St. Cornelius, Pope and Martyr

Life
A Roman priest, Cornelius was elected Pope to succeed Fabian in anelection delayed fourteen months by Decius’ persecution of the Christians. The main issue of his pontificate was the treatment to be accorded Christians who had been apostasized during the persecution. He condemned thoseconfessors who were lax in not demanding penance of these Christians and supported St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, against Novatus and his dupe, Felicissimus, whom he had set up as an antibishop to Cyprian, when Novatus came to Rome. On the other hand, he also denounced the Rigorists, headed by Novatian, a Roman priest, who declared that the Church could not pardon the lapsi (the lapsed Christians), and declared himself Pope – the first antipope.
The two extremes eventually joined forces, and the Novatian movement had quite a vogue in the East. Meanwhile, Cornelius proclaimed that the Church had the authority and the power to forgive repentant lapsi and could readmit them to the sacramentsand the Church after they had performed proper penances. Asynod of Western bishops in Rome in October 251 upheld Cornelius, condemned the teachings of Novatian, and excommunicated him and his followers. When persecutions of the Christians started up again in 253 under Emperor Gallus, Cornelius was exiled to Centum Cellae (CivitaVecchia), where he died a martyr probably of hardships he was forced to endure. His feast day is September 16th.
(http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=421)

Reflection
Christ died on the cross to redeem and to save us from death, from sin and to give us new life with Him. It is indeed true that in our journey in this world, we continually fall into sin however hard we worked on it. But this must not lead us to despair, for Christ is there to help us. Truly, in our human effort, we can’t really do it; but surrendering to God and letting God do the action, conversion would surely happen. God is always ready to forgive. That’s why like St. Cornelius, as Vicar of Christ, always ready to accept sinners and grant forgiveness to them. Thus, St. Cornelius reminded us of the prayer of Christ: “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”

Prayer
God our Father,
in Saint Cornelius
you have given your people an inspiring example
of dedication to the pastoral ministry
and constant witness to Christ in their suffering.
May their prayers and faith give us courage
To work for the unity of your Church.
Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen

Sem. Ritzchild John “littlechild” Cariaga