Efio-Ita Nyok|26 October 2017
Mr George Odok Jnr, a senior defense correspondent with the News Agency of Nigeria NAN recently made some very startling comments about the venerable Tansi in a social media thread titled,
'Remembering Rev. Fr. Cyprian Tansi'. See what journalist Odok said in the fourth paragraph about Tansi that got me thinking:
'Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi was a Roman Catholic priest of the archdiocese of Onitsha, Nigeria. Tansi became the first monk from West Africa and the only Nigerian till date to be beatified when Pope John Paul II beatified him on March 22, 1998.
'The beatification ceremony was carried out in Oba, Anambra State. Although he died in England at the age of 61, his body was later returned to be buried in Nigeria.
'At the beatification, the pope 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.
'He gave up everything in its entirety as a priest for the dejected, the poor, the afflicted, the drown trodden, outcaste including those cast to evil forests for committing abominable acts and lepers in the society for the love of christ and the faith.
'He ended his life in prayers as a cestercian monk. Blessed Michael Cyprian Iwene Tansi, may you continue to rest with the Lord'.
*What will we remember you for dear reader? What will I be remembered for?
Efio-Ita Nyok
Is a Blogger, the Editor & Publisher of NegroidHaven
