Your Excellencies,

I write with profound respect and ecclesial deference to petition, jointly and formally, for the opening of a diocesan inquiry into the life, virtues, and reputation for holiness (fama sanctitatis) of Fr. John Brummelhuis, MHM, a Dutch missionary priest of the Mill Hill Missionaries whose ministry profoundly shaped the Church and society in what is today the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province of Cameroon.

This petition is respectfully addressed to Your Excellencies collectively, in recognition that Fr. Brummelhuis’s life and witness transcend a single diocesan boundary. His priestly ministry was exercised extensively in territories now comprising the Dioceses of Buea, Mamfe, and Kumba, and he concluded his earthly life at the Cistercian Monastery in Mbengwi, within the Archdiocese of Bamenda. For this reason, a joint provincial discernment appears both canonically legitimate and pastorally fitting.

Grounds for the Petition

In accordance with Divinus Perfectionis Magister (1983) and Sanctorum Mater (2007), I respectfully submit that the threshold conditions for opening a diocesan inquiry are credibly met in the case of Fr. John Brummelhuis, MHM:

1. Enduring Reputation for Holiness (Fama Sanctitatis)
2. Fr. Brummelhuis is remembered with deep affection and reverence, particularly in Lebialem Division, where he is widely and enduringly known as “Fr. John the Road.” This title reflects not folklore, but popular recognition of a life that concretely liberated communities from isolation through pastoral, infrastructural, and sacramental service. His memory remains alive across generations without institutional promotion.
3. Heroic Exercise of Christian Virtue
4. Available historical documentation and first-hand testimony attest to habitual and coherent excellence in the theological and cardinal virtues, including:
   • Heroic charity, expressed through decades of physical labor, pastoral service, and personal financial sacrifice for impoverished communities;
   • Heroic prudence and justice, exercised in non-sectarian engagement with political authorities during a fragile post-unification period;
   • Heroic fortitude, demonstrated through unjust arrest and imprisonment in Nigeria during the Civil (Biafran) War, followed by peaceful perseverance in mission;
   • Unblemished chastity and moral integrity, sustained across decades and diverse ministerial contexts;
   • Heroic obedience, culminating in voluntary withdrawal from active mission to embrace contemplative Cistercian monastic life.
5. Absence of Scandal and Coherence of Life
6. No evidence of moral scandal has emerged. On the contrary, testimony consistently affirms a life of prayer, humility, integrity, and fidelity. His daily celebration of the Eucharist, faithful recitation of the Divine Office, Marian devotion, and quiet demeanor reveal an interior life fully consonant with his exterior works.

Canonical Competence

Canonically, the initiation of this cause may be undertaken by:

• the Bishop of the Diocese of Buea, where Fr. Brummelhuis was worked as a Mill Hill Missionary;
• the Bishop of the Diocese of Mamfe, where a substantial portion of his missionary and developmental work occurred;
• the Bishop of the Diocese of Kumba, where he later exercised pastoral ministry;
• or the Archbishop of Bamenda, in whose Archdiocese he died.

Given this shared competence, I respectfully propose that a joint initiative by the bishops of the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province would most fittingly reflect the regional scope of his witness and the ecclesial communion his life embodied.

Purpose of This Petition

This petition does not presume judgment on sanctity, which belongs to the Church alone. Rather, it humbly requests that the Church undertake the duty of discernment by opening a diocesan inquiry, appointing a postulator, and gathering sworn testimony, archival material, and historical evidence in accordance with canonical norms.

Such discernment would serve not only the truth of Fr. Brummelhuis’s life but also the pastoral vitality of the local Church, offering the faithful a concrete model of missionary holiness rooted in African soil, lived in humility, and consummated in contemplative surrender.

I respectfully place this petition under your prayerful consideration and remain at your disposal for any clarification, documentation, or assistance required.

Assuring Your Excellencies of my filial respect and prayers, I remain

Yours faithfully in Christ,

Januarius Asongu, PhD

Chancellor, Saint Monica University, Buea, Cameroon

PS: I lived with Fr John the Road (1993-94).