireland on the 29th November 1890 to a devout Catholic family of Bernard and Rose Anne Heerey, of a revered memory. In a little village farm of Clonkeefy in the District of Ballyjamesduff, County, Cavan , Ireland. Charles was brought up among his many siblings in a very good Christian family who usually began and ended their every day with prayers and taught their children from the onset of their lives about the love and fear of God, and love and respect for their fellow human beings. Being brought up in this Christian environment, Charles started from the early stage of his life to grow with faith and confidence in God, love of God and neighbours and reverent care for every human being as his brother sharing with him in the love and goodness of God. Later in life, he joined the Religious Congregation of the Holy Ghost Fathers, was ordained a Catholic Priest in the year 1921. In 1922, he was sent by his Congregation to work as a missionary in Southern Nigeria.
As a young missionary, Charles worked among the poor and less privileged people in a poor remote area of Calabar. While working in this poor and difficult mission, the young Charles proved himself a great missionary through selfless availability to God’s holy will and mission, and great love and loving pastoral care of the poor people among whom he worked. He victoriously embraced with courage all the many hardships, long distance trekking along rivers and streams with no road , comfortable houses, clean environment and even the type of food with which he grew up from his Irish home land. He remained happy with God and the people he served in the midst of all these surrounding difficulties. The gracious God who is never outdone in generosity and who never leaves unrewarded all that is done for His love, brought the testimony of the young Fr. Charles’ great faith, ardent love for God and neighbour, and dedicated missionary services to the knowledge of his bishop, Joseph Shanahan the then Bishop of a very vast Onitsha Metropolitan Vicariate which extended to all the large area of Eastern Nigeria and the British Cameroon. Shortly after this, the young Fr, Charles Heerey was made the first rector of the first indigenous Seminary in the Vicariate. As a rector, Fr. Heerey in his usual zeal proved himself a loving friend, mentor and loving companion to the seminarians under his care. He was really present to them and a faithful support in their quest and search for God. He prayed with them and lived totally for them and with them in every aspect of their daily seminary routine life.
As a young missionary, Charles worked among the poor and less privileged people in a poor remote area of Calabar. While working in this poor and difficult mission, the young Charles proved himself a great missionary through selfless availability to God’s holy will and mission, and great love and loving pastoral care of the poor people among whom he worked. He victoriously embraced with courage all the many hardships, long distance trekking along rivers and streams with no road , comfortable houses, clean environment and even the type of food with which he grew up from his Irish home land. He remained happy with God and the people he served in the midst of all these surrounding difficulties. The gracious God who is never outdone in generosity and who never leaves unrewarded all that is done for His love, brought the testimony of the young Fr. Charles’ great faith, ardent love for God and neighbour, and dedicated missionary services to the knowledge of his bishop, Joseph Shanahan the then Bishop of a very vast Onitsha Metropolitan Vicariate which extended to all the large area of Eastern Nigeria and the British Cameroon. Shortly after this, the young Fr, Charles Heerey was made the first rector of the first indigenous Seminary in the Vicariate. As a rector, Fr. Heerey in his usual zeal proved himself a loving friend, mentor and loving companion to the seminarians under his care. He was really present to them and a faithful support in their quest and search for God. He prayed with them and lived totally for them and with them in every aspect of their daily seminary routine life.
Indeed, the Divine Providence of God who alone ordains and disposes every thing according to His Loving Design, had the young Fr. Charles Heerey taken away from the seminary he had given a good structured and well organised daily activities to the greater services as the Coadjutor Bishop of Onitsha on the 27th May 1927. This was barely six years of his life as a priest and when he was only thirty-seven years of age. With absolute trust in God, the young Charles accepted with a docile, humble and willing heart the loving will of God for him. Abandoning himself in the power of God with readiness for God’s will and mission under the protection and direction of the great mother of God Mary most holy into whose care and in whose loving company he dedicated all his life and mission. In humble obedience, he courageously embraced the difficult responsibility of the Bishopric -a great task he generously fulfilled with fear and tremble for the greater glory of God and the salvation of God’s people. He totally relied on the power of God through ceaseless and fervent prayers, cooperation with all who share in the same mission and filial submission to the teachings of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. He worked closely with his flock, meeting them at their various points of needs, reaching out personally to them and touching every dimension of their lives. With loving approach, he won their confidence and was able to discover their needs. He continued in fervent prayers in search of the best ways to meet most of their needs.
As a great devotee of Mary, he made a pilgrimage to Lourdes.. While in Lourdes, he prayed very fervently. At one occasion, he was before the statue of our blessed mother Mary requesting for her help on the best way to reach out effectively to the numerous people of God before him. There he received an inspiration that on returning home to his Diocese of Onitsha, he should found an indigenous Religious Institute of Women taken from among the people to serve the people especially to work for the upliftment of women, preparations of people for the Sacraments , especially couples for marriage to promote good Christian families, education of children in schools and care of the sick. And indeed for any work of charity according to the needs of the Church, God’s people and the signs of times with special care for the poor and the less privileged.
With the light of the Holy Spirit, he applied to the Holy See and was give immediate approval. To the glory of God, he founded the Religious Institute of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Mother of Christ on the 7th of October 1937 with two foundation members ( Maria Anyogu later Mother Mary Bernadette Anyogu and Clara Oranu-later Mother Mary Magdalene Oranu) both of blessed memories.
As a great devotee of Mary, he made a pilgrimage to Lourdes.. While in Lourdes, he prayed very fervently. At one occasion, he was before the statue of our blessed mother Mary requesting for her help on the best way to reach out effectively to the numerous people of God before him. There he received an inspiration that on returning home to his Diocese of Onitsha, he should found an indigenous Religious Institute of Women taken from among the people to serve the people especially to work for the upliftment of women, preparations of people for the Sacraments , especially couples for marriage to promote good Christian families, education of children in schools and care of the sick. And indeed for any work of charity according to the needs of the Church, God’s people and the signs of times with special care for the poor and the less privileged.
With the light of the Holy Spirit, he applied to the Holy See and was give immediate approval. To the glory of God, he founded the Religious Institute of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Mother of Christ on the 7th of October 1937 with two foundation members ( Maria Anyogu later Mother Mary Bernadette Anyogu and Clara Oranu-later Mother Mary Magdalene Oranu) both of blessed memories.
From this humble beginning has grown the big Religious Institute of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Mother of Christ . Indeed, we greatly appreciate God’s marvellous goodness in the growth and spread of this noble Religious family all over the World. And their humble participation in the Mission of Christ and His holy Church; joyfully serving the people of God in all parts of Nigeria, some parts of Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Tchad, Cameroun Tanzania and Benin Republic in Africa. Some Countries in Europe: Italy, Germany, Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Also in many parts of the United States of North America and in Canada.
To our God be joyful praise for all we do by His infinite love and mercy. We are very grateful to serve the people of God through our works and mission especially through our missions for the Vulnerable , the poor and the less privileged who are at the very centre of the Mission and Work of our beloved father founder Archbishop Charles Heerey.CSSP.
May we and all we encounter every day, especially the poor and the vulnerable continue to grow in faith and absolute trust in God, love of God and all His people following the examples and footsteps of our beloved father founder and our hero in faith Archbishop Charles Heerey, CSSP.
May the Lord continue to bless and be with us all in Jesus through Mary. Amen.
