We Mourn the Passing of One of Our Brightest Students
The Saint Aloysius’ Minor Seminary (SAMS), Kitiwum, mourns the loss of an excellent student, Yufenyuy Aristine Nyuykighan. He was a final-year student and had started writing the practical examination for the GCE (General Certificate of Education). Aristine was very strong, never falling sick, but his sickness was a surprise and ate him up quickly. He fell ill on March 12, 2025, and just within two months and four days, he passed away. He passed on Friday, May 16, exactly a month before his birthday. He died at the age of 19 years, eleven months. June 16, 2025, would have made him 20 years old.
What follows are homilies for the Wake and the Funeral Masses:
Aristine Yufenyuy Nyuykighan was on the path to priesthood when his life was suddenly cut short.
WAKE MASS FOR YUFENYUY ARISTINE NYUYKIGHAN
THE SAMS CHAPEL ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 2025, AT 5:00 PM
MASS CELEBRATED BY THE BISHOP, MGR. GEORGE NKUO
First Reading; Wisdom 4:7-15
Second Reading; Romans 14:7-12
Gospel; John 14:1-6
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God and believe also in me. There are many rooms in my father’s house” (John 14:1-2).
HOMILY FOR THE WAKE MASS FOR YUFENYUY ARISTINE NYUYKIGHAN
By Fr. Tume Ronald Dinyuy
These were the words Christ addressed to us in the gospel text of Friday, May 16, 2025, the day our brother Aristine breathed his last.
On that Friday morning, when the Rector called Fr. Desmus and me and shocked us with the sad news of Aristine’s demise, these words from the gospel text re-echoed in my mind. And I felt consoled. I knew he died with the Lord.
And I could immediately imagine Jesus standing right beside Aristine, that morning when he was battling between life and death, and whispering to him: “My son, do not let your heart be troubled, just trust in God and trust also in me, for there are many rooms in my Father’s house. My son, I have prepared your room already. Have no fear. I want that where I am, you also may be.” This was our Lord talking to Aristine that Friday morning. And we know His words are valid, for He is the way, the truth, and the life.
What a consolation!
This evening, as we celebrate this wake-keeping Mass for our brother, Jesus addresses these words to us in a special way, as we heard in the gospel text. He tells each of us, “Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God and believe also in me.”
Let our tears be of faith and trust in God, for He alone knows why He created Aristine and the mission He sent him to accomplish here on earth. And if He has decided to call him back home, who are we to question his decision and wisdom? And so, we can only say like Job: “The Lord gave, the Lord has taken back...” (Job 1:21).
Even though Aristine’s death may seem untimely to many of us, the First Reading from the book of Wisdom reminds us that:
“The virtuous man, though he dies before his time, will find rest. Length of days is not what makes age honourable, nor the number of years the true measure of life… untarnished life, this is ripe old age.” And the author continues: “He (the virtuous man) has been carried off so that evil may not warp his understanding or deceitfulness seduce his soul.”
I want to believe this is why God called our brother home so early: so that evil may not warp his understanding or deceitfulness seduce his soul. This is the Wisdom of God. And so, let our hearts not be troubled.
Just shortly after President John Kennedy (the former president of the United States) was assassinated in 1963, a confident Barbara Jones wrote a tender poem titled: “Special Delivery from Heaven.” It was a message from the late president to his immediate family. Simply put, he tells them he is sorry he had to leave in such a hurry.
The final verse expressed his wish for all of them. It says:
“So, please carry on as you did before. Till all of us meet on heaven’s bright shore. Remember I love you, though you do not see me there.”
With a few changes of words, this same message comes down to us this evening. Our brother Aristine tells us that “He is sorry he had to leave in such a hurry. He is asking us to keep on going, to keep on loving one another, to keep trying as we have always done. He tells us that we will meet on heaven’s bright shore. He tells us that he is with us, though we do not see him.
This is part of our consolation and our faith that Jesus rose from the dead and promised a new life to all who would believe and live in Him. Death does not take life away; it changes this troubled life into a better and brighter life with God.
Like President Kennedy, our brother had to leave suddenly. Jesus warned us about this many times. He told us to be ready at every moment. To be prepared at every moment means to continue living in the spirit of Jesus, who loved His Heavenly Father and His fellow man. Let us try to please God and God alone in everything we do. Let us say no to sin and evil and tenderly love one another. Let us stay close to God always.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God and believe also in me.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord…. (3x)
May the soul of Aristine and all the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.
Amen.
