Basilica of Mary Queen of the Apostles of Mvolyé (Yaoundé)
In Yaoundé there is no church of the Immaculate One; the cathedral is Our Lady of the Victories and the great Marian temple of the capital is the minor basilica of Mary Queen of the Apostles, on the hill of Mvolyé. It is the mother mission of the Church in Cameroon and its main national Marian sanctuary.
🌹 Wonders and anecdotes
- It was all born on February 13, 1901, when the German Palotine missionaries, with Father Heinrich Vieter, founded on Mvolyé hill the first Catholic mission of Yaoundé, on a land given by Chief Essomba Mebe.
- In 1905 Monsignor Vieter became the first bishop of Cameroon, based on this mission of Mvolyé, from which the archbishop of Yaoundé and several dioceses of the country descend; his burial remains in the place.
- On 15 August 1990, the Feast of the Assumption, the first stone of the Marian sanctuary was placed, driven by Monsignor Jean Zoa; it was proclaimed minor basilica on 10 December 2006 by Cardinal Jean- Louis Tauran on behalf of Benedict XVI, and officially opened on 18 March 2009.
- The temple is based on twelve columns representing the twelve apostles gathered around Mary; it hosts about 4,000 sitting people and next to it a Marian Grotto receives pilgrims who come to pray to the Virgin.
Mary Queen of the Apostles
On the hill where the Church of Cameroon was born in 1901 the basilica of Mary Queen of the Apostles, Marian sanctuary of the nation, is raised today. His twelve columns evoke the Upper Room: the apostles in prayer with Mary, Mother of the Church.
- Mary, Queen of the Apostles, gather your children from Africa around your Son.
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