16 September 2025 - St Cornelius and St Cyprian - homily for Tuesday of the 24th week of ordinary time - 1 Timothy 3:1-13

In St Paul’s first letter to Timothy, we hear an interesting description of what Paul sees as values towards which Church leaders should strive. He states that we should conduct ourselves with dignity, addressing bishops, the women of the community, and deacons. In some translations of these Scripture verses, dignity is translated as gravity or seriousness. Just as gravity is an unstoppable force of nature, so too, the way we teach and the way we lead a good Christian life should produce long-lasting fruits which are unstoppable, which cannot be overcome. All of us as disciples of Christ are called to dignity, perfection, and holiness on our journey of faith: Rather than taking ourselves too seriously, rather than becoming arrogant or prideful, we are called to be humble and obedient. We are called to give our greatest effort to our life of disciples and our life of holiness. 

Today, we celebrate two martyrs from the Early Church: Cyprian and Cornelius, both of whom have very interesting stories. Cyprian spent most of his adult life as a professor of rhetoric in the city of Carthage. He was not baptized until the age of 45, but he later became the Bishop of Carthage in the year 248. Under the persecutions of the Roman Emperor Decius, many priests and bishops were martyred. Cyprian went into hiding. Cyprian’s writings emphasize the unity and solidarity that followers of Christ are to have, unified under the leadership of the Bishops and the Pope, a message that is still applicable in our modern world. Cyprian was martyred in another wave of persecutions under the Emperor Valerian in the year 257. Cornelius was Pope at the time that Cyprian was writing about unity and solidarity under the leadership of the papacy. Many who had denied the faith during the persecutions wanted to return to the faith, which was a point of controversy in the Early Church. Cornelius, who called for forgiveness, mercy, and moderation, was sent into exile under the persecutions of the Emperor Gallus, where he died a martyr. 

Perhaps as we hear more and more about persecutions against Christians in our world today and as we get more backlash from our secular world, we can better identify with martyrs like Cornelius and Cyprian.  May we find strength and courage in our faith from these examples from the Early Church.