What is delaying the canonization of Blessed Michael Iwene Tansi?

 

                                                By Fr. Ugochukwu Ugwoke, ISch

On the 20^th of January (the feast day of Blessed Tansi), I made a post on Twitter to celebrate and honor the memory of this our illustrious son and brother and I got so many comments from some concerned Nigerian Catholics, many of the comments were on why Blessed Tansi is yet to be canonized. This write up is a response to those comments.

Blessed Michael Iwene Tansi of Aguleri, Anambra State is the only Nigerian to have so far, been beatified. Beatification is one of the stages in the process of canonization in the Catholic Church. It is the act or process of ascertaining and declaring that a deceased person is one of the blessed or has attained the second degree of sanctity. Father Tansi was beatified 24 years ago on the 22^nd of March, 1998 during the second visit of Pope John Paul II to Nigeria.

In Nigeria, the feast day of Blessed Tansi every 20^th of January is a moment of great celebration. But in recent times, people are beginning to get worried that he is still addressed as Blessed and not Saint Tansi. One of the persons that commented on my post on Twitter is of the opinion that the race/color of Blessed Tansi is part of the factors impeding his canonization. According to him, if Tansi were a white, he would have been canonized long ago. Another person even went as far as saying that the very Pope that beatified Tansi is today canonized but Tansi is still not canonized.

Obviously, the concerns are understandable but the reasons adduced are not plausible. The Catholic Church is neither black nor white. The Church is universal. The Church is neither racist nor exclusivist. The Church is katholikos- whole and entire. In the Catholic Church, the process of canonization (that is, the process by which someone is officially declared a saint) is usually lengthy, often taking decades or centuries to complete. The law stipulates that the process of canonization can only begin five years after the death of the candidate. However, there have been exceptions where the process has been fast-tracked; where people have been canonized within a short span of time like in the cases of Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Pope John Paul II. But generally, the process takes time as it involves a lot of steps.

Basically, there are five steps that form parts of the process of canonization. When a deceased is being suggested for canonization, the first step that is taken is that the local Bishop investigates the candidate's life and writings for evidence of heroic virtue. The information uncovered by the bishop is sent to the Vatican. After that, the next step is to form a panel of theologians with the cardinals of the Congregation for Cause of Saints to evaluate the candidate's life. If the panel gives an approval, then, the Pope proclaims that the candidate is venerable. In other words, the person is a role model of Catholic virtues. That is the third step. After that, the fourth step to sainthood is beatification, which allows a person to be honored by a particular group or region. In order to beatify a candidate, it must be shown that the person is responsible for a posthumous miracle especially of healing. Martyrs- those who died for their religious cause exempted from this proof. They can be beatified without evidence of a miracle.

Blessed Tansi is currently in this fourth step waiting for the fifth and final step which is canonization. Many candidates for sainthood have been on this fourth stage for years. This is because in order for the candidate to move over to the final stage and be considered a saint, there must be proof of a second posthumous miracle. If there is, the person is canonized. So, it is neither the color nor race of Blessed Tansi that is delaying his canonization but this second miracle of healing.

Apparently, it is our duty to fast-track the canonization process of Blessed Tansi. We do this by intensifying our prayers for a miracle to be done in his name. We are the ones to make him a saint not Rome. Rome only relies on our recommendation. So, if you are concerned that Blessed Tansi is not yet canonized, then, you have to speed up his canonization by praying that through his intercession, a miracle of healing can be done.