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Also known as: Thaschus
Caecilius Cyprianus
Profile
Born to wealthy pagan parents. Taught rhetoric and literature. Adult
convert in 246. Priest. Bishop of Carthage in 249. Writer. Latin Father of
the Church. Exiled during the persecutions of Valerian. 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. Martyr.
Born: c.200
Died: beheaded 14 September 258
Patronage: Algeria, North Africa
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
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Whatever a man prefers to God, that he makes a god to himself.
Saint Cyprian
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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
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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
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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
source:
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintc07.htm
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