[1][2] He was also the first Igbo to be ordained a priest in 1930 and the first bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Enugu which was created in 1963, the year of his installation.
He was born on 11 March 1898 in Onitsha, near an early missions settlement on the bank of the River Niger some 96 kilometres from Enugu.
His parents, Jacob and Ama Fatima Anyogu, were prominent worshippers at the Onitsha mission where their contribution to its growth, both as a base for European missionaries arriving in Nigeria as well as a training ground for prospective priests, was well known.
He returned to Nigeria in 1919 to continue his studies for the priesthood at Onitsha; he was among the first crop of priests to graduate from the Igbariam Seminary.
In addition to his studies there John Anyogu taught Latin to junior seminarians, using his own quarters as a makeshift classroom.
The following year Anyogu was transferred to Nteje where, in addition to other mission duties, he taught the Igbo language to Irish priests.
Before his death on 5 July 1967, the diocese of Enugu had become an important Catholic centre, not only for the eastern region for which it was the administrative headquarters, but also for Nigeria as a whole.