Pilgrimage to shrine of Blessed Cyprian Tansi

Blessed Cyprian Tansi

Thousands of pilgrims from around the UK and beyond will gather at the monastery of Mount Saint Bernard Abbey, Leicestershire this Saturday, 27 August to pray for the canonisation of a Nigerian monk who could become Britain's first black saint.

Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi OCSO, who died in 1964 in Leicester, was beatified by Blessed Pope John Paul II in 1998.

The outdoor pilgrimage in the grounds of the monastery begins at 11am with Mass and includes Eucharistic Adoration and the Holy Rosary.

Blessed Cyprian was formerly a parish priest in Nigeria before feeling drawn to become a monk. In 1950 he arrived at Mount St Bernard Abbey and served as a monk until his death in a Leicester Hospital. Noted for his holiness and spiritual wisdom he carried on a major letter writing ministry inside the cloister. Blessed Tansi baptised noted Vatican Cardinal Francis Arinze and the veteran Nigerian cardinal says it was Fr Tansi who inspired him to be a priest.

"We are grateful for this public experiment and demonstration; it has taught us much. We did not believe that rationalists were so utterly mad until they made it quite clear to us. We did not ourselves think that the mere denial of our dogmas could end in such dehumanised and demented anarchy." GK Chesterton