FATHER FOUNDER

Bishop Anthony Gogo Nwedo CSSP was ordained on 17th may, 1959 as the first bishop of the newly created Umuahia Diocese. The area was backward undeveloped with very few primary schools and fewer secondary schools. The area also was predominantly protestant. He was given the charge of running and developing the new diocese and he needed help. First of all, he came to realise that Bishop Shanahan had met a similar situation in Onitsha which he handled successfully by building catholic schools as tools of evangelization and development, He therefore borrowed the idea and started building schools, colleges, hospital and orphanages. But the question was: who would run these institution for him?

He tried to get a religious congregation to come down from overseas to the newly created diocese to help but none was available. He then asked propaganda fide to help him find such a religious congregation that could help him. Their reply was loud and clear. Why not start your own? Initially he thought it was going to be an impossible venture but as time went on, the idea began round for prospective candidates to be the pioneers of the congregation.

When the Secretary General of Propaganda Fide, Archbishop Pietro Sigismondi sent him the “NORMA” for erecting such society he then realized that there was nothing more to wait for. On 29th December, 1961 the first 18 young girls gathered around him in Carpus Christi Mission, Etitiulo, Bende. Latter another eleven young girls joined them. They stayed two weeks in Bende and the principal of Xavier College, Bende was of tremendous assistance. Exactly on the feast of St. Anthony of Egypt 17th January, 1962 they moved to the uncompleted Mercy Secondary School, Nbawsi which Nna anyi was building for them. This was how the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy (DMMM) congregation started with twenty-nine girls.

It was the congregation of the Sister of Peter Claver in Rome that undertook to train the first group of eight aspirants whom the Father Founder judged ready to go on with a more serious religious formation. They were sent to the convent of this congregation of St. Peter Claver in Ibadan where they had their Pre-Novitiate training, after which they were clothed as Novices in Rome Novitiate House of St. Peter Claver Sisters on 8th December, 1964. Returning to Nigeria in June 1966, they continued their training and six of them made their first religious profession on December 8th of the same year.

The congregation started as a Pious Union in December 1961 and was canonically erected as an Institute of Diocesan Right on 17th January, 1962 by the founder himself most Rev. Dr. Anthony Gogo Nwedo C.S.S.P of the blessed memory. On the recommendation of his successor, Most Rev. Dr. Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, it was recognized as an Institute of Pontifical Right by the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life by the Decree of February 2, 1994.

Superior General

Mother M. Angeleen Umezuruike, DMMM

DMMM Generalate,

Ahiaeke Umuahia Ndume,

P. O. Box 1383, Umuahia,

Abia State

Mobile: 07063994505, 07065173816

Email: dmmmgen2011@yahoo.com

DMMMG OFFICES

Postulate:	Ebem Ohafia, Abia State.
Novitiate:	Nbawsi, Abia State.
Scholasticate:	Ozuitem, Abia State.
On-Going Formation Centre:	Ntigha, Abia State.

Our Advent

Our sisters came to the United States in 1992 on the invitation of the then Local Ordinary, Archbishop Edward McCarthy, the Archbishop of Miami, Florida. In response to this invitation our then Superior General, Late Rev. Mother Mary Paul Offiah sent twelve sisters who we symbolically called 'the twelve apostles'. The sisters are Sr. Chidi Nwanya, Sr. Nkechinyere Njoku, Sr. De Lourdes Dike, Sr. Camillus Ononuju, Late Sr. Evangeline Nnorom, Sr. Ogechi Nzurike, Sr. Daniel Ike, Sr. Magdalene Mkpo, Sr. Regina Osondu, Sr. Ngozidilichukwu Ohaeri, Sr. Stella Chinalum Ikeadighi and Sr. Chiazokam Ezeorah. In 1994, Bishop Jude Speyrer, the first Bishop Emeritus of Lake Charles, Louisiana, the late Msgr. Irving DeBlanc, and Msgr. Joseph Bourque visited Umuahia Diocese in Nigeria. In 1995, Msgr. Irving DeBlanc invited our sisters to the Lake Charles diocese where our mission is to work with the sick, the poor, the needy, and particularly with the elderly. In December 2008, under the leadership of Rev. Mother M. Pauline Eboh, the Daughters of Mary, Mother of Mercy sisters were invited to the Diocese of Saint Paul in Alberta, Canada, by His Excellency, Bishop Joseph Luc-André Bouchard, to minister to the retired priests of the diocese. The sisters in this first group are Sr. Chikamnele Okorie, Sr. Josephine Chidumebi Okafor and Sr. Chichorom Ekpeke. Through the efforts of these sisters, more sisters were sent and, like a mustard seed, the group grew and has now spread to more than thirty (30) dioceses in the United States and Canada. Our mission to the United States gave birth to DMMM USA-Canada Region, and our order is recognized as a non-profit religious organization in various states in the United States. With the help of God, we have grown and expanded into a force to be reckoned with. We are grateful to God for the many favors we have received from Him as a Congregation and pray that He will continue to bless our apostolic and missionary activities. Amen.

Regional Prayer

Lord God, You have called us to serve You responsibly in this part of the globe. We thank You for this great opportunity accorded us by our Religious family, the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy. We humbly pray that You bless all the living members of our Congregation, our Leaders and our Local Ordinary. Make us devoted to our work and studies by accomplishing these with thankfulness, joy and the realization that it is a greater honor to serve than to be served. Grant us the grace to develop the talents imbibed in us and engage them in fulfilling the five-fold Spirit and Charism of our Congregation, namely; Charity, Humility, Prayer, Penance, Abandonment to the Will of God and Bearing witness to the Mercy of God. Enable us to be strong in unity, to work and serve You through humanity with purity of intention and with detachment from self, having always death before our eyes and the account which we must render of time not gainfully utilized, of talents wasted, of omitted good deeds, of vain complacency in success.
Bless our countries Nigeria, America and Canada; bless all people we labor in their midst. Bless the Bishops and the members of all the Dioceses that have accepted us to work for your people. Bless and reward our family members, friends, benefactors and benefactresses and all men of goodwill. Convert all hardened sinners and grant success to the work we do among Your people.
Grant eternal rest O Lord to our departed members, benefactors and benefactresses, and members of our natural families; and may it please You, through the intercession of Mary, our Mother of Mercy, to expedite the process of the beatification of our Father Founder. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
Our Mother of Mercy, Pray for us!
Our Lady Queen of Missionaries, Pray for us!

Beatification Prayer

Prayer for the Cause of Beatification of our Father Founder, Anthony Gogo Nwedo, C.S.Sp
[ Devotion to Bishop Anthony Gogo Nwedo would lead to his beatification. We wish to intensify and spread this devotion, and would appreciate information about graces received or healings attributed to his intercession. ]
O God, You, who inspired your servant + Anthony Gogo Nwedo as the pioneer Bishop of the Diocese of Umuahia to dedicate his life selflessly to the cause of winning souls for Christ and to found two Religious Congregations for fostering holiness of life and the work of evangelization, hasten the day when the Church will be able to celebrate the saintliness of his life.
May the example of his personal sanctification and commitment to the spreading of the Gospel among the poor lead a greater number of Christians to ever strive after holiness + and devote themselves to the work of spreading the Gospel, so that the men and women of our time and future generations may discover your infinite mercy revealed in Mary, our beloved Mother, and her Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever.
Amen.