Sermon 312

SERMO 312

On the Birthday of Cyprian the Martyr

The martyr is to be praised not in himself, but in the Lord.

The solemnity of such a grateful and joyous day, and the so happy and joyful feast of such a great Martyr's crown, demands a speech due from me. But his prayers bear such a burden with me; that if I were to repay anything less than what is due, let him not despise me speaking to you, but let him refresh all by praying for you. Indeed, I will do what I know to be most pleasing to him, that I may praise him in the Lord, while I praise the Lord concerning him. For he was gentle, even when he endured the dangers of this turbulent and stormy life in various temptations, and that man knew well how to sing to God with a truthful heart: "The meek shall hear and be glad." And now, having left the land of the dying, the blessed one possesses the land of the living. For he was one of those of whom it is said: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." But what land, if not that of which it is said to God: "You are my hope, my portion in the land of the living?" Or if the land of the living is not, unless it is the body of those rising again, taken from the earth and transformed into heavenly glory; he is not yet groaning in the frailty of this mortality, to whom remaining in the flesh was not the best, but necessary for our sake; but released and freed from the bond and debt of this connection, he quietly awaits the redemption of his body. For he who was not overcome by the temptation of his living flesh, is secure about the restoration of it buried.

Cyprian: what he was like before his conversion to the faith.

Therefore, let his soul praise in the Lord, so that the meek may hear and rejoice. Let a good soul praise in the Lord, by whom she is made good, by whose inspiration she flourishes, by whose illumination she shines, by whose formation she is beautiful, by whose filling she is fruitful. For having been deserted by Him, she was once dead, dark, deformed, sterile, and floating aimlessly before she believed in Christ. For what did eloquence profit the pagan, by which he both drank and offered deadly errors as if from a precious cup? But when the kindness and humanity of our Savior God shone upon him, he cleansed him, believing in Him, from worldly desires and made him a vessel of honor, useful to His house, prepared for every good work. And he did not keep silent about this as an ingrate. For far be it from him, knowing God, not to glorify Him as God: but he gave thanks, not impiously reswallowing what he had vomited, but piously recalling what he had changed. For he wrote to his friend, so that he too might become light in the Lord from the darkness, which was in himself: "When I, he said, lay in darkness and blind night, and was tossed to and fro on the fluctuating sea of the world, swaying and uncertain with wandering steps, unaware of my life, alien to truth and light." And shortly after: "For I myself," he said, "was held bound by the many errors of my former life, from which I did not believe I could free myself; thus, I was obeying the adhering vices, and in despair of better things, I was favoring my own evils as if they were already my own and native to me."

By the grace of God, Cyprian was truly converted.

Behold what manner of man Christ found in Cyprian: behold into what kind of soul that eradicator and planter approached to wound and to heal. For not in vain does He say: "I will kill, and I will make to live; I will strike, and I will heal"; nor in vain was it said to Jeremiah as a figure of future things: "Behold, I have set thee this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to build, and to plant." Thus He approached that soul as an eradicator and planter; and He overturned the old Cyprian, and laying there as a foundation Himself, He built a new Cyprian in Himself, and made a true Cyprian from Himself. For the Church says to Christ: "The cluster of Cyprus, my little brother." When therefore he was made a Christian by Christ, then truly was he also made Cyprian from the cypress. For he was made a good fragrance of Christ in every place, as the Apostle Paul says: who also himself was destroyed as a persecutor and built as a preacher. "We are," says he, "a sweet savor of Christ unto God, in every place, both in them that are saved, and in them that perish: to the one indeed the aroma of life unto life, but to the others the aroma of death unto death. And who is sufficient for these things?" For some lived by imitating Cyprian: others perished by envying Cyprian.

Having been made from a courtroom orator to a preacher of Christ.

To Him be praise, to Him be glory, who justified the soul of His servant by faith, rescuing him from the impious, and made His sword, that is, the double-edged sword; so that through it the folly of the Gentiles, once concealed and veiled, appearing beautiful to the prudent, might be exposed and struck; and so that the noble instrument of eloquence, by which unworthy ornaments were made for the doctrines of demons, might be converted to the edification of the Church, by whose growth they might fall; and so that the trumpet of such a great voice, which used to sharpen the contests of forensic lies, might inspire devoted martyrs to fight for Christ and to glory in Him, thereby overthrowing the devil with the precious deaths of the saints. Among these was Cyprian himself, whose pious and holy eloquence, no longer dispelling fabulous fumes, but shining with the radiance of the Lord, lived by dying, judged the judge, overcame the adversary by being struck, and killed death by being killed. For he who had taught both his own tongue and those of others to speak lies in the school of human perversion, so that what was alleged by the adversary might be deceitfully denied, had now learned in another school to defeat the adversary by confessing. For where the enemy converts the name of Christ into a crime, there Christ converts the punishment into praise.

The victory of the martyrs over the demons is now evident.

And if anyone still seeks to know who has overcome, to pass over the heavenly kingdom of the saints, which the unbelievers refuse to believe in because they cannot see it; now on this earth, in this life, in homes, in fields, in cities around the world, behold, there are fervent praises of the martyrs: where are the furious accusations of the impious? Behold how the memories of those slain are honored; now let them show the idols of demons. What will they do in judgment against those who, by dying, have overthrown their temples? How will they condemn the proud deceits of those rising soldiers with the splendor of their own, who have extinguished their smoking altars with the blood of the dying?

Cyprian excelling among martyrs by teaching and example. The place of his burial. The benefits of grace in Cyprian. How much Cyprian loved the unity of the Church.

Among the legions of Christ, the most blessed Cyprian, teacher of glorious battles and himself a glorious warrior, taught what he was about to do, and did what he taught; so that in the words of the teacher the spirit of a martyr was prefigured, and in the spirit of the sufferer the words of the teacher were recognized. For he was not like those of whom the Lord said: "Do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do: for they preach, but do not practice." He believed, therefore he spoke; he spoke, therefore he suffered. Thus, he taught in life what he did; and he did in death what he taught. To Him be praise, to Him be glory, the Lord our God, the King of ages, Creator and Recreator of men, who enriched the Church of this city with such a prelate and consecrated the greatness of this place with so holy a body. To Him be praise, to Him be glory, who deigned to predestine this man among His saints before time, to create him among men at an opportune time, to call him when erring, to cleanse him when defiled, to form him when believing, to teach him when obeying, to guide him when teaching, to aid him when fighting, to crown him when victorious. To Him be praise, to Him be glory, who made him such that he might show forth to His Church how many evils should be opposed and how many goods should be preferred to charity, and that there could be no charity in a Christian who did not maintain the unity of Christ. He loved this unity so much that he would not spare the wicked for the sake of charity, and would tolerate the wicked for the sake of peace; he was free in speaking what he thought, and pacific in hearing what he knew his brothers thought. Rightly did he merit the exaltation of such great honor in the Catholic Church, whose bond of concord he preserved with such humility. Therefore, beloved, having duly rendered our speech to this joyful festivity as we were able, I exhort your love and devotion that we conduct this day honorably and soberly, and dedicate to this day, on which the most blessed Cyprian suffered, what he loved that he might suffer.