SORCERERS TURNED SAINTS

 

Late in the 3rd century, Cyprian was busy as a type of match-maker. Well, not the most reputable kind and he had no inhibitions about employing devils to coerce those who were unwilling to be fixed up. Cyprian usually worked as a sorcerer and enlisted demons to perform tasks on behalf of his clientele. A pagan lawyer approached him. The lawyer burned with white-hot passion for a certain Justina, and wanted her hand in marriage. But Justina refused; she had taken private vows to be the eternal spouse of Christ and nothing the lawyer did to woo her worked. So, the lawyer sought out Cyprian. Cyprian used all the dark arts to make Justina fall for the lawyer; he tried to send a demon to incite lust and sexual desire in her. 

All his efforts failed. Finally he went to the evil one for counsel, but satan told the sorcerer that he had no power over Justina because she blessed herself with the sign of the cross to chase away the demonic. Cyprian was smote by the power of the sign of the cross and blessed himself in imitation of Justina. No sooner had he done so, when he felt a revulsion for his practice of sorcery and his fellowship with fiends. He converted to Catholicism, becoming a deacon, then a priest and then a bishop. Justina became mother superior of a convent. 

Alas, in the year 304 they were martyred under Emperor Diocletian, the same psychopath who beheaded St. Philomena. For 6 days their bodies were not interred. Blessedly, some fellow Christians went in the dead of night, took their bodies and transported them by ship to the Eternal City. The relics of Cyprian and Justina were posited near the baptismal font in the Lateran Basilica. 

One last thing about Cyprian is that after his conversion, he was graced with many mystical gifts and was something of a wonder-worker. This is testament to the fantastic mercy of God, that He rewards souls who were serfs of the satanic (and in Cyprian's case he wanted to place Justina under demonic dominion), with great rewards such as being able to perform miracles.  

I am compiling a list of saints who were practitioners of the dark arts, who repented and even became saints or are on their way to canonization. So far, I know of Blessed Giles, who sold his soul to the devil when he signed a contract with his blood. Giles repented, and afterwards he was awarded with the gift of levitation. There is also Bartolo Longo, a lawyer, who wanted to be a satanist so he could cross-examine demons. 

September 26th is the feast of Ss Cyprian and Justina, I wish all my readers a blessed and happy day. Let's not be shy about asking their intercession. The excellent Dr. Pius Parsch, writing in 1963 warned that future "reform will certainly eliminate this feast", but while they were beheaded 1720 years ago today, their story was re-told by important figures like St Gregory Nazianzen not long after they died. There has been something of a movement especially in certain clerical circles discredit the early Christian saints, most often on the basis that they lived so very long ago, but this in itself is perilous because if they can be dismissed or even denied, then what's to stop the same treatment being meted out to the followers of Christ when he walked the earth, or even Christ Himself on the same basis that they lived too long ago for us to verify?

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This post was informed by Pius Parsch's The Church's Year of Grace.  Ss Cyprian and Justina's story is also included in The Golden Legend. The first image is from The Golden Legend (14th century) and depicts Cyprian trying to manipulate Justina with a smirking demon flying overhead. The second image of their death by decapitation is from the 11th century Menologion of Basil II. Both images are in the public domain.