The Most Reverend Albert Obiefuna, Archbishop of Onitsha and President of the Nigerian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, approaches the Holy Father, accompanied by the Postulator, and requests the Beatification of the Venerable Servant of God, Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi.
Most Holy Father,
the Archbishop of Onitsha
and President of the Catholic Bishops
Conference of Nigeria
humbly requests that the Venerable Servant of God,
Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi, priest and monk,
be proclaimed Blessed.
An account of the life of the Servant of God is read.
Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi was born in 1903 at Aguleri in Anambra State of Nigeria, within the Archdiocese of Onitsha. He was baptized on 7th July 1913. His early attraction to the service of God as an altar boy and boy-catechist led to his entry into the Seminary at Igbariam in 1925. He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Onitsha on 19th December 1937.
Already as a seminarian his zeal for souls became noted as he worked hard to promote the spiritual life of the faithful, especially by instilling in many devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
As a parish priest he worked tirelessly, converting many to Christ, promoting vocations to the priesthood and the religious life, keeping prayerful watch over his flock and giving special pastoral attention to family life and to preparing girls for Christian marriage.
Early in July 1950 he entered the Monastery of Mount St. Bernard Abbey, Leicester, England, in order to continue there “a life given entirely to God”. As an enclosed contemplative mong, his apostolate expanded to embrace the whole world. His heightened life of prayer and self-denial in the Cistercian monastery was a source of strength and victory in the face of his struggle to reflect the light of Christ in the world, which the Christian life involves.
Venerable Tansi died on 20th January 1964. But the sanctity of his life as priest and monk has continued to attract and animate the faith of generations in Nigeria and beyond.
The heroic sanctity of Venerable Tansi has attracted the public acclamation of the Church.
All then stand. The Holy Father, remaining seated, pronounces the
FORMULA OF BEATIFICATION
The Holy Father:
Acceding to the request of our brother,
Albert Obiefuna, Archbishop of Onitsha
and President of the Catholic Bishops Conference
of Nigeria,
of many other brothers in the Episcopate,
of many of the faithful,
and of the Cistercian monastic family,
and after consultation
with the Congregation for the Causes of Saints,
by our Apostolic Authority we declare
that the Venerable Servant of God,
Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi,
shall hereafter be invoked as Blessed,
and that his feast shall be celebrated every year
on the twentieth day of January,
the date of his birth to eternal life,
in the places and according to the norms
establishedby Church law.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
The choir and the assembly sing:
Amen.
The image of Blessed Tansi is unveiled. His relics are carried in procession to the altar while a troupe of young children express the common joy to the tune of this song:
Res. Oh filled with the Holy Spirit
1. Then Tansi filled with the Holy Spirit
Answered the call of God
Filled with the Holy Spirit
Lives now a Blessed Man. Res.
2. Let us now filled with the Holy Spirit
Go out to preach the Good News
Filled with the Holy Spirit
Spread forth the Love of God. Res.
The Ordinary of Onitsha and President of the Nigerian Catholic Bishops Conference, approaches the Holy Father, accompanied by the Postulator, and thanks him for the Beatification of the Venerable Servant of God, Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi.
Most Holy Father, the Archbishop of Onitsha
and the entire Church in Nigeria
give very warm and heartfelt thanks to your Holiness
for granting the title of Blessed
to the Venerable Servant of God,
Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi.
The Archbishop of Onitsha and the Postulator receive the kiss of peace from the Holy Father
