AGNUS-DEI MEDIA

The Vatican announced on Thursday March 26 that the Office of Papal Charities, ordered by the Holy Father Pope Francis is to distribute 30 ventilators to 30 hospitals in need during the coronavirus pandemic, even though the outfit has not yet revealed which Hospitals are mapped out to receive the said ventilators. The rationale behind the donation exercise is to combat the pandemic since it predominantly attacks the respiratory system, with the ventilator becoming a topnotch necessity in most health facilities. "With a death toll now surpassing 8,000, and with daily death counts totaling more than 600 or 700 in the past several days, Italy has been one of the hardest-hit countries in the coronavirus outbreak outside of China" Over 50 priests are reported to have died from the coronavirus pandemic with Bishop Angelo Moreschi being the first known Catholic Bishop to succumb to the outbreak. Source: LUMENCHRISTI-DAILY

Rev. Fr. Okeke Odogwu, Vicar of the Holy Cross Parish, Oroma-Etiti in Anam, Anambra West Local Government Area has been reported dead in his car at the entrance of the Vicariage's gate on Tuesday March 24. Close sources revealed that the Priest had not shown any sign of inconvenience after attending and actively participating in his Archdiocese's regional meeting on Monday March 23. “Some liquid substances believed to be his vomit were seen in his car. His corpse was found the following morning in the car, the engine of which was still running”, they revealed. Haruna Mohammed, Police Public Relations Officer in the state says the Commissioner of Police, John Abang, had directed the Divisional Police Officer in the area to investigate the incident and although there was no official report from the locals when the incident happened. Rev. Fr. Okeke Odogwu was also the manager of the Fr. Ohai Memorial Secondary School located in the Oroma-Etiti area of the state. S...

  A 72-year old Italian priest in Bergamo, Fr.Giuseppe Berardelli, has died of the deadly coronavirus after giving up hisrespirator provided by his parishioners to a younger patient whom he didnot know. The priest was reported to have refused to stay under the support of his respirator after realizing there was a younger patient who needed it most. His profound gesture that led to his death has seen eulogies from many across the globe describing him as a “Martyr” Martin — an author who edits the Jesuit journal America — said Berardelli was a “saint like St. Maximilian Kolbe, who in Auschwitz volunteered to take the place of a condemned man with a family and was killed.” According to the Catholic News Agency, he is one of at least 60 priests who died in Italy this month as the European nation was the epicenter of the deadly pandemic. Source: LUMENCHRISTI-DAILY

John-Sebastian Laird-Hammonda, a member of the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America has become the first person to die of the novel coronavirus in the District, Rev Fr Larry Dunham, superior of the Monastery confirmed on Saturday March 21. Fr Dunham also revealed that, the Friar who was a Deacon often battled nausea after his treatments for leukemia but had seemed in to be in some of the best health earlier in February with a twist turn on him being diagnosed of the deadly coronavirus On his part, the Deacon had been at the monastery since the late 1980s and had for the last 14 years run its day-to-day operations as the business manager and  had recently been approved for a transfer to an order in New York, where he was going to be involved in fundraising efforts for missions in Central America. “It was going to be like a whole new focus and life for him,” he said. “That was to be his new assignment that never quite materialized”, he said. Mayor M...

Mother Angelica was born Rita Antoinette Rizzo on April 20, 1923, in Canton, Ohio, in a community of African-American and Italian immigrant mill workers. Of Italian-American background, she was the only child of John and Mae Helen Rizzo (née Gianfrancesco). Her father, a tailor by trade, abandoned the family when Rizzo was only five, and her parents divorced two years later. On March 10, 1931, her mother was granted custody of the young Rizzo, and her father ordered to pay five dollars a week in child support. Her mother only received "intermittent child-support payments from the father" While maintaining full custody, her mother struggled with chronic depression and poverty This was in part because being a divorcée carried a social stigma at the time and the opportunities for a woman to secure income was limited especially in the height of the  Great Depression . Looking back at her childhood, Mother Angelica described herself and...

Rev. Sr Henrietta Alokha of the congregation of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart  and Principal of Bethlehem High School, Abule Ado Amuwo Odofin local government area of Lagos State, on March 15, 2020, met her untimely death in a petrol pipeline explosion while trying to rescue students amidst the flame ups. Report indicates that she was able to rescue all the students until she was caught up in the fire and succumbed. A statement signed by Bro Vincent Iwueze, says Sr Alokha rescued all the children under her care from the fire but could not make it herself. Read below for full statement: “We have just received the news of the demise of Rev. Sr Henrietta Alokha, Principal of Bethlehem High School Abule Ado involved in the petrol pipeline explosion that occurred earlier today. Late Rev. Sr Henrietta Alokha is the younger sister of Our Worthy Advocate WB Anslem Alokha. “Late Rev. Sr. Henrietta Alokha rescued all the children under her care from the pipelin...

