Saint of the Day - Pope Saint Cornelius (September 16th)
Channel: House of Prayers for Everyone (HOPE)
Date: 2023-09-15

Pope Saint Cornelius was the bishop of Rome from March 251 until his martyrdom in June 253. The Roman Catholic Church commemorates his feast day every September 16th along with Saint Cyprian, the Bishop of Carthage, also a martyr.

Sede Vacante

It is important to note that during the reign of Emperor Decius from 249 to 251 AD, Christians were persecuted in the Roman Empire. In the year 250, he ordered all citizens to perform a religious sacrifice or else face death. Many Christians refused and were martyred during this period, including Pope Saint Fabian.

The papal seat remained vacant during this period. In the fourteen months without a pope, the leading candidate, Moses, also died under persecution. In 251, Decius left Rome to fight the invading Goths. 

During this time, the Roman clergy decided it was time to choose a new bishop. At the same time, it became an issue whether to accept lapsi (those apostates who renounced their faith under persecution by Roman authorities) back to Christianity.

Bishop of Rome

Two groups arose during this period. One group is led by Novatian, a priest in the diocese of Rome, who believed that those who had stopped practicing Christianity during the persecution could not be accepted back into the church, even if they repented.

The other group including Cornelius and Cyprian of Carthage said the lapsi could be restored to communion through repentance, demonstrated by a period of penance.

The more moderate Cornelius was unwillingly elected over Novatian and others, elevating him to the seat of Peter as the twenty-first pope in March 251.

Synod of 60 Bishops

One of Pope Cornelius' challenges was to bring an end to the schism brought on by Novatian, one of the early known antipopes. Cornelius's next action was to convene a synod of 60 bishops to acknowledge him as the rightful pope. The council then moved to excommunicate Novatian, as well as all Novatianists. 

Also addressed in the synod was that Christians who stopped practicing during Emperor Decius' persecution could be re-admitted into the Christian community only after doing penance. The verdict of the synod was sent to all bishops to accept Cornelius as the new Bishop of Rome.

It is quite notable contained in these letters provided information on the size of the church in Rome at that time. Accordingly, the Roman Church had, "forty-six priests, seven deacons, seven sub-deacons, forty-two acolytes, fifty-two ostiarii, and over one thousand five hundred widows and persons in distress."

The letters also mentioned that the Cornelius had a staff of over 150 clergy members and the church fed over 1,500 people daily. From these numbers, it has been estimated that there were at least 50,000 Christians in Rome during the papacy of Pope Cornelius.

Death in Exile

In June 251, Emperor Decius was killed in battle with the Goths. However, the persecution resumed under his successor, Trebonianus Gallus, who ordered the exile of Cornelius to Centumcellae, Italy.

The letters he sent while in exile are all written in colloquial Latin suggesting that Cornelius came from a financially average family and was given an ordinary education as a child. Another letter mentions an office of "exorcist" in the church for the first time, which is believed to be the basis of the Canon law requiring each diocese to have an exorcist.

Pope Cornelius died in June 253. The Liberian catalog ascribes his death to the hardships of banishment; later sources say he was beheaded; his head was claimed by Kornelimünster Abbey near Aachen during the Middle Ages. He was entombed in a catacomb near the chapel of the popes, behind a Latin inscription that translates to "Cornelius Martyr". 

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Images attributed to the following:
- By Master of Messkirch - Eingescannt aus: Anna Moraht-Fromm und Hans Westhoff: Der Meister von Meßkirch – Forschungen zur südwestdeutschen Malerei des 16. Jahrhunderts, Ulm, 1997, S. 190, links, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons
- By Thomas Hummel - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons