Late Father “Baba” Simon Mpeke (1906-1975) poised to become first Cameroonian Saint
By Nchumbonga George Lekelefac

On Saturday, May 20, 2023, while Cameroonians were celebrating the National Day (French: Fête Nationale) of Cameroon, also known as Unitary State Day (fête nationale de l’etatunitaire), history was made by Pope Francis who advanced the beatification causes of eight
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THE SUN NEWSPAPER CAMEROON
By Nchumbonga George Lekelefac

On Saturday, May 20, 2023, while Cameroonians were celebrating the National Day (French: Fête Nationale) of Cameroon, also known as Unitary State Day (fête nationale de l’etatunitaire), history was made by Pope Francis who advanced the beatification causes of eight men and women among which was a Cameroonian priest.

This date is of capital importance in thechronicles of the Cameroon civil and ecclesiastical history because it is the first of its kind. The priests and religious sisters who will now be called Venerable by the Church are: Father Simon Mpeke, also called Baba Simon, a Cameroonian priest (1906-1975); Father Pedro Díez Gil, a Spanish priest of the Order of Poor Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools (1913-1983); Italian Sister Edda Roda of the Capuchin Sisters of Mother Rubatto (1940-1996); and Brazilian Sister Tereza Margarida do Coração de Maria, a cloistered nun of the Order of Discalced Carmelites (1915-2005).This article will be focused on our own Father Simon Mpeke, also called Baba Simon, a Cameroonian priest (1906-1975). The office of the postulation for the beatification cause of Baba Simon in Maroua elaborated profoundly on Father Simon Mpeke as a saintly priest for Africa and the world and the barefooted missionary.

Brief Biography of Father Simon Mpeke

The office of the postulation located in Maroua observed that Father Simon MPEKE was born around the year 1906, in Batombé (Edéa) in Cameroon, of non-Christian agricultural parents.In 1914, while schooling in the school taken care of by the German Pallutine Fathers, he asked to be baptised. His wish came to be realised and he was baptised on 14th August 1918, after the First World War, by the French, Holy Ghost Missionaries in Edéa, with Simon as his Christian name.He took as job Head Teacher, in the primary schools found in the remote areas in Edéa and later in the main mission in Edéa.It is here, that in 1921, he will get to know that “a Black could become a priest.” He did not hesitate one bit.

He therefore, turned down his wedding arrangements with a young girl, to whom he was betrothed and began studying Latin with a small group of friends. In August 1924, he gained admission into the Seminary at Yaoundé, which opened its doors in July 1923.There, he left a rich memory of himself as an excellent, serious, very pious and peaceful Seminarian.Moreover, he is part of the first batch of 8 priests to be ordained in Cameroon on the 08th of December 1935.Right from the Seminary, he was accustomed to the practice of Contemplation, and had begun a small project with others, of an active and contemplative congregation.In the year 1936, he was nominated vicar of a remote mission, where he was remembered as a priest full of zeal, very supernatural, one who did incredible things and who gave of his time without reserve.

Again, being highly influenced by the Theology of his era, he decided to stand out rightly against the Religious Traditional practices of this area. He was recognized as a priest of great value and this made him to be appointed in 1947 to the large parish of New-Bell in Douala, where he became the Parish priest by the end of the year.He gave all he had as skills in the parish, by developing various congregations and brotherhoods, in supporting also, the different Catholic Action groups and schools and he was very much available and his generosity for his flock knew no bounds.

Again, during the early years of 1950, the institution of the fraternities of the Brothers and Sisters of Jesus, in his parish, made him discover the Spirituality of Charles de Foucauld. In 1953, he joined the secular institute of the Brothers of Jesus and asked for a Sabbatical year in order to do his “novitiate” in Algeria.He will later become one of the founders at the international level of the Union Sacerdotale Jesus-Caritas and its first head in Cameroon and in Africa.Also, given his love and influence among God’s people, he was even nominated alongside two others for the post of the Auxiliary Bishop to his Bishop.

Towards the year 1954, he had the feeling of a call to evangelize the peoples of North Cameroon who were considered “pagans.” After due prayer and reflection, and filled with the dynamic missionary spirit of the Encyclical “Fidei Donum,” he became, in 1959, the first Cameroonian secular missionary priest in his own country.After a brief stay in the community of the Brothers of Jesus, he took residence in Tokombéré, where we have the present Diocese of Maroua-Mokolo. Living alone and in complete destitution, the “barefooted missionary” spent his life fighting misery which, according to a wise Muslim, he saw in it an “enemy of God.” His intense prayer life and his contagious joy served as luminous testimony of God’s love even in the remotest villages in his large parish.

Through his creation of schools, sanitary structures, undertakings against injustice, setups to cater for the youth and the call for universal brotherhood, he allowed for a real promotion of the population until it became contemptible. His worry of permanent dialogue with the leaders of Religious Traditions and his encounter with the Muslims made him the prophetic precursor of Inter-religious dialogue, which was further reemphasized by Vatican II and gained for him the nickname “Baba Simon” (Father Simon), which is still very much used, even 40 years after his death, by both Christians and non-Christians.It is on the 13th of August 1975 that he passed away, exhausted, with a life completely dedicated to the service of God and men.

