Saints Cornelius and Cyprian

Pope and Bishop, Martyrs
(died 253)

Saints Cornelius and Cyprian are linked together in the liturgical calendar because their lives and their deaths were intertwined in the great controversy over the readmission of the lapsi, those Christians who had apostatised under the pressure of the Decian persecution and now sought to be reconciled to the Church. Their correspondence, a substantial body of letters that has been preserved, gives us a vivid and moving picture of the Church in crisis in the mid-third century.

Cornelius was elected Bishop of Rome in 251, after the see had been vacant for more than a year following the martyrdom of Fabian. His election was contested by the rigorist Novatian, who set himself up as a rival bishop and maintained that those who had apostasised under pressure could never be readmitted to Communion. Cornelius took the more pastoral position, supported by Cyprian of Carthage, that the lapsi could be reconciled after a period of penance, judged case by case according to the gravity of their fall.

Cyprian of Carthage, one of the greatest bishops of the ancient Church, had himself faced the same question in Africa, where the lapsi were also seeking readmission in large numbers. His correspondence with Cornelius shows two great bishops supporting each other in a difficult pastoral situation and working together to maintain the unity of the Church against schism on both sides.

Cornelius died in exile at Centumcellae in 253, his death hastened by the hardships of his banishment. Cyprian was martyred at Carthage on September 14, 258, during the persecution of Valerian, beheaded before a great crowd of his faithful people with whom he had shared so much. Their joint feast is celebrated on September 16th, and they are honoured as pastors who governed the Church with both fidelity to truth and mercy toward sinners.