The Foundation And Its Foundress
The history of the Little Sons of the Eucharist is traceable to a small humble apostolate which was begun in Onitsha Anambra State by a pious lay Catholic business woman, Mrs. Angela Ogoamaka Ugwuka, popularly known around Onitsha as Nwa Mary (Mary’s Child). Even though she was a woman of very little formal education, she was able, with her husband, to build successfully a huge importation business with warehouses and shops in Onitsha (Bright Street in Main Market and Ochanja Market) and Lagos (Balogun Market) where shoes and cosmetics are sold respectively. She has been a Catholic and an active Christian since her younger days but the year 1988 marked a turning point in her spiritual life. Following a series of encounters with the Eucharistic Jesus, she developed an unexplainable deep love for the Church and her teachings and a hunting passion to help others understand the Church’s teachings. As a result, she began to channel much of her wealth to the works of charity and to support the training of seminarians in various major seminaries in South Eastern Nigeria. Armed with the teachings of the church and materials for charity, this uneducated woman moved into the dark holes of the poor sharing with them the love of Christ and bringing them to full participation in the Church’s life. This silent apostolate which became the obsession of Mrs. Ugwuka took her to numerous prisons, hospitals, orphanages, leprosy centers, old people’s homes, destitute homes, inner-city slums and major seminaries within and around South Eastern Nigeria.
As years passed by and she persevered in the work, God began to open her understanding to the deep mysteries and powers inherent in the Holy Eucharist.
She discovered a treasure, as Pope St John Paul II had taught that “in that little Host is the solution to all the problems of the world” Having become convinced that the key to the much needed renewal of the church is total reverence to Jesus in the Most Holy Eucharistic, she devotes her entire life, wealth and time travelling to various parishes and dioceses in Nigeria (Onitsha, Awka, Nnewi, Enugu, Abuja, Yola) teaching different Catholic groups and priests the mysteries and powers inherent in the Holy Eucharist.
