Remembering Nuh Desmond as We Celebrate The Solemnity of All Saints
In the Diocese of Kumbo and SAMS, the celebration of the Solemnity of All Saints begins on the eve, that is, on October 31. However, when this Solemnity occurs on a Weekday, it is transferred to the Sunday closer to November 1. This year, the bishop wrote a letter postponing the Solemnity to Sunday, November 3, 2024, and the closer Sunday to Friday, November 1, 2024. This transfer enables many people to join in the celebration and give a prominent place to the saints who intercede for us day and night.
Instead of Halloween being celebrated in Europe and America on the eve of All Saints’ Day, we shall say the first vespers on the eve of solemnity and celebrate it with pomp and enthusiasm. It is a holiday of obligation in Cameroon. The students prepare the liturgy of the Holy Mass very well to sing and invoke the Saints to intercede for them.
There is an event that the SAMS community also remembers every November 1. When I was ordained a priest on April 19, 2001, my first appointment was to teach in SAMS. I taught Philosophy, Music, and Latin from August 2001 to July 2003. On November 1, 2002, a student in the third year of the formation called Nuh Desmond died of meningitis. He was about 15 years old. I was the one who buried him in his village in Fundong after Njinikom. The mother, Ms. Hermina Muso, who later relocated to the United States of America and is currently in Boston, MA, has made it a yearly event to remember her son.
Nuh Desmond at SAMS, Kitiwum
Ms. Hermina Musa has sent money for the Mass offering plus the intentions to be said at Mass on November 1. She has also sent enough money to provide fish and soft drinks to all the 204 students on campus this year. To support her, some students offer Mass intentions for Nuh Desmond and the family left behind, especially his mother. His mother is convinced that if Desmond had remained alive, he would have been a priest today. I share in her convictions. The students will also dance afterward, as in the traditional African way of remembering the dead.
Since the Solemnity of All the Saints has been postponed to Sunday, the memorial Mass for the dead will be celebrated tomorrow to remember this beautiful soul. Some members of the SAMS community consider him the saint of SAMS. He will also be remembered for the whole month of November. Desmond was a terrific kid. While lying in the hospital, he told those who came to visit him to bring his greetings to the Rector, Fr. Roland Berngeh, at that time, Fr. Emmanuel Fale, and Fr. Andrew Solii Ngah. He expressed his love for his teachers and the institution. He was very polite and gentle in speech. He would have made an excellent priest. Nuh Desmond, we love you, but God loves you more, rest in peace.
I take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy Feast. November 1 reminds us that we all have our advocates in heaven. Their names may not be mentioned in the calendar of the saints, but there is “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” (Rev. 7:9). Among these are people bearing all our names. May the saints intercede for us and the mother and siblings of Nuh Desmond. Amen.
-Fr. Emmanuel Fale Lon