For members of St. Fortunata’s Nigerian Igbo community, Sunday Feb. 22 was not just the First Sunday of Lent. It was also the East New York parish’s annual remembrance of the Holy Family’s flight to Egypt.

The tradition of remembering the account in St. Matthew’s Gospel, which came after King Herod ordered the slaying of the Holy Innocents, was begun at St. Fortunata by Deacon Okafor Uzoigwe in 2006. It is usually held within the Church’s official Christmas season. But despite its late date this year, the day blended African traditions with Catholic worship as well as a deeper view of the New Testament story.

“Jesus went to Africa and set His feet there,” Brooklyn Auxiliary Bishop Guy Sansaricq, who was the main celebrant at the Mass, said to explain the day. “Africa welcomed Christ. It was a place of refuge and shows the African continent is part of our universal salvation.”

Father Cosmas Nzeabalu of St. Mary Magdalene parish, Springfield Gardens, is the coordinator of ministry to Nigerian immigrants. He says there are about 75 Nigerian families living in St. Fortunata’s and he ministers to about 250 families.

“Today is a reminder to them that Africa, and Egypt is Africa, was a place of hospitality (for Jesus), a place where He was safe,” Father Nzeabalu said. “America is now a place of safety where Nigerian immigrants can achieve their dreams.”

About 300 people attended Sunday’s Mass. It began with a figurine of the Infant Jesus carried into the church at the head of the opening procession of priests, deacons, members of the parish’s Knights of Columbus contingent and Bishop Sansaricq. The statuette was then placed in a ceremonial cradle during the service until it was carried out, cradle and all, at the end of Mass.

Many of the Igbo women wore traditional satin headdresses, called geles, in vibrant greens and blues along with gold-colored skirts that had passages from St. Matthew’s Gospel and images of the Holy Family’s flight from Israel sewn into the fabric. Many men in the congregation wore Igbo pullover shirts known as isiagus.

During the service, the parish’s Igbo choir, accompanied by traditional Nigerian drums and other instruments, enthusiastically sang hymns in English, Latin and African dialects.

“We try to celebrate Africa, and not just Nigerian songs,” choir director Kingsley Uche said. “We sang in Igbo and other African languages for people who are here from other tribes because it is good for people to hear their own songs.”

But many of those songs did not last for just a verse or two, whether they were the Igbo hymn “Nso Nso (Holy, Holy)” or the Latin chant “Ecce Sacerdos” that’s sung when a bishop is present for Mass.

“Most of our celebrations are a bit longer,” Uche said referring to the extended songs. “That’s how we do it back home.”

Chika Onyia, an Igbo parishioner at St. Fortunata’s, was a lector at Sunday’s Mass.

“Every time I come to this, it gives me hope,” she said. “As Jesus was accepted in Africa, everyone should be accepted as one in the whole of humanity. That will allow us to live in peace.”

Onyia said the day also allows her to reflect on her own life of coming to Brooklyn from a foreign land.

“It was hard in the beginning,” she said, “but now I take America as my home. It has opened a window as a place where my children can be accepted.”

With the Mass completed, the community moved to the St. Fortunata School gym across the street. There, amid trays of homemade Nigerian food, inspirational speeches from Igbo leaders and traditional dancing, they continued their festivities and began to look forward to the 10th anniversary of their Flight to Egypt celebration next year.