Blessed Cyprain Iwegbuna (Iwene) Tansi. Monk

Born September 1903
Aguleri, Southern Nigeria Protectorate
Died 20 January 1964
Leicester, England.
Beatified: 22 March 1998 by Pope John Paul II
He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Onitsha, Nigeria on 19 December 1937. He worked in the parishes of Nnewi, Dunukofia, Akpu/Ajalli and Aguleri and later became a Trappist Monk at Mount Saint Bernard Monastery in England.
Fr. Cyprian worked in the refectory and bookbindery, and in the vegetable gardens and orchard. He used to say, “If you are going to be a Christian at all, you might as well live entirely for God”. Father Anselm Stark, who knew Fr Cyprian, recalled: “As a person he was very ordinary, very humble, obviously a great man of deep prayer and dedication.”
Cyprian was sensitive to criticism, and his novice master was very hard on the new monks, and could always find things that were wrong with what he had done. This caused him much stress, and it was during this trying time that he understood that he had made some mistakes in Nigeria with the hard discipline and expectations he had placed on those under him. Despite fears of being treated with racial prejudice, he was fully accepted by the other monks, with the exception perhaps of one South African monk, who seemed to look for things to find wrong in his work. The English winter was also hard on him.
He was commissioned to establish a monastery not in Nigeria, but in neighboring Cameroon, but ill health changed those plans. He did not feel that the Nigeria independence movement had been properly done. His health deteriorated, but he accepted death with no complaint. Before he died, he went to Leicester Royal Infirmary, and, when he was examined, the doctor came out of the examination and spoke with monastery priest Fr. James, saying: “Can you help me please, Father? This man must be in terrific pain, but he will only admit that he has ‘a little pain.'” He died the same day, Jan 20, 1964 as a result of arteriosclerosis and a ruptured aneurysm.
His body was buried at the monastery in England, but was later interred at the Cathedral Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity, Onitsha, Nigeria.
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, at Oba, Anambra state. He was the first West African to be beatified.
Miracle:
17 October1986: After a solemn concelebrated Mass, his remains were reentered at the Priests’ cemetery beside Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha. First major miracle obtained through Fr. Tansi; a girl with advanced stage of cancer was instantly cured.
The Pope said at his beatification: “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, 20 January, is a special day in our country, Nigeria.
Tansi’s Quotations
“Count no one saved, until he is found in heaven”
“Strive hard to gain the Kingdom of God. Life on earth could be compared to the journey of a young student who received a slip for a registered parcel, and he had to go to Lagos to claim this parcel. On the way he passed through many beautiful towns, towns with very attractive things in the shops. He started going from one shop to another, stretching his hands to the beautiful things he saw. He stopped so often in these big towns that he almost forgot what he was travelling for. It was after a long time that he ultimately reached Lagos, and when he went to claim the parcel he was told that the parcel had lain in the post for so long without him arriving to claim it that they had finally decided to send it back to the sender.”
“God will give you double for what you give Him”.
“If you want to eat vultures, you may as well eat seven of them, so that when people call you “vulture eater” you really deserve the name. If you want to become a Catholic, live as a faithful Catholic, so that when people see you, they know that you are a Catholic. If you are going to be a Christian at all, you might as well live entirely for God.”
“Whether you like it or not, saving your soul is your own business. If you are weak and fall by the wayside, we shall push you aside and tread on you as we march forward to meet God.”
“She is not ‘Onye Bem’ (a common Igbo language expression for wife, meaning ‘ person of my homestead) but your wife, your better half, part of your own body. ‘Onye’ means a stranger which your wife is not. You must recognize the worth and position of your wife and treat her as your partner and your equal. Unless you do that, she is not a wife to you but a servant, and that is not what God wants a wife to be to the husband.”