September 16 Saint of the Day Profile
September 16 Saint of the Day Profile Saint Cyprian of Carthage
Profile:
Born to wealthy pagan parents. Taught rhetoric and literature. Adult
convert in 246, taught the faith by Saint Caecilius of Carthage.
Ordained in 247. Bishop of Carthage in 249. During the persecution of
Decius, beginning in 250, Cyprian lived in hiding, covertly ministering
to his flock; his enemies condemned him for being a coward and not
standing up for his faith. As a writer he was second only in importance
to Tertullian as a Latin Father of the Church. Friend of Saint Pontius.
Involved in the great argument over whether apostates should be
readmitted to the Church; Cyprian believed they should, but under
stringent conditions. Supported Pope Saint Cornelius against the
anti-pope Novatian. During the persecutions of Valerian he was exiled to
Curubis in 257, brought back Carthage, and then martyred in 258. His
name is in the Communicantes in the Canon of the Mass.
Readings
You cannot have God for your Father if you do not have the Church for
your mother.... God is one and Christ is one, and his Church is one;
one is the faith, and one is the people cemented together by harmony
into the strong unity of a body.... If we are the heirs of Christ, let
us abide in the peace of Christ; if we are the sons of God, let us be
lovers of peace.
- Saint Cyprian, from The Unity of the Catholic Church
Whatever a man prefers to God, that he makes a god to himself.
- Saint Cyprian
Let us remember one another in concord and unanimity. Let us on both
sides of death always pray for one another. Let us relieve burdens and
afflictions by mutual love, that if one of us, by the swiftness of
divine condescension, shall go hence the first, our love may continue in
the presence of the Lord, and our prayers for our brethren and sisters
not cease in the presence of the Father's mercy.
- Saint Cyprian from Letters, 253
On the morning of the 14th of September, a great crowd gathered at
the Villa Sexti, in accordance with the order of the governor Galerius
Maximus. That same day the governor commanded Bishop Cyprian to be
brought before him for trial. After Cyprian was brought in, the governor
asked him, "Are you Thascius Cyprian?" The bishop replied, "Yes, I am."
The governor Galerius Maximus said, "You have set yourself up as an
enemy of the gods of Rome and our religious practices. You have been
discovered as the author and leader of these heinous crimes, and will
consequently be held forth as an example for all those who have followed
you in your crime. By your blood the law shall be confirmed." Next he
read the sentence from a tablet. "It is decided that Cyprian should die
by the sword." Cyprian responded, "Thanks be to God!" After the sentence
was passed, a crowd of his fellow Christians said, "We should also be
killed with him!" There arose an uproar among the Christians, and a
great mob followed after him. Cyrprian was then brought out to the
grounds of the Villa Sexti, where, taking off his outer cloak and
kneeling on the ground, he fell before the Lord in prayer. He removed
his dalmatic and gave it to the deacons, and then stood erect while
waiting for the executioner. When the executioner arrived, Cyprian told
his friends to give the man 25 gold pieces. The most Blessed martyr
Cyprian suffered on the 14th of September under the emperors Valerian
and Gallienus, in the reign of our true Lord Jesus Christ, to whom
belong honor and glory for ever. Amen.
- from the Acts of the Martyrdom of Saint Cyprian by Saint Pontius
You who are envious, let me tell you that however often you may seek
for the opportunity of injuring him whom you hate, you will never be
able to do him so much harm as you do harm to yourselves. He whom you
would punish through the malice of your envy, may probably escape, but
you will never be able to fly from yourselves. Wherever you may be your
adversary is with you, your sin rankles within. It must be a self-willed
evil to persecute a person whom God has taken under the protection of
His grace; it becomes an irremedial sin to hate a man whom God wishes to
make happy. Envy is as prolific as it is hurtful; it is the root of all
evil, the source of endless disorder and misery, the cause of most sins
that are committed. Envy gives birth to hatred and animosity. From it
avarice is begotten, for it sees with an evil eye honors and emoluments
heaped upon a stranger, and thinks that such honors should have been, by
right, bestowed upon himself. From envy comes contempt of God, and of
the salutary precepts of our Savior. The envious man is cruel, proud,
unfaithful, impatient, and quarrelsome; and, what is strange, when this
vice gains the mastery, he is no longer master of himself, and he is
unable to correct his many faults. If the bond of peace is broken, if
the rights of fraternal charity are violated, if truth is altered or
disguised, it is often envy that hurries him on to crime. What happiness
can such a man enjoy in this world? To be envious or jealous of
another, because such a one is virtuous and happy, is to hate in him the
graces and blessings God has showered down upon him. Does he not punish
himself when he sees the success and welfare of others? Does he not
draw down upon himself tortures from which there is no respite? Are not
his thoughts, his mind, constantly on the rack? He pitilessly punishes
himself, and, in his heart, performs the same cruel office which Divine
Justice reserves for the chastisement of the greatest criminal.
- Saint Cyprian
Blog post courtesy:
http://catholicsaints.info/saint-cyprian-of-carthage/
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