On June 17, in Douala, Cameroon, Mama Pauline passed away. She had the joy of experiencing her baptism for two months before finding its fullness in the Father’s house. “Do not hold me back; let me go: I am going to the right hand of the Father,” she told her daughters shortly before she died. She reminded them of the things that mattered most: “I leave you my peace; share it, remain united, live in peace, avoid quarrels, do not be greedy: share with one another. Do not allow yourselves to be led away from the path of goodness.”
From the day of her baptism, Pauline joyfully received Communion every week at the home of her daughter Nadège, where she had been living for some time. She had agreed to share her story.
She was born in western Cameroon. Official documents state that she was born in 1938, although it was certainly earlier, since she clearly remembered the Second World War. Her mother, Bernadette, a devout Catholic, had been given in marriage to the leading notable of the village, who was a polygamist. Pauline was her eighteenth child, but almost all the children born before her had died shortly after birth. Someone told Bernadette that, in order to save the baby, she should give birth at her own mother’s house. She did so, and a baby girl was born. Bernadette did not give her a name, fearing that death might take her away as well. A few months later, the father died and, according to custom, Bernadette was given in marriage to her late husband’s half-brother.
People began calling the little girl “Tchelezie” (“Nameless”). When she was ten years old, she decided to attend catechism classes. She went in the morning and in the evening, taking advantage of her adoptive father’s absence. One morning, however, he saw her walking up the hill.
“Where are you going?” he asked her.
“I’m going to catechism.”
“Who told you to go there? Go back inside! So, you want to follow God while I am trying to find you a husband, even if he is a polygamist?”
That day, the man beat her severely. Tchelezie then stopped attending catechism, although she continued going to Mass.
When she was about fifteen years old, the village chief came by her house one day and asked her adoptive father to give her in marriage to his son. Her father agreed; in exchange, the chief gave him a woman from his own family as a wife. Tchelezie tried to escape, but she was brought back.
Her husband was Catholic; later, however, he took another wife and eventually died. Tchelezie gave birth to eleven children. Completely devoted to her responsibilities as a mother, she stopped attending church. Despite the hardships she faced, she maintained a joyful spirit.
When she grew old, Tchelezie settled in Douala with her daughter Nadège, surrounded by the love and affection of her family. Encouraged by her sister-in-law Cécile, she made a decision: “I want to return to the way of the Lord!”
Nadège informed the parish priest, Fr. Robert, a Xaverian missionary, who entrusted her to a catechist who spoke her language.
On April 25, 2026, in the courtyard of her home, surrounded by her children, grandchildren, and neighbors, Tchelezie received the sacraments of Christian initiation, taking the name Pauline. She danced with joy together with Cécile and the entire family.
“Baptism is the most beautiful thing that has ever happened to me,” she would say.
Pauline was always joyful. She said that her secret was to joyfully accept whatever burden the Lord entrusted to her, knowing that nothing happens without His will. She was not afraid of death because she knew that, once her time on earth had come to an end, it would be crowned by entering into the presence of the Lord. For her, death was the Lord saying to her: “Come and sit beside me.”
All her children and grandchildren have been baptized except Nadège, who deeply longs to receive baptism. It was Nadège herself who, with the fervor of a true believer, translated into the local language the brief catechetical reflections that accompanied Pauline’s weekly Communion.
In Pauline’s memory, a Mass was celebrated in the courtyard of her home, accompanied by the same choir that had sung at her baptism. At the end of the celebration, according to her wishes, a fraternal meal was offered to everyone present.
