Bl. Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi
Posted on January 22, 2019 by admin No comments
Born: September 1903 Aguleri, Anambra, Nigeria
Died: 20 January 1964 Leicester, England
Venerated: in Roman Catholic Church
Beatified: 22 March 1998 by Pope John Paul II
Feast: 20 January
Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi (born in Aguleri, Anambra State, Nigeria in September 1903 – died in Leicester, England, 20 January 1964) was an Igbo Nigerian ordained a Roman Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Onitsha, Nigeria on 19 December 1937. He worked in the parishes of Nnewi, Dunukofia, Akpu/Ajalli and Aguleri.
He was later a Trappist Monk at Mount Saint Bernard Monastery in England. After being recommended by Cardinal Francis Arinze, who was inspired by Tansi as a boy (he had been one of Tansi’s students and knew him personally), he was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 22 March 1998, who said, “Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi is a prime example of the fruits of holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the missionaries, and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African and Nigerian.” His feast day is 20 January.
Heritage and early life
The British had colonized Nigeria before he was born. The British [Royal Niger Company] traded in Aguleri, buying palm oil from the local people to sell abroad. An incident happened when a local person named Onwurume wanted to take a little palm oil to put on his roasted yam (yam is the staple food of Igbo people, and palm oil to yams is the cultural equivalent of butter to bread) and he decided to puncture a barrel of palm oil to get some. When the hole he made caused the entire barrel to be emptied out, he ran away but was grabbed by employees of the Company and put into custody. When the local people heard about it they gathered together to negotiate with the company agents, but the company called for military reinforcements and arrested the twelve chiefs who came to negotiate, and then afterwards proceeded to attack the neighbouring villages, burning down the homes of the local people, pillaging their property as well as mistakenly destroying a nearby village of a different group that had no relation to the incident.
Michael’s father was Tabansi of Igbezunu, Aguleri. He was one of the people taken hostage by the Royal Niger Company, and later released. Michael was his first born, and he had another son with his first wife. Later he named his firstborn son ‘Iwe-egbune’ shortened to Iwene, meaning ‘let malice not kill’; which was the birth-name of Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi. His parents were poor farmers; they were not Christian. After the death of his first wife, Iwene’s father married again. He and his second wife had four boys and one girl.
When Iwene was a young child, he became permanently blinded in one eye as a result of a mud-fight with other children.
His father sent Iwene to Holy Trinity School in Onitsha, which was run by the Holy Ghost Fathers. Tabansi meant for his son to get a better education that would help lead their family out of poverty and so they would never again be taken advantage of by the westerners. Michael was baptized in July 7, 1913 with the Christian name of Michael. At the school, Michael served as an altar boy and catechist. Upon graduating, he became a teacher, and worked as a teacher from 1919-1925, Later, he became headmaster at St. Joseph’s school in Aguleri.
Seminarian
At that time there was little enthusiasm for Blacks becoming priests in Nigeria. The Bishop was Irish, and most of the clergy were Europeans. Bishop Shanahan saw the native Igbo, even after conversion, as still being steeped in paganism, and that it was going to be difficult to teach them to be proper priests. While Igbo could become priests they were subject to strict discipline and were often expelled from seminary for relatively minor lapses. The priests who taught them were concerned that only the very best men should become priests.
Michael attended the seminary at Igbariam from 1925-1937. His family was appalled at his entrance to the seminary, because they wanted him to go into business or something that would take them out of poverty, which was what his father had always planned. His family was poor and they desperately needed his help, but he felt that God, the same God he had learned about in the mission school his parents had sent him to as a child as a means of getting material benefits for the family, wanted him to continue in the seminary rather than do something else. There, he developed a particular devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Parish priest
At that time in Nigeria, almost all priests were foreign missionaries. Few Africans were being ordained to the priesthood. The foreign missionaries were generally unwilling to live in the same poverty or conditions that the native-born Nigerians endured, and as a result if an area wanted a parish priest the local people had to raise enough money so that the priest could live well. This included building a church and rectory (which rather than adobe or mud, could be brick or concrete, with two stories and a zinc roof), buying a car, scooter or bicycle for the priest’s use, European style foods including wine, chicken, tea, coffee, sausages, peas, potatoes, imported foods, etc.
