September 16, 2025
A reading from
the holy Gospel according to Luke 7:11-17
Jesus journeyed to a city called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd accompanied him. As he drew near to the gate of the city, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” He stepped forward and touched the coffin; at this the bearers halted, and he said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!” The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, exclaiming, “A great prophet has arisen in our midst,” and “God has visited his people.” This report about him spread through the whole of Judea and in all the surrounding region.
The Gospel of the Lord.
September 16, 2025
Saint Who?
Saints Who Faced Persecution
Saint Cornelius
Pope and martyr († 252) Feast: September 16
Cornelius was a compromise candidate when he was elected pope. At the time, Christianity was still illegal in the Roman Empire but was only facing periodic persecution. Whenever government pressure on Catholics to renounce their faith temporarily lifted, Church leaders were faced with a difficult decision. What should they do with those Christians who had renounced their faith under threat of heavy fines, torture, or death and who now (when it was safe) wanted to return? Should they be permitted? Refused? Forced to do penance?
Cornelius supported the third option. He believed that our merciful God would want those who had fallen away to return to the embrace of the Church. But he also believed that God was just, and he knew that these lapsed Catholics should perform public penance, both for their own sins and because of the scandal of their betrayal. After all, some of the Christians worshiping next to them at Mass had seen their own family members die as martyrs.
In 252, a plague struck the city of Rome, and pagans superstitiously blamed Christians for the outbreak. To punish Catholics, Cornelius was banished and sent to a coastal city in Italy. There he died a martyr, praying for the Church and the world.
God of mercy and justice, help us to avoid giving scandal to others through action or inaction.
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©Image : Christ on the Lake of Galilee, Jacopo Tintoretto (circle, 1518-1594), NGA, Washington D.C., USA. Photo Courtesy NGA Washington.