After the 5:00 PM Mass, the students prayed the Divine Office for the dead. The prayers were solemn and directed toward the repose of Aristine's soul. The students went for dinner and came back for the next program.
The next Wake Mass was at 8:00 PM on Wednesday, May 21, 2025. The principal celebrant was Rev. Fr. Tume Ronald Dinyuy, and Fr. Desmus Keman preached the following sermon:
Aristine Yufenyuy enjoyed playing soccer.
HOMILY FOR THE WAKE MASS FOR YUFENYUY ARISTINE NYUYKIGHAN
SAMS KITIWUM CHAPEL ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 2025, AT 8:00 PM
By Fr. Keman Desmus
Dear friends in the Risen Lord,
We are once again gathered in this chapel this evening to offer mass and pray for our SP, our brother, our son, our friend Yufenyuy Aristine. We are here to pray, remember what he did for our community, and ask God to receive his soul into his eternal kingdom through our prayers.
This is our brother, young as he was, full of energy, living at home, descending the hill of the junction from Bamkikaay, standing over there, and seeing a beautiful school. Finally, he came to SAMS joyfully and entered the campus hoping to become a priest. If you were to ask him where he would be ordained, surely, he would have a precise date in his mind. All we can say is God has a better plan for him in heaven.
Two things shape our existence and yet remain beyond our grasp and understanding. Time and dates are the two mysteries. As St. Augustine mused, time is an enigma: “What then is time? If no one asks me, I know; If I wish to explain to him who he asks, I do not know.
It moves forward relentlessly, carrying us towards the inevitable moment when we step beyond its bounds. Death is the great equalizer; the moment time ceases to hold sway over us. Before drinking the Hemlock, Socrates reassured his disciples, “No one knows whether death may not be the greatest of all blessings for a man.”
Epicurus dismissed the fear of death, arguing that “when we exist, death is not; and when death exists, we are not.” Seneca urged us to " prepare our minds as if we have come to the very end of life.”
For us Christians, death is not an end but a passage. St. Paul reminds us: (Phil 1:21) “to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Our brother just fulfilled his earthly pilgrimage.
To all of us here, especially the young seminarians, death may seem untimely, yet in God’s providence, every soul is called at its appointed hour.
Though brief, our brother's life was a testament to faith, service, and devotion. Historically, death has dealt with seminarians of SAMS Kitiwum. If I am to go by history, Aristine is the third seminarian to die during an academic year.
The first to die was Nuh Desmond, the second Fonsisi Clovis (from Mbiame), and the third Aristine Yufenyuy Nyuykighan.
Apart from these three, thirteen ex-seminarians have died. Azefor Jude, Fontan King, Laudislaus Muala, Ralph Kimbo, Ndzedzeni Frankline, Bangsi Javis, Mbiydzenyuy Kizito, Ntangri Albert, Monjang Jerome, Akieta Gerald, Lukong Ben Collins, Valery and Rev. Fr. Thomas Didimus. May their souls rest in perfect peace. Amen.
I want to share some striking events about our lost brothers.
Fr. Thomas Didimus was our Senior Prefect (SP) (students’ leader), and he was ordained for the Diocese of Buea. His Bishop sent him for studies, and he started preparing his documents. On the Douala-Yaounde highway, he had an accident and died immediately.
Second, Ntangri Albert was my classmate and the first seminarian to have eleven A Grades at the GCE Ordinary Level since the creation of this seminary. While he was out of the country, he had his fiancée with him, with whom he was preparing to get married. They went out to swim, and when he discovered the fiancée was drowning, he struggled to save her, but both died.
Thirdly and lastly, Monjang Jerome was also my classmate, who graduated and became a military man. He was sent to the North to fight Boko Haram. Then one day, a Boko haram wanted to bomb people, and when he discovered it, he ran into the scene and carried the bomb with him, running to discard it, but it exploded on him, and he died.
Did our brothers do something wrong to die this way? No. It was God’s providence that they would die that way. (God’s ways are not our ways (Is 55:8-9). We ought to reconcile with God and our fellow brothers and sisters. The first reading nicely puts it: Those who die with the Lord, Happy are these because their good deeds go with them.
Our brother here did not die because he was the worst student on campus. All of us can testify that, though in his weakness, he did his best to be a good example to the junior ones. Aristine was a good boy and an honest student, and he loved where he was. Truly, he was a true child of God.
The second reading reminds us of the love our Father has lavished on us and that we are called children of God. All of us are God’s children, and if we are to know what lies in the future for us, we will beg to die now. The beatific vision is sweet.
