MEMORIAL OF SAINT CORNELIUS, POPE AND CYPRIAN BISHOP, MARTYRS; SAINT NINIAN, BISHOP; SAINT EUPHEMIA, AND BLESSED POPE VICTOR III ~ FEAST DAY: SEPTEMBER 16TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saints Cornelius, Pope, and Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs; Saint Ninian; Saint Euphemia, and Blessed Pope Victor III. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the sick and dying, especially those who are mentally and physically ill, and those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for the poor and needy, for peace, love, and unity in our marriages, our families and our world. And we continue to pray for our Holy Father, the Bishops, the Clergy, for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, for the Church, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world…. Amen🙏

SAINT CORNELIUS, POPE AND CYPRIAN, BISHOP, MARTYRS: The Church commemorates the martyred saints Cornelius (c. 180-253) and Cyprian (210-258) on the same day, as their lives were intertwined during a critical period for Christianity: at the time of the persecutions of Decius, Cyprian and pope Cornelius were in favor of readmitting to communion the lapsi (“lapsed” meaning “slipped”), i.e. those who had in various ways denied Christ.

SAINT CORNELIUS, POPE: Pope St. Cornelius (d. 253 A.D.) was a Roman citizen and a holy priest who became the twenty-first successor to the chair of St. Peter, (251-253), following a fourteen-month vacancy when Pope St. Fabian was martyred by Roman Emperor Decius. When the Emperor temporarily left Rome, the persecution against the Christians subsided long enough for the Church to elect St. Cornelius as the new Roman Pontiff. During Pope St. Cornelius’ two year reign a great controversy arose as to what to do with Catholics who apostatized from the Christian faith under threat of death during the persecution. Many were being received back to the sacraments without any penance. In response to the scandal, some maintained that apostates could not be forgiven and could only be admitted back to the sacraments if they were re-baptized. Chief among them was a priest named Novatian, who, as a result of the scandal, caused a schism when he had himself consecrated as an anti-pope. In response, Pope St. Cornelius convened a synod of bishops to confirm his rightful authority as Pope. Novatian was excommunicated and his doctrine was condemned as heresy. Pope St. Cornelius proclaimed that the Church had the power and authority to forgive repentant apostasy, and that converted apostates could be readmitted to the sacraments after true contrition with adequate penance. Soon a new wave of persecution against the Christians broke out, on account of his successful preaching the pagans banished Pope St. Cornelius, he was driven into exile by the emperor Gallus to Centumcellae and martyred. St. Cyprian sent him a letter of condolence. At the time of Pope Cornelius there were at Rome forty-six priests, seven deacons, seven subdeacons, forty-two acolytes, fifty-two clerics and more than five hundred widows who were supported by the Church. With the help of St. Lucina, St. Cornelius transferred the remains of the princes of the apostles to places of greater honor. St. Cornelius died a Martyr, in 253. He’s the Patron Saint against ear ache; against epilepsy; fever; cattle; domestic animals. His feast day is celebrated on September 16th.

SAINT CYPRIAN, BISHOP: St. Cyprian of Carthage (190-258) is second in importance only to the great Saint Augustine as a figure and Father of the African church. He was a close friend of Pope Cornelius, and supported him both against the anti-pope Novatian and in his views concerning the re-admittance of apostates into the Church. Born Thascius Caecilius Cyprianus to wealthy pagans around the year 190 at Carthage in Africa, where his father was one of the principal senators. He was educated in the classics and in rhetoric. His proficiency in stud was such that he became public professor of Rhetoric in his native city, illustrious as a pagan rhetorician in Carthage. After a rather dissolute life, he was converted at the age of 56, through the influence of a priest named Caecilian, and was formed at his school. He embraced the true faith in the year 246, led a retired penitential life, gaining renown for his virtue and being raised to the priesthood, ordained a priest a year later, and consecrated bishop of that city two years after that. In 248, he was appointed to succeed Donatus as Bishop of Carthage and became a model pastor. He was an energetic shepherd of souls and a prolific writer. He defended the unity of the Church against schismatic movements in Africa and Italy, and greatly influenced the shaping of Church discipline relative to reinstating Christians who had apostatized. In a short span, St. Cyprian led his flock through a two-year persecution under Decius, defended the unity of the Church against two schismatical movements, was the soul of the city’s morale during a devastating plague. He fled during the Decian persecution but guided the Church by means of letters, kept up the spirits of his people by constant correspondence. In 258, this saintly man fell victim to a new persecution that erupted under Valerian. On September 14, 258, he was martyred by beheading during the persecutions of the emperor Valerian. He suffered martyrdom in the presence of his flock, after giving the executioner twenty-five pieces of gold.

