FR. ANTHONY IGBEKELE INSTALLED RECTOR FOR BODIJA SEMINARY

Fr. Anthony Igbekele installed Rector for Bodija Seminary

---

With great joy, the Seminary of Ss. Peter and Paul Major Seminary, Great Bodija, welcomed the news of the appointment of a substantive Rector Magnificus, Very Rev. Fr. Anthony Oluwagbemiga Igbekele, whose appointment was made public in the early hours of the first day of the first month of the new year, January 2024, by the Archbishop of Ibadan and Metropolitan of Ibadan Province, who is also Chairman of the Seminary’s Commission and Governing Council, Most Rev. Gabriel ‘Leke Abegunrin.

Rev. Fr. Anthony Oluwagbemiga Igbekele, a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Ondo, and an alumnus of Great Bodija, was appointed. He had at various times held administrative and formative responsibilities in the Seminary as Dean of Studies, Registrar, Vice Rector and has been the Acting Rector since the appointment on December 28, 2022, of the erstwhile Rector, Most Rev. Anthony Ovayero Ewherido as the bishop of Warri diocese.

He was appointed Rector of the Seminary by the Holy Father, Pope Francis, through a Bull of Appointment that was signed by the Pro Prefect for the Section of First Evangelization of the Dicastery of Evangelization, Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle and the Secretary of the same dicastery, His Excellency, Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu.

On 7th January 2024, the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, the Seminary Community, with the active liturgical participation of scores of priests and friends of the Seminary and the worshipping community of the Saints Peter and Paul Seminary Chapel, witnessed the installation of the new Rector by the Principal Celebrant of the Mass and the Archbishop of Ibadan and Chairman of the Seminary’s Commission, Most. Rev. Gabriel ‘Leke Abegunrin.

The simple but moving Rite of Installation, which took place after the homily, consisted of the allucutio/admonitio of the Archbishop in which the duties and rights of the Rector were enunciated; the public reading of the Papal Bull of Appointment in both Latin and English and the Letter of Appointment; the customary Profession of Faith and oath-taking by the new Rector; the Prayer over the new Rector by the Archbishop and the declarative words of Installation by the Archbishop.

Present at the Installation Mass were priests, superiors of sister religious houses of formation, consecrated men and women, seminarians, both Diocesan and Religious, members of the Seminary’s Governing Council and the Appointment and Promotions Committee, Academic and Non-Academic Staff, friends of the Seminary, and family members, who all came to witness the auspicious event in the annals of our great Seminary, Mother Bodija.

May God bless the tenure of the new Rector with great milestones, developments, and achievements in the annals of the great Bodija Seminary.