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HISTORY

Seat of Wisdom Seminary, Owerri is an ecclesiastical institution established for the training of young men of eligible character for the Catholic priesthood. In Africa, it is noted that the growing population of Catholic Christians has blossomed into a relative increase in priestly vocations over the last five decades. Nigeria ranks highest amongst others, in harnessing this increasing population of African young men who are learning to respond appropriately to the call to the Catholic Priesthood. However, as the Lord invites more young men into the “seedbeds of priestly formation”, existing seminaries, as is expected, also experience the attendant strains of growing population of seminarians. It was in this ambient of vocation increase that the vision of Seat of Wisdom Seminary was pictured.

Barely a decade after the end of the Nigerian-Biafran War (1967-1970), Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu (established in 1922) which had served as a Regional seminary for Western and Eastern Nigeria got entangled by a phenomenal bloom of population increase which was described as a “tyranny of numbers”. This necessitated the opening of another campus at Ikot-Ekpene in 1976 to serve as a philosophate wing of the Bigard Memorial Seminary. Yet, with a further growth in enrolment, the bishops of the then Onitsha Ecclesiastical Province deemed it fit to forward another proposal to the Propaganda Fide for the opening of a second seminary. The subsequent approval of this proposal in 1982 was the genesis of this seminary.

The name “Seat of Wisdom” is the brain child of her first Rector, Very Rev. Fr(now Msgr.) Dr. Theophilus Okere, who at the time of his appointment to the rectorial seat of the new seminary in November 1984, was the Rector of “Bigard’s First daughter” at Ikot-Ekpene (now St. Joseph’s Major Seminary). While efforts to secure a land for the permanent site were still in process, the then Local Ordinary of the Catholic Diocese of Owerri – Rt. Rev. Dr. Mark Onwuha Unegbu - provided a temporary site for the seminary at 160 Wetheral Road Owerri near the Carmelite Monastery in Owerri. Nonetheless, the new seminary effectively opened on the 15^th day of November, 1985 at the make-shift site with a hundred and two (120) pioneer seminarians and four priests on the Staff namely Rev. Fr. Dr. T. I. Okere (Rector), Rev. Fr. Dr. Clement Ginikanwa Obielu (Vice Rector), Rev. Fr. Dominic Okafor (Spiritual Director), and Rev. Fr. Dr. Frederick Nnabuife(Bursar). Thus, Seat of Wisdom Seminary set sail aboard the sea of a checkered history which is shaped by a four-pronged mission (Spiritual, Pastoral, Academic, and Human) – a history at once characterized by glorious as well as turbulent trails; and at the same time daunted by providential, persistent, as well as gracious motivations – all with the sole purpose of training successive bands of personnel for the Catholic priestly ministry. The take-off, though at a temporary site, was smooth, thanks to the seasoned crew of the pioneer priest-formators captained by an experienced seminary administrator as well as a Leuven trained academic in the person of Very Rev. Fr. Dr. Theophilus Okere.

For five interestingly teething years following its foundation (1984-1989), Seat of Wisdom Seminary sojourned in a set of buildings, which was later called the Owerri Diocesan Assumpta Pastoral Centre at 160 Wetheral Road.   Memorable days of the young institution’s early life were marked with striking events of significance. On a blessed Tuesday evening (April 15^th 1985), the angelic voices of young seminarians chimed from the chapel to mark the inaugural celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours (The Official Prayer of the Church), which replaced permanently the Manual of Prayers For Junior Seminarians (arranged by the bishops of Onitsha Ecclesiastical Province for use in the minor seminaries in the province).

The visit of the Cardinal Prefect of the Propaganda Fide, His Eminence Joseph Cardinal Tomko, to the new seminary on October 31, 1986 added more ecclesiastical hues of relevance for the sojourn at the temporary site. During his visit, Cardinal Tomko stressed the importance of thorough formation of future Catholic priests, describing the new seminary as “a school of daily contact with Christ where Nigerian seminarians of the South-eastern extraction learn how to configure themselves to Christ; a lifestyle which they aspire to embrace all through their lives if eventually they are ordained into the catholic ministerial priesthood”. Later on, at the Permanent site, one of the Hostel buildings was to be named after Joseph Cardinal Tomko as a gesture of engraving the significance of his personality to the infancy phase of the history of our seminary.

The movement to her permanent site, initially scheduled to take place on the 17^th day of October 1989, was finally effected on October 30, 1989 on which same date the seminarians commenced the 1989/1990 Academic and Formation Year. The Permanent site of the seminary was registered under the Land Perpetual Succession Act Cap. 98 of the Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is worthy of note that the Federal Government Nigeria also did express some gestures of support and encouragement at this early stage of the relocation to the permanent site as the road connecting the Seat of Wisdom Seminary to the Aba- Owerri expressway was tarred and commissioned within few weeks of this relocation. With the dawn of a new phase of history for the young seminary, more tutorial and administrative personnel were injected into the team of formators to adequately respond to the new challenges of the newly occupied permanent settlement. The re-inforced crew of formators comprised Rev. Fr. Dr. T.I. Okere (Rector), Rev. Fr. Dr. C. G. Obielu (Vice Rector), Rev. Fr. John Iwe (bursar), Rev. Fr. Oliver Onwubiko, Rev.  Fr. Mark Njoku (administrative dean) Rev. Fr. Prof. Richard Onwuanibe (dean of studies), Rev. Fr. Kevin Madu (spiritual director), Rev. Fr. Dr. Echeagu (Liturgist), Rev. Fr. Dr. Cyril Akalonu (spiritual director), Rev. Fr. Donatus Ike,, Rev. Fr. Martin Elekwachi (administrative dean), Rev. Fr. Victor Ifeanyi (administrative dean), Rev. Fr. Dr. Simon Amateze, etc. Men, who, devoted to their ministry, and for the love of God and the church, denied themselves the goodies of life for the growth of the seminary. However, right from inception, the staffing of Seat of Wisdom Semianry has been expectantly fluidal since re-assignments of priests by their Local Ordinaries are made according as needs indicate.

The formal inauguration of the seminary at her permanent site took place on Saturday the 6^th day of January, 1990 when Friederick cardinal Wetter, the Archbishop of Munich and Freizing, West Germany visited Seat of Wisdom Family at her new site. Cardinal Wetter was quite expressive of his surprise at the boom of vocations in this part of the world as in contrast to the growing dearth of vocations in Europe. The inauguration event drew to our seminary such luminous personalities as Rtd. Justice Chukwudiufu Oputa, the then Imo State Military Governor, Commander Amadi Ikwechegh. It was also graced by the presence of two Cardinals (Frederick Cardinal Wetter and Francis Cardinal Arinze) eleven bishops from all over the country, about five hundred priests and four hundred seminarians.

Presently, the Seminary has Very Rev. Fr. Dr. John Chijioke Iwe as the Rector with Rev. Fr. Dr. Benedict Okike and Rev. Fr. Dr. Bernard Ukwuegbu recently elected as the Vice Rector I and Vice Rector II respectively.

NUMERICAL STRENGTH

The Seminary has five hundred and fifty one (551) seminarians drawn from various dioceses and religious congregations across Nigeria including Owerri archdiocese, Umuahia diocese, Orlu diocese Okigwe diocese, Ahiara diocese, Aba diocese, Port-Harcourt diocese, Ikot-Ekpene diocese, Uyo diocese, Sons of Mary Mother of Mercy Congrgation, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, Congregation of Christ the Emmanuelite, Society of Divine Vocations.