St. Cyprian writings are of great importance, especially his treatise on The Unity of the Catholic Church, in which he argues that unity is grounded in the authority of the bishop, and among the bishops, in the primacy of the See of Rome.  In, “The Unity of the Catholic Church,” St. Cyprian writes, “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.” St. Jerome says of him: “It is superfluous to speak of his greatness, for his works are more luminous than the sun.” Cyprian ranks as an important Church Father, one whose writings are universally respected and often read in the Divine Office. His principal works are: On the Unity of the Church; On Apostates; a collection of Letters; The Lord’s Prayer; On the Value of Patience. He’s the Patron Saint of Algeria; North Africa.

PRAYER: God, You gave people Sts. Cornelius and Cyprian as zealous Priests and courageous Martyrs. Through their intercession, let us be strengthened in faith and persistence so that we may work strenuously for the unity of the Church. Amen 🙏

SAINT NINIAN, BISHOP: The first apostle of Christianity in Scotland. He was born in Cumbria of Christian parents c. 360 and was educated in Rome. He became a priest and was consecrated a bishop, probably by Pope Siricius, after which he was sent to evangelize Scotland. He landed there in 397 at Whithorn near Solway Firth, where he built a stone cathedral called Candida Casa (‘White House’). He died c. 432 and was buried at Whithorn. The name of this early Christian missionary to Scotland lives on in New Scotland, where under his patronage, the Cathedral stands as a monument to the faith and courage of generations past.

SAINT EUPHEMIA: Saint Euphemia of Chalcedon, honored as “Euphemia the All-Praised,” was a young Christian woman who gave her life for Christ during the persecution of Emperor Diocletian around 303. When ordered to sacrifice to the pagan god Mars, she bravely refused, declaring that it would be shameful to abandon the true God for lifeless idols. Enraged, the Proconsul subjected her to cruel torments—racks, wheels, fire, and scourging—but each time she was miraculously preserved by God’s power.

At last, she was thrown to the wild beasts, and with the bite of a bear, she peacefully gave her soul to Christ. Even her executioners, moved by her courage and the miracles surrounding her, converted to the faith and embraced martyrdom themselves.Her relics became a source of countless miracles and played an important role in the Council of Chalcedon (451), where the Church defended the truth of Christ’s two natures. Today, she is venerated in Constantinople and Rovinj, Croatia, where she is patron saint. Euphemia’s name means “well-spoken of,” and her life remains a testimony that God’s grace is stronger than any suffering.

Prayer: O Lord, through the intercession of Saint Euphemia, strengthen our faith in times of trial and give us courage to witness boldly to Christ, that we too may share in the victory of the saints. Amen.🙏

BLESSED POPE VICTOR III: He was elected in 1086 and described as a man of “unusual holiness” and he much preferred to remain the abbot of his beloved Monte Cassino monastery than become Pope. Reluctant and also gravely ill, Victor had a short and unremarkable Papacy. Victor is one of the few Popes to be buried outside of St. Peter’s basilica. His body is entombed in the chapter-house of Monte Cassino (where he did his greatest work), but it was briefly moved to Rome during World War II for safekeeping. Pope Victor III was beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1887.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY: At Rome, at a place on Via Flaminia, ten miles from the city, the holy martyrs Abundius, priest, and Abundantius, deacon, who the emperor Diocletian caused to be struck with the sword, together with Marcian, an illustrious man, and his son John, who they had raised from the dead. At Heraclea in Thrace, St. Sebastiana, martyr, under the emperor Domitian and the governor Sergius. Being brought to the faith of Christ by the blessed Apostle St. Paul, she was tormented in various ways and finally beheaded. At Cordova, the holy martyrs Rogellus and Servideus, who were decapitated after their hands and feet had been cut off. In Scotland, St. Ninian, bishop and confessor. In England, St. Editha, virgin, daughter of the English king Edgar, who was consecrated to God in a monastery from her tender years, where she may be said to have been ignorant of the world rather than to have forsaken it. And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins. May all the Saints on this feast day intercede for us all~ Amen🙏