To commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s holiday on Jan. 19, Bishop Robert Brennan will celebrate Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Flatbush.
While Christians are aware of Dr. King’s accomplishments, there is a lesser-known contemporary Catholic icon who lived the kind of life King embodied.
That is, Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi, whose feast day is celebrated on Jan. 20.
Both men were witnesses to Christ in the turbulent times in the mid-20th century. They grappled with colonialism, racial injustice, and the call to a more profound conversion. These two men were remarkable, emerging as powerful speakers of the Gospel.
Blessed Tansi was a Nigerian Catholic priest and Trappist monk who was born in 1903 and died in 1964. King was an American Baptist minister and civil rights leader born in 1929 and assassinated in 1968.
Although they lived continents apart, they shared a commitment to living out Christ’s command to love God and neighbor. Their paths differed — one doing his service through prayer and pastoral service, the other leading a life of prophetic public activism. Yet, both embodied the Catholic vision of human dignity, justice, and holiness.
Blessed Tansi was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Onitsha in Nigeria in 1937. He was known for his austere life, tireless pastoral work, and special care for the poor, sick, and women he labored to in parishes across Nigeria.
In 1950, driven by a longing for deeper union with God, he left for England to join the Trappists at Mount St. Bernard Abbey, taking the name Cyprian. There he lived a life of silence, prayer, and manual labor until his death from illness on Jan. 20, 1964.
Beatified by Pope St. John Paul II in 1998 during a visit to Nigeria, he is celebrated as a model of African holiness, humility, and total surrender to God.
Blessed Tansi and Dr. King’s lives intersect symbolically in 1964: Blessed Tansi died on Jan. 20, just as King’s struggle for justice was intensifying in the United States.
One man’s quiet monastic “yes” to God in hidden sacrifice complemented the other’s bold prophetic “no” to injustice in the public square. From a Catholic perspective, both men reflect the universal call to holiness.
Blessed Tansi exemplifies living a faithful life through prayer and obedience.
Dr. King embodies living out faith in the public square by nonviolently confronting systemic sin while affirming the image of God in every person.
Catholic social teaching, as highlighted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, echoes King’s work on human dignity, solidarity, and care for the marginalized.
In an era marked by division, these two servants remind us that holiness takes many forms, whether in the silence of the cloister or the protests on the streets.
Blessed Tansi and Dr. King stand as brothers in Christ — proof that the Gospel, when lived authentically, bears fruit across cultures and continents.
May their intercession inspire us today to pursue holiness in our own vocations, trusting that God uses every faithful witness to advance His reign of justice and peace.