The late Sr. Teresa Marie Epie, fondly called Sr. TM, first Cameroonian Missionary Sister of our Lady of the Holy Rosary (MSHR), who was called back home to her Maker on December 4, 2025, at the age of 99, has been laid to rest at the Congregation’s Cemetery on the premises of the MSHR Candidacy, Ngomgham, Bamenda – Cameroon.
Following the removal of the mortal remains of the iconic Sr. TM from the Akum Hospital Mortuary on December 20, 2025, after a service conducted by Rev. Fr. Ernest Njodzeven, Parish Priest of St. Pius X Parish, Akum, she was conveyed to the Immaculate Conception Parish, Ngomgham, for the funeral Mass and burial thereafter at the Candidacy.
The funeral Mass was officiated by the Very Rev. Mongsr. Anthony Viban, on behalf of the Most Rev. Andrew Fuanya Nkea, Archbishop of Bamenda, who was unavoidably absent. Concelebrating were: the Very Rev. Mongsr. John Bosco Ambe, Very Rev. Monsignor. Lucas Sanosi, Rev. Fr. John Paul Ambe, Parish Priest of Immaculate Conception Parish, Ngomgham, among other priests, including Rev. Fr. Charles Ajebe-Sone, grand-nephew of the late Sr. TM from the Archdiocese of Douala, and Fr. Cletus, Sr. TM’s junior cousin from Mamfe Diocese.
In a homily during the Mass, Monsignor. Viban touched on the First Reading from the Book of Sirach, which offers a practical wisdom for mourning, encouraging all who mourn to seek healing and to remember that life is a gift from God, and at the same time, challenges all to have a balanced view of life, recognizing the value of death and life after death. Death, to him, is not the end, but a transition; a change from one form of existence to another. “At death, we do not cease to exist; we continue to exist in a different form,” he buttressed.
The homilist called on the Christians to use the medium of the Eucharistic Celebration to hand over the soul of Sr. TM to the Lord, not in sorrow, but with celebration and thanksgiving, because hers was “a life well lived; a vocation well fulfilled.
Reflecting further on the Second Reading, which reminds all of the inevitability of rendering an account of one’s life to the Lord at the end of time, Mongsr. Viban drew parallels with the life of Sr. TM vis-à-vis the Reading: “Sr. Teresa Marie was a simple woman, a God-fearing woman, one who was aware of the presence of God and the fact that she would be judged at the end of her life,” he underpinned.
Celebrating how well Sr. Teresa Marie lived the community life, inspiring so many around her, including the young people she encountered while in the Education ministry, in Okoyong, St. Francis and Our Lady of Lourdes College, Mankon, the Rev. Monsignor urged the faithful, and consecrated persons in particular to take community living very seriously, as they will render accounts of their lives at the end.
He simplified the life of Sr. TM in the community as one of “uniting everybody, serving everybody, for the good of everybody.
He prayed that such a uniting force of Sr. TM be emulated by all religious communities in this day and age, so that their lives are fashioned for the Lord, and for Him alone.
He praised the brevity of Sr. TM for embracing the Religious life at a time when it was considered a “crazy” thing to do, and a thing reserved for the Whites.
“Here is this young Cameroonian who offered herself to become a religious, and lived the life so honestly, so sincerely, so inspiring, that so many people were called to follow her,” he affirmed.
Touching on the Gospel passage from Luke 7:11-17, which demonstrates the compassion of Jesus and power over death, the Priest reassured the mourners that Christ was right there in the Eucharistic celebration, restoring life and bringing new hope, just like he did to the widow of Naim.
To the Regional Leader of the Missionary Sisters of our Lady of the Holy Rosary, who has buried more than two sisters during her tenure in office, the homilist urged her to gain consolation, assuring her that she was not only burying them, but “sending them to God”, since she took over the batten when the Congregation has matured, and burying the old, or sending them to God, is a sign of a mature Congregation, he remarked.
According to Mongsr. Viban, Sr. TM, was born into a fully Catholic background, where Catholic values were instilled in her, and she was able to live those values and impart the lives of so many people, enduring all difficulties she encountered on her journey because of her sincere love for God, who had called her.
She was the daughter of a veteran catechist, Sango Epie, a man who is known to have held on to and spread the faith, together with Fr. Leo Underwalsters, in the then Southern Cameroons, now the North West and South West Regions, after the departure of the German fathers from Cameroon.
As he prayed for the peaceful repose of the soul of the iconic Sr. Teresa Marie, entrusting her to the maternal care of the Blessed Mother, the priest called upon all young people to emulate her example and be able to live a true Christian life.
In a vote of thanks at the close of the funeral Mass, Sr. Martina Ogar, Regional Leader, reminisced about Sr. TM’s favourite Bakossi expressions and Pidgin song “One day, one day, we too go go, Jerusalem to see Jesus…,” to the listening and singing pleasure of the keen mourners gathered in the Church.
She was deeply thankful to the Very Rev. Monsignor Viban for accepting to officiate at the Mass on very short notice, other concelebrating Monsignors and Priests, Religious men and women (who had come out in their numbers), for setting aside other equally important commitments, to come and mourn with them and lay their dear Sr. TM to rest.
Sr. Ogar equally acknowledged the presence of the ex-students of Our Lady of Lourdes College, Mankon (LESANS), Okoyong Past students (OPSANS), and St. Francis ex-students (FESANS), all of whom Sr. TM had inspired in one way or the other.
The Regional Leader was happy to announce that the LESANS of 1990 batch, have offered to take up responsibility of one aspect of the yet-to-be completed Regional House at Our Lady of Lourdes College Compound, on which they intend to inscribe the name of Sr. Teresa Marie Epie, as a way of immortalizing her, in addition to the fond memories they already have of her.
Still in the litany of thanks, Sr. Ogar expressed profound gratitude to the Immaculate Conception Choir, who animated at the Mass and at the cemetery. They gave Sr. TM just what she loved – good liturgy.
The Mothers of the Church, the CWA, were not left out, together with the CMA, the Holy Rosary Associates, Altar servers, the biological family of Sr. TM, from Baseng and Kumba, who had “practically helped us to take care of Sr. TM at the time when she was very frail” and of course, the Holy Rosary Sisters and Candidates.
By Sr. Sylvie Lum Cho, MSHR (Sister Communicator)
