Saint Cyril of Jerusalem

St. Cyril was born in Jerusalem in the year 315. Cyril received an excellent education in the Scriptures and in classical Greek literature. He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Maximus of Jerusalem and succeeded him as bishop in 348. During his early years as a bishop, most likely around 350, he delivered a series of lectures to new initiates of the Catholic Church. Twenty-four of these lectures have been preserved and remain subjects of study today. He exhorted catechumens to honor parents "for however much we may repay them, yet we can never be to them what they as parents have been to us." 

In 351, three years after Cyril became the Bishop of Jerusalem, a large cross-shaped light appeared for several hours in the sky over the city – an event that many interpreted as a sign of the Church's triumph over heresy. It could also be understood as a sign of the suffering the new bishop would undergo in leading his flock. When a famine hit Jerusalem, the poor turned to Cyril for help. Cyril, seeing the poor starving to death and having no money, sold some of the goods of the churches. When Cyril did not appear at the councils that Archbishop Acacius called, Acacius accused him of selling church goods to raise money and had him banished in 357. 

The Council of Seleucia, in 359, reinstated Cyril and deposed Acacius. But the emperor Constantius was displeased with the turn of events, and in 360 Cyril and other moderates were again driven out and only returned at the accession of Julian in 361. In 367, a decree of Valens banished all the bishops Julian had restored, and Cyril remained in exile until 378. He attended the Council at Constantinople in 381, where the amended form of the Nicene Creed was promulgated. Cyril had eight years of peace in Jerusalem before he died in 386. He was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1882.

St. Cyril of Jerusalem, pray for us to have the courage to proclaim the faith through our words and deeds. 

Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,
Most High Servant,
Jesus, Mary, Joseph Ministry of Love 
(Blessed and Saints and the Nine Choirs of Angels)