Foundations in Yaba In early March 1951, three Dominicans, Fr. J.M. Dempsey OP, Fr. E.T Lawton OP, Fr. A. Kinsella OP and their Provincial Fr. Hughes, OP of the province of St. Albert the Great, left the chilly windy city of Chicago in the great lakes region of America for the beginning of their missionary work in the hot and humid coastal town of Lagos, Nigeria.
As early as 1946 Archbishop David Mathew, the Apostolic Delegate to English speaking East and West Africa, whose headquarters were at Mombasa, took steps to secure the presence of Dominicans in West Africa. He was particularly interested in their starting a center of higher studies in philosophy and theology for the emerging African elite and their giving retreats to priests and religious in Nigeria and Ghana. After weighing the merits of Accra, Ibadan and Lagos, on 4th October 1949 he wrote to the Provincial Fr. Edward Hughes asking for Dominicans of St. Albert's Province to come to Lagos. He also asked if the Dominicans would take a mission prefecture comprising the province of Sokoto.
Fr. Hughes wrote back immediately indicating that he would like to visit Lagos first before giving an answer. His visit in November 1949 with Fr. E.M. Cuddy was the first of five visits that Fr. Hughes was to make to Nigeria. On 16th January 1950 the Provincial Council unanimously approved the Lagos foundation. Archbishop Mathew was anxious for the new Dominicans to come in time for the International Eucharistic Congress beginning 19th February 1951 in Kumasi, the Gold Coast (now Ghana) where all the interested parties would be present and the future apostolates of the Dominicans discussed.
The pioneer team, Frs. Dempsey, Lawton and Kinsella, flew with Fr. Hughes from Ghana to Lagos after the International Eucharistic Congress. "For the first week," wrote one member of the team, "We were quartered, and in a sense drawn, at Service Inn, a stopover haven for transient missionaries. Here we did time, while the Provincial, the Archbishop of Lagos and the Apostolic Delegate discussed our future in Nigeria." On 28th February Archbishop Taylor wrote a formal invitation for the Dominicans to take responsibility for the Yaba mission, which was not yet erected as a parish, being a new place on the outskirts of Lagos. "The purpose of the coming of the Dominicans," Archbishop Taylor said, "is the establishment of a Thomistic Institute, a project suggested by the Apostolic Delegate. The Dominicans would also give retreats in Nigeria and the Gold Coast."
Moving to Yaba on the 4th of March 1951, the three priests were from the start most insistent on their common religious life, and carried out the complete prayer schedule prescribed by the Constitutions of the Order at that time. To help their common life and to take two other steps in the establishment of the Order in Africa they within two months of moving to Yaba, obtained from the Sacred Congregation of Religious the establishment of their community as a formal house.
Delegate Archbishop Mathew, not forgetting his original offer of the Sokoto mission prefecture on 18th May 1951 renewed his request to Fr. Hughes. Thereupon Fr. Lawton made a tour of Sokoto Province with Fr. Watson SMA in June and reported on the kind of work, which awaited the Dominicans there. Towards the end of that year the Apostolic Delegate wrote again to Fr. Hughes about the prefecture, this time adding Katsina Province to it and also requesting for American Sisters. "No question he is a pusher," remarked Fr. Hughes. In January 1952 the Provincial Council met and approved in principle the acceptance of the Prefecture comprising the then Sokoto and Katsina Provinces.
Fr. Hughes contacted. the Dominican Congregation of the Immaculate Conception, Great Bend, Kansas, and immediately twelve sisters volunteered for the work in Africa. To see the territory first hand Fr. Hughes, Fr. Peter O'Brien, Mother Aloysia and Sr. Benigna went on an exploratory trip, arriving in Lagos 2nd February 1953. They saw Kaduna, Gusau, Sokoto, Katsina and Kano. Both the Fathers and Sisters agreed to go ahead. On 29th June 1953 the Prefecture of Sokoto was established and on 15th January 1954 Fr. Lawton was appointed Prefect Apostolic. By then the enterprising Delegate Archbishop Mathew was given a different assignment. Before leaving he wrote to Fr. Hughes on 15th July 1953:
"The coming of the Dominicans to Nigeria has been one of the most important long-term developments that have been begun during my years in Africa."
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