As Black priests became more common some often followed the lifestyle of the foreign missionaries. Monks and nuns also lived more comfortably than most Nigerians and some people began looking at taking holy orders as a priest, monk or nun as a way to escape poverty.
Michael was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Onitsha on 19 December 1937. When he became a parish priest, he lived a very austere life in comparison to the other priests around him. He built his own home using adobe, mud brick or other traditional materials. He would sleep on any bed even if it is uncomfortable. He would eat even poorer food than what the local people ate, surviving on tiny portions of yam. He sometimes had a motorbike provided to him, but he often preferred to use a bicycle or even just to walk. He was not deterred from doing his work by tropical rainstorms.
His lifestyle shocked the Nigerian Catholics, who were not accustomed to this kind of priest. He became extremely popular and loved among the four parishes that he served in: Nnewi, Dunukofia, Akpu/Ajalli, and his home town Aguleri. He organized the community to help the poor and needy, and he personally would help people to build their own homes or perform other projects. He was very good at building homes, and taught people new building techniques with adobe or mud brick that were copied and used by the whole community. He was remembered as always being very kind.
He also stood up against oppression of women within the traditional culture and advised women to fight back against those who would rape them or mistreat them. On one occasion, a female parishioner was attacked by a group of males, and she fought back against them. Fr Michael, who was nearby, came on his bicycle and joined with her and fought them until they fled. He then encouraged her to bring the assailants to court and she did, and won the case against them, forcing them each to pay her four pounds; this case was a milestone in the establishment of women’s rights in Nigeria.
He was unyielding in confronting vice among his flock. He had a special interest in preparing young women for marriage. With the help of local nuns, the women were taught about Christian marriage and how to care for the children they would have. He would not allow men to see their brides before they got married, and he would organize the community to place the bride to be in a special home wherein she would be looked after until she got married, and if the groom attempted to go there without Fr. Tansi’s permission, he could be penalized. He also had a women’s group organized who would enforce disciplines on their own members to avoid pre-marital sex and deter abortion. He was also a very strict disciplinarian with students who failed to work hard at the parish school to the point of hiding near the school, waiting for the bell to ring, and then when he saw students coming late he would come out of his hiding place and penalise them for coming late to school.
He also was opposed to some aspects of the traditional pagan culture in Nigeria, especially the masquerades, who were believed to be spirits and used to punish innocent people at times. Nigerian pagans had murdered his own mother after claiming she was a witch who had caused mischief.
He gave the community advice and teachings about the right way to live in a practical fashion. For example, there were many mango trees in his locale, and it was common for people to go to the trees and throw rocks at the fruit, and in the process they would knock down far more than they were going to eat, or they knocked down the unripe fruit along with the ripened fruit; and as a result the tree would be denuded before the season was over. Michael considered this very wasteful, and told his parishioners to pluck each mango individually so that nothing was wasted and that they would not lack mangoes to eat later.
He was also remembered as being a perfectionist, which sometimes caused resentment among those under him. Later, his experience as a novice monk would give him insight into his earlier strict methods.
Veneration
He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 22 March 1998, at Oba, Nigeria, becoming the first West African to be beatified.
There is a statue of Father Tansi outside Most Holy Trinity Basilica in Onitsha. In 2010, Blessed Michael Cyprian Iwene Tansi was name a patron of Nigerian priests. Archbishop Most Rev. Valerian Okeke compared Father Tansi to St John Mary Vianney as models of sanctity.
Prayer to Bl. Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi
O God, who in your kindness called your servant Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansito follow the path of Christ as a priest and monk,grant, we pray, through his intercession,that, denying ourselves,we may hold fast to you with all our heart and be faithful followers of Christ. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi Pray for us.
Prayer to Bl. Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi
O God, who granted many graces to your servant, priest and monk, Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene TANSI, choosing him as a faithful instrument for evangelization and sanctification of your people, grant that I may also spend my life loving you and my neighbor and serving the church. Deign to glorify your servant, Blessed Cyprian Michael and through his intercession to grant me the favour I now ask in faith , ( mention your intention) Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
(One Our Father one Hail Mary and One Glory be)
Blessed Iwene Tansi, pray for us. Amen