My Advocacy and Crusade for the Canonization of Cameroonian Saints

One of my advocacies, that is, a public support for or recommendation of a particular cause or policyhas been to promote the beatification cause of our own Cameroonian distinguished saints which we have not been used to. The nonagenarian and highly celebrated Cardinal Francis Arinze has repeatedly reminded the African diocesan bishops to promote the causes of their own people as was recommended by Pope John Paul II when he visited Nigeria on March 22, 1998 to beatify Blessed Iwene Tansi. Cardinal Arinze set the example by promoting the beatification cause of Father Iwene Tansifrom the Archdiocese of Onitsha, in Nigeria who is now Blessed.

I have made it a mission and vocation to enlighten our African bishops on the importance of documenting the lives of our own who have distinguished themselves with heroic virtues to a high degree by forwarding their names to the Holy See for beatification so that they can be recognized by the universal church. Unfortunately, in Africa, we do not have the culture of recognizing our own but we have to change and learn to recognize our own, otherwise no one will recognize them. The initiatives and crusades I have undertaken so far are as follows:

First, on August 8, 2020, I wrote an open letter to Bishop George Nkuo regarding the earnest need to launch the beatification process of late Prof. Dr. Bernard Fonlon.

Second, as if that was not enough, 3 months later, on November 7, 2020, I addressed a second open letter to Bishop George Nkuo reminding him of the primordial significance regarding the earnest need to launch the beatification process of late Prof. Dr. Bernard Fonlon. All these two open letters fell on deaf episcopal ears because some of our African bishops are centered on amassing money and wealth and building large structures forgetting the fact that this other spiritual dimension, namely, the beatification cause of our own people is a spiritual aspect which is of vital importance for the spiritual enrichment of the faithful of their dioceses.

Third, on November 28, 2020, I wrote an open letter to the Bishops of National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (NECC) and the Symposium of Episcopal of Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM)on the earnest and urgent need to consider updating the names of African Saints in the Roman Catholic Church.

Fourth, on Thursday, November 10, 2022, I wrote an Open Letter to the Most Reverend Paul Lontsié-Keuné, Bishop of the Diocese of Bafoussam and His College of Consultors regarding the Earnest Consideration on the Official Petition to the Holy See and launching of the Beatification Process of Archbishop André Wouking of Immortal and Evergreen Memory, on the 20th Anniversary of his passing into Glory (November 10, 2002 – November 10, 2022).

Fifth, on January 26, 2023, I wrote an Open Missive to the Bishops of the Bamenda Provincial Episcopal Conference (BAPEC) remembering Archbishop Paul Mbiybe Verdzekov†, Archbishop Emeritus of Bamenda, Cameroon, Thirteen Years After (January 26, 2010 – January 26, 2023) and Three years after the Official Launching of His Process of Beatification.

Sixth, on Monday, March 13, 2023, I wrote an Open Letter to the Most Reverend Joseph-Marie Ndi-Okalla, Bishop of the Diocese of Mbalmayo, Republic of Cameroon regarding the Earnest Consideration of the Official launching of the Beatification Process of Bishop Paul Etoga of Blessed, Glorious, Evergreen and Revered Memory, First Cameroonian Catholic Bishop (1955), Pioneer Bishop of the Diocese of Mbalmayo (1961), First Black African Indigenous Bishop of Central Africa (1955), the African Bishop who fought against Colonialism and Racism in the Church.

Seventh, on Monday, April 3, 2023, I wrote an Open Missive to Archbishop Samuel Kleda, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Douala regarding the Need to begin gathering Documentation for the Introduction of the Beatification Cause of Cardinal Christian Wigyhan Tumi (Shufaay Kintam) on the Second Anniversary of his passing into Glory.

As you can see, I have been unrelentingly reminding the African bishops that it is important for them to forward the names of their own who lived a remarkable holy life to a high degree and reputation. Pastoresgregis (English: The Shepherds of the Flock), subtitled “The Bishop, Servant of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the Hope of the World,” a post-synod apostolic exhortation released on October 16, 2003 by Pope John Paul IIoffers doctrinal and pastoral principles intended to guide Catholic bishops. In that document, it states on number 29: “Consequently, each particular Church should be concerned to celebrate its own saints who were Bishops and also to remember those pastors who by virtue of their holy lives and enlightened teachings handed down to their people a particular legacy of admiration and affection. They are the spiritual sentinels who from heaven guide the way of the pilgrim Church through time. In order to keep ever alive, the memory of those faithful Bishops who were outstanding in the exercise of their ministry, the Synodal Assembly recommended that particular Churches or, when suitable, the Bishops’ Conferences, should make the lives of these Bishops known to the faithful through updated biographies and, when the case warrants, consider the possibility of introducing their cause for canonization”. That is why our bishops should take this call seriously. The Bishops of other continents like Europe, North and South America, Asia have taken this call to heart and we have seen many of their own being declared saints. In Cameroon, this is the first of its kind and more needs to be done for the bishops to forward their own for beatification.

Conclusion

The office of the beatification cause of Father Simon Baba has recommended that wecontinue to pray therefore, for this cause of Beatification as well as, for our dear Region of the Far-North of Cameroon, still exposed to threats from the terrorist group of Boko-Haram. Through the intercession of Baba Simon, may Christians know how to be at peace and to continue in his footsteps to testify to “the Good News of the Divine Filiation of every human being” (Benedict XVI, Africae Munus, n° 8.