September Saint of the Month

For those of you who followed This Faithful Life you are familiar with the Saint of the Month. Those who didn’t I do a different saint each month sharing a little of their history and my religion with you. Some saints you may know while others will be completely new to you. I hope that you enjoy. This month our saint is St. Cornelius who was Pope from March 251 to June 253.

There was a lot of controversy as St. Cornelius was unwilling elected pope and is not mentioned in most texts. when he is mentioned or referenced it is always with his antipope  Novatian who  was very angry not only that he was not elected pope, but that someone who did not believe in rebaptism was. There is a letter that Cornelius wrote while in exile that mentions the office of “exorcist” in the church for the very first time. It is suggested that Cornelius did not come from a wealthy family and did not have a sophisticated education growing up. Even though Cornelius is a rather obscure religious figure, his mandates have shaped the church in historic ways.

His feast day (or day of celebration) is  September 16th which he happens to share with his good friend St. Cyprian.  His name means “battle horn”, and he is represented in icons by a pope either holding some form of cow’s horn or with a cow nearby. Cornelius is the patron against earache, epilepsy, fever, twitching, and also of cattle, domestic animals, earache sufferers, epileptics, and the town of Kornelimünster, Germany where his head is located.