ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY
Saints celebrated on the 20th of January
BLESSED CYPRIAN MICHAEL IWENE TANSI, PRIEST AND RELIGIOUS
Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi was born in 1903 in Igboezunu, Southern Nigeria. His parents were Igbo farmers who practised the "traditional religion". In 1909 he was sent to the Christian village of Nduka, where he was baptised three years later by Irish missionaries and given the name Michael.
HE ENTERED ST PAUL'S SEMINARY
In 1925, against the wishes of his family, he entered St Paul's Seminary in Igbariam. After finishing his studies, he was ordained a priest in the cathedral of Onitsha on December 19, 1937. He was appointed parish priest of Dunukofia (Umudioka region), where he set up marriage preparation centres where girls and young women could be sheltered and receive Christian formation, and established the League of Mary, with remarkable success.
A TRUE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY
On foot or bicycle, Fr Tansi went from village to village preaching, catechising and setting up prayer centres that eventually became parishes. He spent hours and hours hearing confessions, even until late at night. His zeal, shining example and life of prayer and penance transformed the people into a true Christian community, resulting in so many vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
PLANS FOR A NEW MONASTERY
Bishop Heerey expressed the desire that one of his priests would embrace the monastic life so that he could later establish a contemplative monastery in his Diocese. Fr Tansi immediately said he was willing. Bishop Heerey contacted the Trappist Abbey of Mount St Bernard in Leicestershire, England, which was willing to receive him. After two and a half years as an oblate, he was admitted to the novitiate on the vigil of the Immaculate Conception, taking the name Cyprian. One year later he took his simple vows and was solemnly professed on December 8, 1956.
HIDDEN LIFE
For the next seven years he lived a hidden life of prayer and work, humility and obedience, in faithful and generous observance of the Cistercian rule. In January 1964 he began experiencing intense pain in one of his legs. Diagnosed as having thrombosis, the following morning he was found unconscious and was taken to the Royal Infirmary of Leicester, where examination revealed an aortic aneurysm. He died the following morning, January 20, 1964.
PRAYER:
O God, who in your kindness called your servant
Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi
to the following of Christ,
grant, we pray, through his intercession,
that, denying ourselves,
we may hold fast to you with all our heart.
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.
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