Benin City, July 28, 2026|Fr. Okhueleigbe Osemhantie Amos The Catholic Archdiocese of Benin City has announced the funeral arrangements for its late Metropolitan Archbishop, Most Rev. Dr. Augustine Obiora Akubeze, who died on July 9, 2026.
In a circular issued on Tuesday and signed by the Chancellor, Very Rev. Fr. Michael Oyanoafoh, the Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese, Most Rev. Donatus A. Ogun, OSA, announced that a Vigil Mass will be celebrated on Wednesday, August 12, at Holy Cross Cathedral, Mission Road, Benin Cit, beginning at 5:00 p.m, while the Funeral Mass will take place on Thursday, August 13, at St. Paul Catholic Church, Airport Road, Benin City, at 10:00 a.m.
“I am directed by the Most Rev. Donatus A. Ogun, OSA, Apostolic Administrator of the Catholic Archdiocese of Benin City, to inform you that the funeral arrangements for the late Archbishop Augustine Obiora Akubeze will take place as follows,” the circular stated.
The Archdiocese also invited the faithful to accompany the late prelate with prayer, urging: “As we prepare for his funeral, let us continue to pray for the repose of his soul.”
The announcement bears a symbolism that reaches beyond the calendar. Archbishop Akubeze, born on August 25, 1956, who died in the feast day of St. Augustine Zhao, will be laid to rest in the month of his birth and in the month when the universal Church celebrates St. Augustine of Hippo on August 28. . For a bishop who bore the name Augustine and whose episcopal ministry was distinguished by intellectual depth, pastoral gentleness and fidelity to the Gospel, the convergence is both poignant and evocative.
While the Church does not assign doctrinal significance to chronological coincidences, history often lends them a quiet eloquence. That Archbishop Akubeze’s earthly pilgrimage concludes in the liturgical season that honours one of Christianity’s greatest bishops and Doctors of the Church offers a fitting frame for reflecting on a life devoted to teaching, shepherding and proclaiming Christ.
The funeral liturgies are expected to draw bishops, priests, religious, civic leaders and thousands of faithful from across Nigeria and beyond, as the Church in Benin City gathers to commend its shepherd to the eternal embrace of the Good Shepherd whom he served with film faith until the end.
Fr. Dr. Okhueleigbe Osemhantie Ãmos
Priest of the Catholic Diocese of Uromi & a Lecturer at the Catholic Institute of West Africa, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
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