Hundreds gather at abbey to honour saint-to-be

Father Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi lived in a monastery near Coalville for the last 14 years of his life

Hundreds of people have gathered at a Leicestershire abbey to honour a priest who could become Britain's first black saint.

Father Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi was born in 1903 in Nigeria and spent the last 14 years of his life at Mount Saint Bernard Abbey near Coalville.

On Saturday about 300 people made the journey from across the country to the abbey in his honour.

He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1998, the third of four steps in the process of a deceased person becoming a saint.

Tansi was a monk at the abbey from 1950 until his death at the Leicester Royal Infirmary in 1964

Tansi worked as a teacher when he was a young man before he became a Catholic priest.

He was ordained for the Onitsha diocese in Nigeria at the age of 34 and arrived at the Mount Saint Bernard Abbey in 1950 to follow a monastic life.

He died in the Leicester Royal Infirmary on 20 January 1964, at the age of 61 and was buried in the monastery grounds. In 1986 his remains were exhumed and returned to Nigeria.

Father Nicholas Palmer, guest master of the abbey, said: "[Tansi] lived a very holy life - a very simple life but a very holy life.

"In 1998, he was what we call beatified, that means he was declared a Blessed in the Catholic Church because of the holiness of his life - that’s why we are celebrate him each year because he’s a Blessed in the church.

"He could very well become a saint and that’d be great for our abbey, to have a saint associated with our abbey."

Solange Enguemok was among the guests at the abbey on Saturday

In order for Blessed Cyprian to become a saint, two miracles must be attributed to him.

According to Mount Saint Bernard, a woman in Nigeria who prayed to him to be healed found a tumour in her stomach had "miraculously disappeared".

Among those who made the journey to the abbey on Saturday were friends from Leeds.

Solange Enguemok said: "I come here to honour our Blessed Tansi, to worship God through him for what he has done here.”

Her friend, Cordelia MKpadi added: "He is from our roots so it reminds us that you can achieve, with the grace of God, you can achieve to the highest level."

Saturday's gathering for the priest was the first in five years.

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