Memorial of Saints (June 22)

Paulinus of Nola: (died 431 A.D.); husband and father who gave his possessions to the poor; a dedicated bishop, especially during the Visigoth invations.

He used the ground floor of his house as a guest house for pilgrims, debtors, and others who were down on their luck. On the upper floor, he and his wife and a few friends began a semimonastic way of life. They all prayed the Divine Office together on a daily basis. He also had a special devotion to the Saints, writing poems and letters to some of the most important Christians of the day: Ambrose of Milan, Jerome, Augustine of Hippo, and Martin of Tours. (June 22)

John Fisher: (beheaded 22 June 1535 A.D.); chancellor of Cambridge University; bishop of Rochester; dedicated pastor of souls; renowned for his preaching and educational reforms; defender of Church tradition against Luther, and of the Roman primacy against Henry VIII. (June 22)

Thomas More: (beheaded 6 July 1535 A.D.); humanist and chancellor of England; close friend of Erasmus; wrote “Utopia”; refused to support Henry VIII’s divorce of Queen Catherine and his Act of Supremacy; patron of lawyers, statesmen and politicians. (June 22)

also on June 22: Alban, martyr; Nicetas of Remesiana, bishop; Eberhard, bishop

To follow the other Saints whose feasts and memorials occur in the month of June, visit this link

St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Jesuit Scholastic (June 21)

Aloysius Gonzaga: (died 1591 A.D.); Jesuit scholastic, died at age 23 caring for the sick; from the princely family of Castiglione; a page at the court of Medicis and of Philip II of Spain; renounced inheritance to enter Jesuits; Robert Bellarmine was his spiritual director; strongly devoted to the Eucharist, interior prayer, and charitable service; patron of youth and of students in Jesuit colleges and universities.

His prayer is featured in the book, "Hearts on Fire": Praying with Jesuits", edited by Michael Harter, SJ. It is a prayer addressed to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Holy Mary, my Queen, I recommend myself to your blessed protection and special keeping, and to the bosom of your mercy, today and every day and at the hour of my death. My soul and my body I recommend to you. I entrust to you my hope and consolation, my distress and my misery, my life and its termination. Through your most holy intercession and through your merits may all my actions be directed according to your will and that of your Son. Amen.

The prayer of St. Aloysius of Gonzaga is joined by many other prayers in the book "Hearts on Fire". That book is a good meditative guide for praying in the spirit of the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises. The presentation of the prayers and other prose is a contemporary translation of the method into popular literary forms: the actual prayers and prose written by Jesuits - both "classic", like St. Aloysius of Gonzaga and Gerard Manley Hopkins, SJ, and contemporary, like Anthony de Mello, SJ.

Learn more

To follow the other Saints whose feasts and memorials occur in the month of June, visit this link

St. Cornelius, Pope-Martyr and St. Cyprian, Bishop-Martyr

St. Cornelius d. ca. 253 A.D., St. Cyprian d. ca. 258 A.D.

Latin Fathers of the Church

Historical background

St. Cornelius, Pope, and St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, were friends who guided the Church through a difficult period in history. It was a time when the persecution of Christians under Emperor Decius reached its most violent peak. Such a severe persecution led many Christians to betray their faith. St. Cyprian proposed to welcome back these Christians who were repentant, but only after the proper penance was fulfilled. St. Cornelius backed up St. Cyprian in this proposal and decided to accept them back.

A priest, whose name was Novatian, was a strong leader among his fellow priests. Novatian set himself against St. Cornelius, and declared himself Pope - becoming the first antipope of the Church.Novatian also had set up Felicissimus, as an antibishop to St. Cyprian. This situation led to the schism regarding the lapsi, those Christians who have apostasized and lapsed from the Christian faith.

Before we examine how this schism developed in the early years of Christianity, let us learn about the backgrounds of both St. Cornelius and St. Cyprian of Carthage.

St. Cornelius

St. Cornelius was a Roman priest at first. He was elected Pope to succeed Pope Fabian, who was martyred by Emperor Decius in 250 A.D. The election to the papacy of St. Cornelius was delayed by fourteen months, because of Decius' persecution of the Christians. When however St. Cornelius eventually ascended to the papacy, he had to solve the issue of Christians who had apostasized during the persecution. He condemned those confessors who were lax in not demanding penance from the apostates. St. Cornelius and St. Cyprian of Carthage were in agreement as regards this matter and both were opposed to the faction of the antipope Novatian.

St. Cyprian of Carthage (ca. 200-258 A.D.)

A.k.a. Thascius Caecilius Cyprianus, St. Cyprian was probably born at Carthage, and became a pagan rhetorician, lawyer, and teacher. He was converted to Christianity by Caecilius, an old priest, about 246 A.D., became a profound scholar of the Bible, and the great religious authors - particularly Tertullian. Cyprian was ordained priest, and in 248 A.D., was elected to the episcopate of Carthage. More on St. Cyprian

The issue of the lapsi

The serious issue that St. Cornelius and St. Cyprian had to face was Novatus' reception of those who lapsed from the faith (the lapsi), without a proper penance. St. Cyprian denounced Novatus for his undue leniency and convened a Council at Carthage in 251 A.D. In this Council, St. Cyprian set forth the terms under which the lapsi could be received back into the Church. He excommunicated the schismatic leaders, and asserted the supremacy of the Pope. It was at this Council that St. Cyprian read his famous De unitate ecclesiae. Novatus then went to Rome and joined the antipope, Novatian, against Pope St. Cornelius, whom St. Cyprian actively supported, rallying the African bishops behind Pope St. Cornelius.

The exile of St. Cornelius

The antipope Novatian claimed that the Church did not have the power to forgive apostasy - the sin of giving up the Christian faith. He also stated that the Church also did not have the power to forgive certain other sins, no matter how repentant the sinner might be. As this conflict intensified, Emperor Gallus exiled Pope St. Cornelius to Centum Cellae (Civita Vecchia), and the persecutions of Christians began anew in 253 A.D. St. Cornelius died in Civita Vecchia a martyr, probably due to the hardships he was forced to endure. His body was later buried in the Cemetery of St. Callistus. St. Cyprian wrote him that he was able to suffer for Christ. He also noted that, in the persecution during the reign of Gallus, not a single Christian had apostasized from the Church.

Carthage stricken with a plague

In the years 252-254 A.D., Carthage was stricken with a terrible plague. With kindness and courage, vigour and steadiness, St. Cyprian urged his people to care for everyone: both their fellow Christians and their enemies and persecutors. Much was accomplished under St. Cyprian's leadership. The wealthy donated a lot of their money and the others gave a lot of their time for the care of the plague's victims.

St. Cyprian's martyrdom

In the reign of Emperor Valerian, the Christian persecution reached Africa in 257 A.D. St. Cyprian was arrested and sent into exile to Curubis, a small town near Carthage. When St. Cyprian refused to sacrifice to the Roman gods, he was sentenced to death and beheaded on September 14. St. Cyprian wrote numerous theological treatises on the Church, ministry, the Bible, virginity, and the lapsi. Together with Pope St. Cornelius, they are among the great Fathers of the Church.

References of this post

• Pocket Catholic Dictionary, by John A. Hardon, S.J.
• A Year with the Saints, by Don Bosco Press Inc.
• Dictionary of Saints, by John J. Delaney
• Saints for Our Time, by Ed Ransom