Painting of St. Anthony Abbot with Pope Saint Cornelius, St. Cyprian and a Page — By: Paolo Veronese at Pinacoteca di Brera Museum, Italy Milan –Image Courtesy: MyStudios.com
(Franciscan Media) There was no Pope for 14 months following the martyrdom of Pope Saint Fabian (Feast Day: 19 January) because of the intensity of the persecution of the Church. During the interim, the Church was governed by a College of Priests. — Saint Cyprian (Feast Day: 11 September) a friend of Pope Saint Cornelius writes that Cornelius was elected Pope: “By the the judgment of God and of Christ, by the testimony of most of the Clergy by the vote of the people, with the consent of aged Priests and of good men.”
The greatest problem of St. Cornelius two-year term as Pope, had to do with the Sacrament of Penance and centered on the readmission of Christians who had denied their faith during the persecution. Two extremes were finally both condemned. — St. Cyprian Bishop of Carthage appealed to Pope Cornelius to confirm his stand, that the relapsed could be reconciled only by the decision of the Bishop.
In Rome however, Pope Cornelius met with the opposite view. After his elect a Priest named Novatian had himself consecrated a rival Bishop of Rome–one of the first anti-popes. Novatian argued that the Church no power to reconcile not only the apostates but also those guilty of murder, adultery, fornication or second marriage. Pope Cornelius however had support of most of the Church, especially of St. Cyprian Bishop of Carthage in condemning Novatianism (though the sect persisted for several centuries) Pope Cornelius held a synod at Rome in 251 and Ordered the ‘relapsed’ Christians to be restored to the Church with the usual “medicines of repentance.”
The friendship of Pope Cornelius and St. Cyprian Bishop of Carthage, was strained for a time when one of St. Cyprian’s rivals made some allegations about him but the problem was resolved.
A document from Pope Cornelius showed the size of the Church in Rome during his Papacy: 46 Priest; 7 Deacons; 7 Subdeacons. It is estimated the number of Christians totaled about 50,000
Pope Cornelius was exiled by the Emperor Gallus and died a martyrs death as a result of hardships he endured while in exile in September 253 during the persecutions of the Emperor Valerian.
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