AN APPRAISAL OF CYPRAIN IWENE TANSI’S RELIGIOUS IMPACT TO THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF CATHOLICISM IN ONITSHA ARCHDIOCESE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The advent of Christianity in Anambra state was made possible through the efforts of Cyprian Micheal Iwene Tansi wjho was a Catholic priest. There are so many legends and monuments depict and perpetuate their exploits, while little or nothing is remembered about their collaborators in success. Today the success story of the Roman Catholic Church is largely attributed to the efforts of men like Iwene Tansi. This study tries to raise this issue and endeavours to remind the present and posterity how Iwene Tansi worked behind the scene with the white missionaries and was able to change the face of Roman Catholicism in Anambra state with their undying influences in education, religion and evangelization, socio-economic and above all with their political and historical influence. Iwene Tansi had his own challenges and shortcomings, the church equally influenced them in various ways just like they had influenced the church. The essence of this study is, therefore, to bring to light how these indigenous missionaries particularly Iwene Tansi contributed, and even pioneered the growth of Catholicism in Onitsha ecclesiastical province. The research adopted both primary and secondary sources of data collection which include oral interview, historical and empirical approach, and the documentary sources such as internet, the previous work of both foreign and indigenous scholars that wrote on the relevant issues about the subject.