The first Catholic Mission Station in what is
now Northern Nigeria was
established in Lokoja in 1884. the two resident priests were Rev.
Frs. Jules
Poirier and Florentini, both of the Society of African Mission SMA
of France.
Rev. Fr. Florentini unfortunately died after a few months of his
arrival and
was replaced by Rev. Fr. Charles Zappa in 1886.
The first mass in the Archdiocese was celebrated in the area presently
known
as kauri Bus Stop in 1908. Rev. Fr. Cerminati who said the mass
cycled all over
the place, travelling as far as Sokoto to do his pastoral work.
In 1911, an ecclesiastical jurisdiction, including the Eastern
half of the northern
territory, was carved out and named the Prefecture Apostolic of
Northern Eas-
tern Nigeria. The Prefecture included the provinces of Sokoto ,
Niger, Zaria,
Northern Benue, Plateau, Bauchi, Adamawa and Borno.
All other areas north of Rivers Niger and Benue were administered
by the Vicar
Apostolic of Asaba in the South-West of Nigeria.
In 1922, Msgr. Oswald Wailer SMA, was transferred from Shendam
to Kano ,
and more Catholic Missions were opened in 1929. In 1934, the Northern
Territory was divided into the Prefecture Apostolic of Kaduna and
the
Prefecture Apostolic of Jos. The former comprised the provinces
of Kano,
Zaria, Niger, Katsina, Sokoto and other cities in the North. Msgr.
Hughes
SMA, who was in charge of the Prefecture Apostolic of Kaduna, transferred
his headquarters from Kano to Kaduna .
In 1944, Msgr. Hughes was transferred to and appointed Vicar Apostolic
of
Ondo/Ilorin. Rev. Fr. John McCarthy was Msgr. in charge of the Apostolic
of Kaduna.In 1953, the Prefecture Apostolic of Kaduna was raised
to the status
of a diocese and Msgr. McCarthy became its first bishop. In 1959,
Kaduna
diocese was raised to the status of an archdiocese, with McCarthy
as its first
Archbishop. In February 1975, Archbishop McCarthy retired and left
Nigeria
in April of that same year owing to ill health.
He was succeeded by Archbishop Peter Yariyok Jatau, Emeritus, who
was
consecrated a Co-Adjutor Archbishop of the Archdiocese on Sunday,
November
5, 1972 at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna. Archbishop Jatau, Emeritus,
administered the Archdiocese and the ecclesiastical province of
Kaduna from
that year to 16, November, 2007, when he retired.
The current Archbishop, Most Rev. Matthew Man-Oso Ndagoso, was named
the metropolitan Archbishop by the Vatican on the 16, of November
2007,
and installed Archbishop on the 31st of January, 2008, by Archbishop
P. Y.
Jatau, Emeritus, at the Ranch Bees Stadium, Independence Way, Kaduna.
The Archdiocese now has 46 parishes, excluding army and college
chaplaincies,
and 97 indigenous priests. |
