Is Msgr.Ngobya really in heaven?

 

Eddie Makumbi from Kyengera in Wakiso district was tired of walking the streets looking for jobs. One day, a friend told him to first seek blessings from Msgr. Ngobya’s grave. 

 

“He told me about Msgr Ngobya, whose grave in Kitovu gives blessings. I took it as a joke because I am not Catholic. Some weeks later, I decided to give it a try. I found there some people praying and joined them. I prayed, wrote down my wishes and dropped them in the box besides the grave and left. Six days later, I was called for an interview. It was a miracle.” 

 

Ngobya has been revered by many people. The priest, who died in 1986 at the age of 89, was popular for his dedication to the Virgin Mary, miracles and prophecy. Even after he died, people still travel to Masaka to seek miracles. His grave, built with blue and white marble with a big concrete cross, is next to the chapel of the Virgin Mary, beside the Cathedral. There is a sizeable wooden box for the pilgrims to offer money that helps maintain the place. 

 

Makumbi became a believer because later, when his mother was dying with a heart problem, he mobilised the whole family to return to Kitovu. 

 

“We had tried many hospitals; Mulago, Masaka and others in vain. My mother would spend nights in agony, without sleep. As a family, we started praying through Ngobya and today, she is fine and can sleep for hours. She is better and I know, with more prayers, she will continue improving,” he says.

 

However, on Tuesday, the body of the miracle priest was exhumed by the Catholic Church in the presence of Bro. Reginald D. Cruz, who was specially sent from Rome. Bishop John Baptist Kaggwa of Masaka Diocese explained to the believers during mass that the process of declaring Ngobya as saint had taken a very serious turn. A team to investigate the acts of Ngobya and Byabari for the canonisation project was announced. He said when his body was exhumed, the heart, lungs, part of the brain, the kidney and his clothes were found intact. 

 

This is a process by which the Catholic Church recognises its departed members who are in heaven. When people talked of miracles they had received from Ngobya, his grave became a permanent place of prayer.

 

Bishop Kaggwa appointed a committee to study ways of starting the canonisation process. This was in 2002.

It was done and the file was sent to the Vatican for further investigation. After verification, the Vatican declared him and Sr Byabari Servants of God. 

 

Dr. Wadray Rudman was appointed to investigate the issues and Bro. Reginald D. Cruz, to deputise him. During the mass on Tuesday, the two committees in charge of the investigations were swon in. Fr. John Baptist Kintu is the chairperson for Ngobya’s committee, while Sr. Sebastian from Bwanda is the chairperson for Byabari’s committee.            

 

The next step is for the committee to record miracles that occur with the intercession of the Servants of God. 

“I call upon anybody, Catholic and non-Catholic, who has received a verifiable miracle, to come and report it to us. These will help the late Msgr. Ngobya to be elevated to the level of Venerable,” Bishop Kaggwa said during the mass.

 

Sister Angelica of Gogonya Convent, who knew Ngobya for a long time has many wonderful stories to tell about his prophecies and miracles. 

 

“He told me when I was still young that I would become a nun. I still remember I had gone to pray at Kabula-Kijaguzo Parish,” she said. “In 1977, soldiers arrested him from Kabula Parish and locked him up at the barracks. He refused to eat until the OC of the barracks released him without any charge. The soldiers, who had detained him, decided to kill him before he could report them to their commanders, but their vehicle overturned in Namajjuzi swamp killing them all.”

 

In 1983, Ngobya fell sick and was transferred to Rubaga at the residence of Emmanuel Cardinal Nsubuga. Many people followed him there for prayers. According to Bishop Kaggwa, people asked him to pray for a change of Milton Obote’s government and he told them to thank God instead because the Government would fall soon. One month later, Obote was overthrown.

 

Sr Angelica also said when Amin fell and Prof. Yusuf Lule became president, Ngobya prophesied that Lule’s government would not last. It fell after 68 days.

 

She said some NRA rebels, (now in government) asked for his blessings. He told them not to fear. “You will triumph. God will not allow me to see your government, but, I request you to be friends to all people of God. If you take them like enemies, your government will be destroyed too,” he said.

 

Before Ngobya died, he asked to be buried at Kitovu. He died on January 9, when Masaka was cut off by the war. It was decided that they bury him in Rubaga. But towards the end of the requiem mass, Cardinal Nsubuga announced that he had decided to cancel the burial and wait for chance to return the body to Masaka. His body displayed many amazing signs. His glass coffin produced fog as if the body was sweating, a thing that puzzled the doctors who tried to treat it, but failed. 

It is said that on the day he was to be buried, his body ‘bled’ and soaked the bedsheets in which it had been wrapped. He was buried on February 20, 1986.