Oke Maria: Mount of Mary in Nigeria
Otan Ayegbaju · State of Otun · Nigeria · The great sanctuary of Nigerian Marian pilgrimage
On the hill of Oke Maria ("Monte de María" in Yoruba), the Redemptorists founded in 1979 the most important Marian pilgrimage center in Nigeria. Every second weekend of February, thousands of pilgrims from all over the country go up the hill in procession with the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Relief.
The origin: the Immaculate Conception of 1979
On December 8, 1979, solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the bishop of the then diocese of Oyo solemnly blessed the sanctuary of Oke Mary in Otan Ayegbaju. The priests of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists, C.Ss.R.) had chosen that hill as a Marian center for the diocese, bearing with it the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Relief, the advocation most linked to the redeemer mission since Leo XIII was entrusted to it in 1866.
The community of Otan Ayegbaju, dating back to 1732, received the sanctuary as a providential gift. Marian devotion in the Yoruba region had deep roots - the Redemptorists had evangelized the southwest of Nigeria since the early 20th century - but a meeting place was missing. Oke Maria became that place.
The annual pilgrimage
Every year, the second weekend of February, thousands of pilgrims from all over Nigeria converge into Otan Ayegbaju. The pilgrimage begins at 3 p.m. in the Procatedral of St. Nicholas, with a penitential service. Then a 2.3-kilometre solemn procession takes the image of Our Lady of the Perpetual Relief up the hill to the pilgrimage center of Oke Maria in a walk.
On reaching the top, the diocesan bishop crowns the image and directs the prayer of consecration. Throughout the night, the Eucharistic worship, recitation of the Rosary, anointing of the sick, preaching and sacramental confession take place. At dawn, the solemn Mass closes the vigil.
A mountain where all are equal
Oke Mary has a dimension that goes beyond devotion. In Nigeria, a country marked by ethnic divisions - Yoruba, igbo, hausa, Fulani - and religious, the sanctuary functions as a meeting space. Catholics of the country's three great ethnic groups share the same hill, the same prayer, the same silence of the night. "In Oke Maria there is no Yoruba or igbo. Only children of Mary"It is a phrase that is repeated among those who have made the pilgrimage.
The image: Perpetuo Help on the land Yoruba
The venerated image in Oke Maria is a reproduction of the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Relief, the 13th century Byzantine icon guarded in Rome. In the icon, the Virgin holds the Child Jesus, who clings to her hand as she sees the angels carrying the instruments of the Passion.
In Nigeria, this icon was received with a particular depth: for the Yoruba peoples, who have a millennial tradition of venerating mothers as home protectors, the image of a Mother who holds her Son in the face of the threat and does not release him speaks a language that does not need translation.