1/12/2024 0 Comments St. cyprian viva mas![]() ![]() His liturgical feast is celebrated on September 16. Saint Augustine remarks that Cyprian atoned for his anger by his glorious martyrdom. He waxed warm during the baptismal controversy his feelings must have concerned him, for it was at this time that he wrote his treatise on patience. He was cheerful and serious, so that people did not know whether to love or respect him more. He refused to leave the city, insisting that his people should have the witness of his martyrdom.Ĭyprian was a mixture of kindness and courage, vigor and steadiness. He was exiled by the emperor and then recalled for trial. This was not the universal view of the Church, but Cyprian was not intimidated even by Stephen’s threat of excommunication. He and the other African bishops would not recognize the validity of baptism conferred by heretics and schismatics. Even this was relaxed during a new persecution.ĭuring a plague in Carthage, Cyprian urged Christians to help everyone, including their enemies and persecutors.Ī friend of Pope Cornelius, Cyprian opposed the following pope, Stephen. Cyprian held a middle course, holding that those who had actually sacrificed to idols could receive Communion only at death, whereas those who had only bought certificates saying they had sacrificed could be admitted after a more or less lengthy period of penance. Novatus, a priest who had opposed Cyprian’s election, set himself up in Cyprian’s absence (he had fled to a hiding place from which to direct the Church-bringing criticism on himself) and received back all apostates without imposing any canonical penance. It was their reinstatement that caused the great controversies of the third century, and helped the Church progress in its understanding of the Sacrament of Penance. When the Decian persecution began, many Christians easily abandoned the Church. Within two years he had been ordained a priest and was chosen, against his will, as Bishop of Carthage.Ĭyprian complained that the peace the Church had enjoyed had weakened the spirit of many Christians and had opened the door to converts who did not have the true spirit of faith. He distributed his goods to the poor, and amazed his fellow citizens by making a vow of chastity before his baptism. Highly educated and a famous orator, he became a Christian as an adult. 258)Ĭyprian is important in the development of Christian thought and practice in the third century, especially in northern Africa. Kornelius chapel of the abbey church of Kornelimünster Abbey in Kornelimünster | photo by ACBahn Image: Head Reliquary of Saint Cyprian in the St. ![]()
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