Hieromartyr Hieromartyr Cornelius, Pope of Rome

Pope Cornelius held the See of Rome from 6 March 251 to 25 June 253, elected after a vacancy of over a year following the martyrdom of Pope Fabian under Emperor Decius.

His pontificate was dominated by the Novatianist schism: the Roman priest Novatian, having set himself up as a rival pope, insisted that Christians who had lapsed under torture (the lapsi) could never be readmitted to communion. Cornelius, backed by St. Cyprian of Carthage and most African and Eastern bishops, upheld the Church's authority to reconcile penitent lapsi after due penance, and convened a synod of 60 bishops in Rome that condemned Novatian.

When persecution resumed under Emperor Trebonianus Gallus in 253, Cornelius was exiled to Centumcellae (modern Civitavecchia), where he died — venerated as a hieromartyr. He must not be confused with Cornelius the Centurion, the Gentile convert of Acts 10 baptized by St. Peter two centuries earlier.