D
detoutcoeur
Guest
‘I only wanted to be healed so that I could become a priest’:
** African man on road to sainthood died before his priestly dream could come true**
*Day after day, little Jean-Thierry made ice from 20 liters of lemon juice to sell on the street. **He never even took a tiny taste of it himself, no matter how dry his throat became from the heat and the dust.**He was doing this to help his parents earn their livelihood, because the family was poor.**But in his heart the little boy carried a big dream: He wanted to be like Jesus.**And in order to achieve this, he wanted to become a priest.**The boy who never took a taste of the lemon ice and who wanted to be like Jesus, never did become a priest.*In 2006, he died at the age of only 23.
*But many other young men in Cameroon and its neighbouring countries have discovered their calling through him, because when Jean-Thierry Ebogo died, he was known for having lived a holy life or *in fama sanctitatis (“with a reputation for holiness”).*The beatification process was already concluded at the diocesan level in 2014, and so Jean-Thierry now officially bears the title of “Servant of God”.
** African man on road to sainthood died before his priestly dream could come true**
*Day after day, little Jean-Thierry made ice from 20 liters of lemon juice to sell on the street. **He never even took a tiny taste of it himself, no matter how dry his throat became from the heat and the dust.**He was doing this to help his parents earn their livelihood, because the family was poor.**But in his heart the little boy carried a big dream: He wanted to be like Jesus.**And in order to achieve this, he wanted to become a priest.**The boy who never took a taste of the lemon ice and who wanted to be like Jesus, never did become a priest.*In 2006, he died at the age of only 23.
*But many other young men in Cameroon and its neighbouring countries have discovered their calling through him, because when Jean-Thierry Ebogo died, he was known for having lived a holy life or *in fama sanctitatis (“with a reputation for holiness”).*The beatification process was already concluded at the diocesan level in 2014, and so Jean-Thierry now officially bears the title of “Servant of God”.
- *Thousands attended his funeral and, even today, countless people feel drawn to him; he has helped many.**Large numbers of people come to visit his grave.**Before he died, he promised to give Africa a veritable “rain” of vocations to the priesthood.**He seems to have kept his word…*Actually, he was just a normal boy, cheerful and helpful, popular among his mates, but also among the girls.
He was born on February 4, 1982, in Bamenda, in north-western Cameroon.
*At the age of only five or six, however, he was already fascinated by the missionaries and the crosses they wore around their necks.**From then on, his longing to become a priest grew ever stronger.**When he was thirteen, he wrote poems in which he expressed his deep and gentle piety: - “I entrust you with my life, my being for all of eternity.
“Can I find better elsewhere? No, you are truly the best, of this I hold the proof.
“You created me, you made me.
“With love you crowned me.”
*However, it did not just stop at beautiful words, because he followed the call of God without hesitation.**At the age of 21, he entered the monastery of the Discalced Carmelites in Nkoabang.**In 2004, he was admitted to the novitiate and took the monastic name “Jean-Thierry of the Child Jesus and of the Passion”.
**And these two mysteries were to have profound impact on his future – a trusting childhood before God in the discipleship of the Saviour, who became a child, and the painful Way of the Cross that he suffered together with Christ.**These are two sides of the same coin and the young Jean-Thierry was drawn deeply into this mystery.*Only a few weeks after he was admitted to the novitiate, a malignant tumour was discovered on his right leg. Read more…