BIOGRAPHY OF MOST REV. DR. GABRIEL BLAMO SNOSIO JUBWE

The son of a diplomat, Monsignor Gabriel Blamo Snosio Jubwe was born to Liberian parents from Sasstown (GrandKru County, Liberia) in Lagos (Nigeria) on September 7, 1958. The youngest of five children, he received the Sacraments of Initiation and attended Holy Cross Cathedral School and Nigeria Premier College in Lagos respectively. Providentially, it was while serving as Altar Server at SS. Mulumba & David Catholic Church in Surulere (Lagos), especially at the elevation of consecrated host at Mass, that the young Gabriel felt the urge to offer his life as a Priest, emulating his Parish Priest, Monsignor Patrick Somide (RIP). Although he had but one year to complete secondary school education, his devout Catholic father preferred he terminated his studies to start training for the priesthood at the St.  Theresa’s Minor Seminary, (Oke-Are, Nigeria), since Liberian seminarians were at the time sent outside of Liberia for priestly training in Nigeria and Ghana. But, with the establishment of the Major Seminary in Gbarnga (Liberia) by the Inter-Territorial Catholic, Bishops’ Conference of Liberia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia, the late Rev. Fr. James Bryne, SMA, the then Vocations’ Director in Liberia advised that the young Gabriel should first complete the normal secondary school in Nigeria. Then, returning to Liberia, young Gabriel discerned the genuineness of his vocation to the Priesthood 

and completed his college education at the St. Paul’s College-Seminary in Gbarnga, where he subsequently graduated with Bachelor’s degrees in Philosophy and Theology. The late Archbishop Michael Kpakala Francis ordained Msgr. Jubwe a priest on December 18, 1983 in his home parish of Sacred Heart Cathedral in Monrovia. At 25 years of age, he was at the time the youngest Liberian-born priest. After two years of priestly service in rural and urban settings, he completed his Licentiate and Doctorate degrees with  specialization in Liturgical Theology at the Pontifical University of 5t. Anselm in Rome in 1991. 

The late Pope John Paul 1l was aware of Msgr. Jubwe’s importance and His Holiness and the late Archbishop-Emeritus Michael Kpakala Francis underlined this in 1999 when the Bishop of Rome bestowed on him the title of Monsignor on February 12, 1999. Having shared his professional expertise for a few years at the Harbel College (Margibi County), he received Academic Award with the Conferral of Distinguished Professor Emeritus on February 04, 2022. 

Besides his pastoral responsibilities as Pastor of St. Pius X Parish, Msgr. Jubwe taught English at St. Pius X Catholic High School and gave a few courses at the Trinity College of Professional Studies and Harbel College respectively until his appointment as the Diocesan Administrator of the Archdiocese of Monrovia on October 1, 2021. 

On February 28, 2024, Pope Francis nominated Monsignor Jubwe as Archbishop of Monrovia.

He was consecrated as the THIRD Metropolitan Archbishop of the Ecclesiastical Province of Monrovia on May 4, 2024 at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Monrovia.