By CAROLE BRESLIN
Beginning at the mouth of the Niger River in the Gulf of Guinea, you can reach some of the most remote areas of Africa. About 150 miles inland from the delta, the Anambra tributary branches to the northeast and if you travel another 15 miles up the river, you can disembark and travel another five miles to the east to Aguleri, a village in Nigeria where Iwene Tansi lived.
This area was a British colony at the time of his birth in September 1903, to traditional non-Christian parents. An altercation between the Nigerians and the British left a lasting impression on his father, ultimately resulting in Iwene becoming not only a Christian, but one whose cause for canonization has been opened.
In Nigeria two products supplied the main portion of the local diet: palm oil which they used like butter on their yams. A laborer had tapped a barrel of palm oil to put on his yam, leading the entire barrel to drain uselessly into the ground. This led to British outrage, violence, and the capture of some Nigerians, one of them being Iwene’s father.
Having witnessed the burning of several villages and having been arrested, Iwene’s father decided that his children would become educated so that they would not be abused by the colonists. Thus when Iwene was born, he was given the name Iwe-egbune — Iwene for short — meaning “let malice not kill.” The couple had one more son before Iwene’s mother died. After his father remarried, that couple had four more sons and a daughter.
They lived in the country with the children engaged in the usual childhood antics — one of which left Iwene blinded in one eye from a mud-pie accident. When Iwene was old enough, he was sent to the school run by the Holy Ghost Fathers. (Robert Cardinal Sarah also went to a school run by the Holy Ghost Fathers.)
Iwene learned quickly and when he was ten years old, he was baptized by the priests and given the name Michael. Six years later he graduated from the school and began teaching the younger children. From 1919 to 1925 he taught at the school and eventually became principal.
After this, he wanted to enter the seminary, but Africans, though baptized, often still clung to their pagan ways, so they were not normally considered fit for the priesthood. The standards were rigid and most Africans who were accepted usually ended up being suspended for breaking the rules. Only the very best were allowed to become priests.
Michael not only faced the obstacle of this rigidity, but he also faced the resistance of his family. His father had died when he was young and his stepmother died in 1922. The remaining family hoped that he would go into business to help support them, but he truly believed that the God he learned about from the Holy Ghost Fathers was calling him to be a priest.
In 1925 Michael entered the seminary in Igabriam, zealous to convert his people to the true faith which brings peace and joy. For six years he studied at this seminary which was even farther inland — about ten miles northeast of his village.
For part of his formation, he was sent to the village of Eke, about 210 miles south of his village — near the African coast — for a year of missionary work. His humility, piety, and universal charity endeared him to many. His zeal for souls led him to found — with others — the first major seminary of Eke, for which he served as financial officer.
When the time for his Ordination to the sub-deaconate approached, Michael experienced some doubts about his vocation, but his bishop relieved his fears. He was ordained with minor orders. Then on December 19, 1937, Michael was ordained.
For his first assignment, Fr. Tansi traveled to many outlying villages to administer the sacraments to the Nigerians and to bring back the “prodigal sons” of Africa to the Church. He knew they were in need of Confession and yearned to spread a spirit of reconciliation and Christian love through every level of Nigerian society.
In 1940, Fr. Tansi was assigned to Dunukofia, back near Aguleri. He did not hold to pagan ways — especially sex before marriage. In order to stop this practice, Fr. Tansi opened a rooming house for young women in order to provide them an education and instill in them the qualities and skills needed to be good wives and mothers. Needless to say, the men of the village were strongly opposed to this endeavor!
As these projects developed, many volunteers stepped forward, laboring and contributing to the construction of the homes. Supported by his deep prayer life, he met with success not only in helping the women, but also in leading another man to the priesthood.
This man had wondered about his vocation when late one night he entered the church and found Fr. Tansi deep in prayer — for the whole night. Such an example encouraged the young man, and he not only became a priest, but one day he became a bishop as well.
Fr. Tansi also founded a new parish and focused his efforts on building a center for marriage preparation and leading families to trust in God for their strength as he did.
Soon he became pastor of a parish in Aguleri which was in financial difficulty. Standing strong against the parish council, he solved the problems and then turned his attention to evangelization and acts of charity such as burying a cholera victim that no one else would touch.
Meanwhile, the bishop of the Onitsha Diocese wrote to England to learn more about establishing a monastery in Nigeria. Eventually, Fr. Tansi was sent to Mount St. Bernard Abbey in England so that he could assist in this endeavor. When he was accepted by the abbey, he took the name Cyprian. This happened on July 3, 1950.
He found life at the monastery quiet and peaceful with some labor as well. For five years he was not allowed to hear Confessions, and after that he could only hear the Confessions of monks from Africa if they requested it.
Fr. Cyprian proved humble and accepted much suffering without complaint. On December 8, 1953, he professed his vows and began a three-year course in theology. Then he made his perpetual vows as a Trappist three years later.
Although meetings were held to establish a monastery in Nigeria in July 1961, and Fr. Cyprian was selected to help with it, he never made it back to Africa. On December 19, 1962 he celebrated the silver jubilee of his priesthood.
In January 1964, he fell ill and never recovered. With violent pain caused by thrombosis, he eventually suffered a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital. On January 20, 1964, he died of a burst aortic aneurysm — the day the Church celebrates his feast.
Dear St. Iwene, lead us in supporting the Sacrament of Marriage and the welfare of families as they are attacked throughout the world. Amen.
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(Carole Breslin home-schooled her four daughters and served as treasurer of the Michigan Catholic Home Educators for eight years. For over ten years, she was national coordinator for the Marian Catechists, founded by Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ.)
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