Saint Cyprian of Carthage

Catholic Saint

st.Cyprian of Carthage-Bishop of Carthage, Father of the Church, martyr

Feast Day : September 16 (in the West); August 31 (in the East)

Patronage: Algeria; North Africa

Cyprian’s full Latin name was Thaschus Cæcilius Cyprianus. Nothing is known of his early life, apart from the fact that he was well-established and wealthy at the time of his conversion to Christianity. He was converted by a priest named Cæcilianus, with whom he lived for a while, and who on his deathbed asked him to care for his wife and family. His baptism took place around the year 246, apparently on April 18, Easter Eve. Even as a catechumen Cyprian decided to observe chastity. He sold his property, including his gardens at Carthage, and gave most of his revenues to the poor. He was elected bishop of Carthage in 248 or 249, with the dissent of five priests who remained his lifelong enemies. In its first centuries, the Christian Church was subjected to a series of persecutions from Rome. One, the Decian persecution, began in October 249 when Emperor Decius issued an edict sentencing all bishops to death and other believers to be punished and tortured until they recanted. Cyprian went into hiding, an action for which he was much criticized by his enemies.

However, he continued to shepherd his see. He wrote panegyrics on Christians who were martyred and provided financial aid to the faithful. When the persecution let up early in 251, Cyprian made priests of some who had resisted, been tortured and banished. Nevertheless, the majority of Christians in Carthage as well as in Rome and elsewhere had denied their faith. Their lives no longer threatened, many now clamored for forgiveness and restoration. Cyprian convened a council in April 251, which decided to accept the former apostates after they had done appropriate penance, a position endorsed by Pope St. Cornelius (r. 251–253). However, the five priests opposed to Cyprian accepted the lapsed without penance, while in Rome, a priest named Novatian held that none should be accepted again under any circumstances. A related issue of rebaptism arose. Since heretics and by extension apostates did not follow the canonical teachings of the Church, were their baptisms invalid? Or were baptisms performed through the agency of God and therefore valid under any circumstance? Since the Church held that there could be only one baptism in a lifetime, this was not a trivial issue, but itself the basis for declaring heresy. Cyprian and the other Eastern bishops routinely rebaptized the lapsed, a practice condoned by Cornelius and Pope St. Lucius I (r. 253–254) although the Church of Rome believed it unnecessary. Pope St. Stephen I (r. 254–257) took a stronger stand on Church orthodoxy, declaring that the lapsed everywhere should be reconciled only with a laying-on of hands, thus alienating Cyprian and others.

A new round of persecutions (announced by numerous visions, according to Cyprian) began under Emperor Valerian, and this time Cyprian was not so fortunate. He was arrested on August 30, 257, and taken before the proconsul Peternus, but refused to renounce his faith. Early in September he had a dream foretelling his martyrdom. He awoke from the dream in terror, but once awake, calmly awaited its fulfillment. This came on the morning of September 14, when he was tried, sentenced and beheaded. Before dying, he ordered that 25 gold pieces be given to his executioner. Members of his flock observing his execution held cloths and handkerchiefs before him to catch his blood. His dismembered body lay exposed for the rest of the day, but that night the brethren carried him in a funeral procession to the cemetery of Macrobius Candidianus in the suburb of Mapalia. He was the first bishop of Carthage to be martyred.