Let us love one another with the kind of love Christ loved us. Be quick to apologize and reconcile with God and with one another. Let us not wait for the last second to enter heaven like the Good Thief in today's Gospel.
May the passing of our brother Aristine remind us of the fleeting nature of time and the call to live with purpose, knowing that with Christ, death is not the end but the beginning of eternal life.
Eternal rest grant to him, O Lord x 3
May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.
The Funeral took place on Thursday, May 22, 2025. About 2,000 people were in attendance. I celebrated and preached at the funeral Mass. The crowd's presence was consoling to us and the family. The parents of the rest of the SAMS students contributed to supporting the family in paying some bills. I preached the following homily:
THE FUNERAL OF YUFENYUY ARISTINE NYUYKIGHAN
THURSDAY, MAY 22, 2025, AT CATHOLIC CHURCH, KIKAIKELAKI (k4).
HOMILY
By Fr. Emmanuel Fale Lon
First Reading: Isa. 57:1-2; 14-20
Psalm 23: My Shepherd is the Lord, nothing indeed shall I want
Second Reading: Rev. 21: 1-5a, 6b-7
Gospel: Jn. 5:24-29
Dear Mr. Yufenyuy Emmanuel Govti, the father of our beloved son, Aristine.
Dear Madam Gertrude Bonglam, the mother of our beloved son, Aristine,
Dear Brian Nsahdzenyuy, dear Ruddy Sengafor, dear Nelly Bongla, dear Frian Nyuyfoni (the siblings of Aristine). We can imagine and feel part of your pain for the loss of your son, your brother, Yufenyuy Aristine Nyuykighan. Some say that the natural order is that children should bury their parents. I wonder who says so, God or man? However, it is always the wish of good children to see their parents grow old and to bury them when they die. It is always the wish of good children to take care of their parents until death. When that order is reversed, the pain is enormous. Dear family members of Aristine’s family, please accept our sincere sympathy for the pain you are going through. I do not know how I can stop you from feeling the way you think but have consolation in the promises of Christ: “where I am, you shall be also.”
Dear members of the SAMS Community and the students of SAMS, Kitiwum, friends of Aristine, you are undergoing the same pain because Aristine was already a member of our family. We are devastated by his death. Aristine, we love and miss you. We can only say with Job: “The Lord gave, the Lord has taken back, blessed be the name of the Lord.”
My dear Rev. Fathers, Dear Rev. Sisters, Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we have all gathered here to pay tribute to this exceptional student. Yesterday, I visited Saint Elizabeth General Hospital in Shisong to settle some bills for Aristine. Afterward, I came to town to buy a few things and met some people who knew Aristine. They all confirmed that Aristine was a nice, well-behaved boy. One of them said, “When he comes for his vacation, some of us who are readers in Church would have a rest because he would do everything for us.”
I learned last evening, talking with some teachers after the 8:00 PM Mass for Aristine, that during one of the peak moments of the Anglophone Crisis, there were only six students in Aristine's class: Yufenyuy Aristine, Narcisse Pride, Mofor Manual, Wamey Trinitas, Cornelius Safe (he left by the end of the first term), and Materla Brent. Shey Princeley Wacha joined them after escaping to Nigeria, but returned because he did not understand the educational system in Nigeria. Then, he joined this class in form two. Shey Princeley used to go hunting, setting traps to catch animals, and when he noticed one, he would tell the teacher, “Sir, I just caught an animal.” There were five of them in the second term. They came after the kidnapping of more than 100 students from Saint Augustine’s College.
Aristine championed the class, while Wamey Trinitas would disappear and reappear. Aristine ensured that they were enrolled in school. Fr. Clifford and Fr. Fabrice were leaving, while Fr. Paul Bongte was the acting rector.
This batch could be called a trial batch. They endured challenging moments but remained strong, with Aristine acting like their general. They had survived the crisis up to this point, but then suffered a casualty, not due to the situation of the crisis itself, but because of illness. The cold hands of death grasped him when Aristine was holding his head high and thinking of proceeding with his formation toward the Diocesan priesthood.
