Pope Cornelius

Infobox Pope
English name=Cornelius


birth_name=Cornelius
term_start=March 6 or March 13, 251
term_end=June 253
predecessor=Fabian
successor=Lucius I
birth_date=???
birthplace=???
dead=dead|death_date=June 253
deathplace=Civita Vecchia, Italy| infobox popestyles
papal name=Pope Cornelius
dipstyle=His Holiness
offstyle=Your Holiness
relstyle=Holy Father
deathstyle=Saint|

Pope Cornelius was pope from his election on 6 or 13 March, 251 to his martyrdom in June 253.

Papacy

He was elected pope on either 6 or 13 March, 251 during the lull in the persecution of the Roman Emperor Decius. His election was opposed by Novatian, who maintained the view that not even the bishops could grant remission for grave sins such as murder, adultery, and apostasy, but that these could only be remitted at the Last Judgment; Cornelius on the contrary believed that bishops could grant remission for these grave sins. With the help of Cyprian, his party prevailed, and he was elected pope. Novatian fled Rome, but his followers organized into Novatianism, a sect considered heretical by the rest of Christianity.

In Cyprian's writings supporting Cornelius, it appears that the Roman church of the time had 155 clergy and supported through its efforts some 1500 widows and poor [Peter Brown, in "A History of Private Life: 1. From Pagan Rome to Byzantium", Paul Veyne, editor, page 270.]

After serving two years, under the emperor Trebonianus Gallus, he was exiled to Civita Vecchia, where he died in June 253.

Veneration

In the Roman Catholic Church, he is commemorated along with Cyprian in a memorial on 16 September.

In iconography, Cornelius’ attribute was the horn (in reference to the Latin origin of his name –from “cornu,” “horn”). [ [http://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienC/Cornelius.htm Cornelius - Ökumenisches Heiligenlexikon] ] This could be either a battle horn or cow's horn. [ [http://saints.sqpn.com/saintc32.htm Patron Saints Index: Pope Saint Cornelius] ]

Some of his relics were taken to Germany during the Middle Ages; his head was claimed by Kornelimünster Abbey near Aachen. [ [http://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienC/Cornelius.htm Cornelius - Ökumenisches Heiligenlexikon] ] In the Rhineland, he was also a patron saint of lovers. [ [http://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienC/Cornelius.htm Cornelius - Ökumenisches Heiligenlexikon] ] A legend associated with Cornelius tells of a young artist who was commissioned to decorate the Corneliuskapelle in the Selikum quarter of Neuss. The daughter of a local townsman fell in love with the artist, but her father forbade the marriage, remarking that he would only consent if the pope did as well. Miraculously, the statue of Cornelius leaned forward from the altar and blessed the pair, and the two lovers were thus married. [ [http://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienC/Cornelius.htm Cornelius - Ökumenisches Heiligenlexikon] ]

Cornelius, along with Quirinus of Neuss, Hubertus and Anthony the Great, was venerated as one of the Four Holy Marshals in the Rhineland during the late Middle Ages. [ [http://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienQ/Quirinus_von_Rom_von_Neuss.htm Quirinus von Rom (von Neuss) - Ökumenisches Heiligenlexikon] ] [ [http://www.soetele.de/links/quellen/kalvarien/muhresoat/marschaelle/marschaelle.html marschaelle] ] [ [http://www.ahrdorf.de/html/body_die_kapelle.html Die Kapelle] ] [ [http://heimatbund-st-toenis.de/heilige.htm Heimatbund St.Tönis 1952 e.V] ]

He was also a patron saint of farmers and of cattle, and was invoked against epilepsy, cramps, afflictions associated with the nerves and ears. [ [http://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienC/Cornelius.htm Cornelius - Ökumenisches Heiligenlexikon] ]

A legend told at Carnac states that its stones were once pagan soldiers who had been turned into stone by Cornelius, who was fleeing from them. [ [http://news.therecord.com/Life/Travel/article/320293 TheRecord.com - Travel - Marvelling at Carnac's stones] ] [ [http://www.franceholidays.co.uk/france_holidays/brittany.php France Holidays, Brittany] ]

References

External links

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* [http://www.seanmultimedia.com/Pie_Cornelius_I_Letters.html Letters of Pope Cornelius I]