Hieromartyr Cyprian of Carthage

Saint Cyprian was born around 200–210 in Carthage to a wealthy pagan family, received an excellent rhetorical education, and for years worked as a teacher of rhetoric and a lawyer while remaining a pagan until about age 46.

Through the priest Caecilius and the writings of Tertullian he came to faith in Christ; upon baptism he gave away his wealth to the poor and vowed continence. A year after his baptism he was ordained presbyter (247), and after the death of Bishop Donatus of Carthage in 248 he was elected bishop against his own wishes.

He wrote extensively — the treatise On the Unity of the Catholic Church and roughly eighty surviving letters — arguing for church unity and discipline; during the Decian persecution he went into hiding to preserve his pastoral oversight, and afterward navigated the difficult question of readmitting the "lapsed" with both firmness and mercy. During a devastating plague he organized care for Christians and pagans alike.

Under Emperor Valerian he was first exiled, then, refusing to sacrifice to idols, was condemned and beheaded near Carthage on September 14, 258, becoming the first bishop-martyr of Africa.

His feast is kept on August 31/September 13.