Aristine was born on June 16, 2005, here at Kikaikelaki to the family of Mr. Yufenyuy Emmanuel Govti, Mrs. Gertrude Bonglam. On March 12, 2025, he suddenly noticed his legs were swollen. He indicated that to me, and I told him to go to the hospital immediately. He was diagnosed with Grade III HTN, which stands for hypertension, which means high blood pressure. It refers to a condition where the force of blood against the artery walls is persistently too high. This can increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, and other health problems. It degenerated to kidney failure at a faster rate. While still in the hospital in Shisong, he wrote this to me: “Good evening, Fr. It’s Aristine and I am still in the hospital. The doctor is still scheduled to see me tomorrow to discuss my health situation. But I don’t know what she will say. Please, Father, I need earnest prayers, and I would also appreciate it if you could ask the students to pray for me. Thank you so much, Father, and I hope to see you soon.” I informed the students about the situation and offered several Masses on his behalf.
He was discharged from Shisong Hospital and referred to the General Hospital in Bamenda. I took him to Bamenda on Saturday, March 15, 2025, and on Thursday, March 20, 2025, he went to the hospital. He returned and happily reported to me that the high blood pressure was already under control and the swollen legs had disappeared. However, he was to go back to Bamenda for another appointment. He went to Bamenda again on March 30 and April 4, 2025, when things were not okay. He was struggling with his health issues and at the same time doing his GCE practical exams. On May 11, 2025, he and his friends came to see me to say that he needed to go home and monitor the situation with his family. I saw that as the better option so that the parents could follow him closely. On Thursday, May 15, the father took him to Saint Augustine’s College for his GCE practicals in Information Technology (ICT). His health situation had already aggravated. He could not take the exam, and his father brought him home. At 3:00 am the next day, his father rushed him to the hospital due to the deteriorating condition. After Mass on Friday morning, I received a call from his father that they had been referred again to Bamenda and that he had already arranged for a vehicle to carry them there. Just fifteen minutes after this information, the father called again to say that Aristine had passed away.
This message came to me like a bomb blast. I was confused. I summoned his classmates and spoke to them, but did not give them the information about his death. After a short while, before heading to the hospital, I asked the students to gather in the chapel. I asked the spiritual director, Fr. Desmus Keman, and Fr. Tume Ronald to inform the students about Aristine’s death.
Aristine lived on Earth for 19 years and 11 months. He was to be precisely 20 years old on June 16, 2025, but he died a month before his birthday. He was sick for two months, four days. He was the Senior Prefect (Students’ Leader) for the 2024/2025 Academic Year. He handed over this position in March to prepare for his GCE. He is one of the students who has never been sick. He excelled in the field of football (soccer). His team gave my team a tough time during the Rector’s competition. He was committed, full of zeal, and had a great ambition to see himself as a priest to serve at the altar of the Lord. We grieve his disappearance from us, but we turn to God for our consolation.
In the first reading for this funeral Mass, we read: “The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter peace; they find rest as they lie in death.” The death of Aristine is not the end of his life. It is the beginning of new life in Christ. Aristine is now seeing “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.” He is seeing the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. Where he is now is “God’s dwelling place, which is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Rev. 21: 1ff).
In the words of Christ in the Gospel, we read: “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned” (Jn. 5:29). Aristine was a good boy. Because of his goodness, he was granted the opportunity to receive the last sacrament shortly before he died. I was delighted when the chaplain of Shisong hospital, Rev. Fr. Bertrand, told me that he had given the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick to Aristine just shortly before he died. Thus, his sins were forgiven, and he was prepared for entry into heaven. What a great way to die! I always pray for a good death, and Aristine fulfilled one of the conditions for a good death. Those conditions are: 1) There should be a priest to hear one’s confession if he/she is still able to speak, 2) to receive Holy Communion as Viaticum, and to receive the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. Aristine was able to fulfill the last condition.
Dear friends, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, death is the separation of the soul from the body. Ultimately, the soul will be reunited with the resurrected body at the Last Judgment” (CCC1005). The Fathers of the Church's teachings about death incorporated Old Testament elements. Their education was designed to inspire faith in the resurrection of the body and eternal life with God, utilizing a Christian version of consolatio mortis. Christians buried their dead, which expressed their hope for the resurrection. We shall bury Aristine in hope for his resurrection in Christ Jesus our Lord. May our faith in the resurrection of the dead be deepened as we continue to pray that Aristine may rest in peace.
Before going home, Aristine said to me: “Father, when I get well, I will like you to come and talk to my parents because they are not living together.” Dear parents or Aristine, it was his wish to see you together. He is looking down on you from the skies. Make him happy by coming together as husband and wife. Dear parents, scattered marriages lead to scattered children, and I dare to say, wayward children. Learn from our fore parents who lived together till death separated them. The children want to see their parents together.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord x3
May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.
-Fr. Emmanuel Fale Lon, SD