Most Reverend Peter Iornzuul Adoboh, first Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Katsina-Ala, who died on  February 14, 2020, after a protracted battle with prostate enlargement which later developed into prostate cancer was laid to rest on March 11  at the Cathedral Church of St. Gerald Majella Katsina-Ala, Benue State, Nigeria. Prelates in Nigeria present at the solemn ceremony eulogized him for his selfless service rendered to the church in Nigeria. John Cardinal Onayekan, Archbishop  Emeritus of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, extolled the virtues of the late Bishop, describing him as a true and humble servant of God who surrendered his life for the good work of evangelization. Cardinal Onayekan said "the desire and determination of the late Bishop Adoboh to build and expand the frontiers of Catholicism in the infant diocese of Katsina-Ala became evident in his teachings throughout the years of his dedicated priestly and Episcopal ministry". Pope Francis ...

Following the confirmation of Ghana's first coronavirus cases, authorities of the church in Ghana have called off World Youth Day celebration which was to happen at the Archdiocesan level from    27th to 28th March 2020    levels until further notice. A  communiqué from the outfit of  the  Youth and Vocation Director, Rev Fr Osmund Kudoloh in consultation with  Most Rev John Bonaventure Kwofie, Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra  says  the outbreak confirmed in the country calls for precautionary measure,thus the decision to put the celebration on hold. Read below for full details of the  c ommuniqué>>>>>>>>> Dear in Christ, POSTPONEMENT OF ARCHDIOCESAN WORLD YOUTH DAY Kindly receive warm greetings from the Youth and Vocations Office. After consultation with Most Rev. John Bonaventure Kwofie, Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra, it has become prudent and necessary to postpone indefinitely the 2020 ...

The symbolism of this act recalls the unity of the Church and the spiritual connection between each celebration. During Mass in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, you may have noticed that, the priest will break a small part of the consecrated host and drop it into the chalice of consecrated wine. It is a silent ritual, one that is easily missed as it happens so quickly. While it is a very brief action, the symbolism behind it is profound. According to Nikolaus Gihr in the book  The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass , the action of placing a small particle of the host into the chalice has roots in the Early Church and a custom that was meant to signify  unity with the pope and local bishop. Participation in the same Holy Sacrifice was regarded as a sign and pledge of ecclesiastical Communion; mutually to prove and maintain this, Popes and bishops  sent to other bishops, or priests too, parts of Consecrated Hosts , which the recipients dropped into the chali...

In the thick of the solemn majesty, three coffins steal the moment during a given papal burial rites. Mother church during papal burial performs what is termed as the "The Ritual of Three Coffins".   For non-Catholics, it is too mysterious a tradition, and for some Catholics, the process is yet to be understood. Here's just a little trip with you into one of the rich traditions of the Church this Catechetical Season shedding light on the ritual surrounding a papal burial. After the death of a Pope is confirmed by the Papal Chamberlain , (the one in charge after the Pope’s death), several rituals take place before and after the burial of the Pope. Usually, the Pope’s actual internment takes place between the fourth and sixth day after his death. This begins a nine-day period of mourning. The burial follows a funeral Mass, presided over by the Dean of the College of Cardinals. When it comes to the actual burial, the pope is entombed in three different coffins, a ri...

The Holy Father, Pope Francis on Thursday, March 5, 2020,  named Bishop Peter Ebere Okpaleke as the first Ordinary bishop for the newly created Diocese of Ekwulobia, in south eastern Nigeria.   The prelate was earlier appointed to shepherd the Catholic  Diocese of Ahiara, Nigeria but the local clergy and faithful objected to his appointment and prevented him from entering the cathedral in order to take possession of the diocese.   A petition object to the fact that Okpalaeke was not of the area's Mbaise origin was previously sent to Pope Benedict XVI after the former Pope appointed Okpalaeke Bishop.   On 9 June 2017, Pope Francis gave clergy in the Diocese 30 days to either write a letter promising obedience and accepting Okpalaeke as the Bishop of the Diocese or be suspended.   On 8 July 2017, it was reported that while the apology letter was sent, the appointment of Bishop Okpalaeke was still rejected by the local priests who in...