Cyprian (2)

Cyprian is the name of several early saints and others:

1. A magician of Antioch, who is said to have been hired by one Idas to make a Christian virgin, Justina, enamoured of him, but was converted himself, and was martyred with her at Damascus, under Decius, or at Nicomedia, under Diocletian. The whole story is very probably a figment. He is the pretended author of the confession of Cyprian, found in some MSS. He has been confounded with the great Cyprian by Prudentius (De Steph. page 13), and by Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. 18).

2. A saint of Corinth, who is commemorated March 10 among the disciples of Quadratus, and of whom a romantic story is told, which is absurd. His martyrdom, if there be any reality in it, must belong to the persecution of Diocletian.

3. A learned presbyter, to whom Jerome writes from Bethlehem (Letter 140, ed. Vall.), expounding Psalm 90.

4. A deacon, mentioned by Jerome (Letter 112, ed. Vail.) as the bearer of three letters from Augustine to him, at Bethlehem.

5. Saint, and bishop of Bordeaux. He was the sixth bishop of that diocese, and took part in the Council of Agde (506) and the synod of Orleans under Clovis I (511). He appears to have succeeded St. Gallicinus after the interregnum caused by the Arian troubles.

6. Saint, and third bishop of Toulon. He was second patron of that city, and belonged to the principal family in Montelieu, Marseilles. He flourished in the time of Anastasius, Justinus, and Justinianus, emperors, of Clovis, king of the Franks, and of Childebert, his son. He was born probably in 475 or 476, and ordained at thirty years of age by St. Cesarius of Aries, of whom he was a disciple. Cyprian was present at the fourth Council of Aries, A.D. 524. In 527 he subscribed to the Council of Carpentras, and the synodical letter to Agroecius, bishop of Antipolis. In A.D. 529 he came to the third synod of Vaison. In the same year he took part in the second synod of Orange, and was sent by Csesarius to the council of the bishops beyond the Isar, at Valentia, where he outshone all in scriptural and patristic knowledge. After the conquest of the Arian Goths, Cyprian went to the fourth Council of Orleans, A.D. 541. After the death of Ctesarius, he remained in the bishopric in peace. But soon afterwards Alboin, king of the Goths, invaded Gaul with a large army, and devastated all the cities of Gallia Narbonensis with fire and sword. His soldiers butchered the people, and killed many bishops. They found Cyprian, together with his friends Mandrianus and Flavianus, in the church, cast them out, and killed them (August 556). Such is the account of his death given by Guesnayus in Annal. Massil., but the Bollandists say that he was not martyred, but died a happy death, A.D. 549. He is commemorated on October 3. He wrote a Life of Cesarius of Ares, in 530.

7. Saint, and abbot of Perigueux. He was also called Subbranus. He took the religious habit in a monastery of which the abbot's name was Savalon, and having been a model to the whole community, retired to a solitude near the Dordogne, where he built a hermitage, which afterwards gave rise to the little town of St. Cyprien. He died towards the end of the 6th century, and Gregory of Tours recounts legends of several appropriate wonders, calling him a man of magnificent piety. He is commemorated December 9.

8. A monk of Monte Cassino in the time of the emperor Constantius VI and the empress Irene. He composed a Sapphic hymn on the miracles of St. Benedict, in twenty-four stanzas, to be sung on his festival.

9. A saint and martyr, lies buried in the Church of St. Francis, Boulogne, and is commemorated March 10.

10. A saint, and author of a poem on the resurrection, at the end of the works of Tertullian.

11. A bishop martyred with Justina. He is commemorated September 26.

12. A martyr in Africa under Humeric, commemorated October 12.