Sacred Calendar
The Roman year ordered for memory, penance, feasts, saints, and the daily pilgrimage of the faithful.
Calendar standard
Pre-1955 Roman usage
The calendar follows the universal Roman year under the rubrics of Pope St. Pius X, with the Roman Martyrology preserved as a distinct daily witness.
The day is presented for prayer, recollection, study, and perseverance in the City.
Daily observance
Today in the City of God
The Church keeps this day in holy time. The Pilgrim's Companion gathers the feast, daily quote, Martyrology, meditation, prayer, and related chapters into one daily path through the City.
Choose a date
Daily observance
Ss. Cornelius, Pope, and Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs
Wednesday, September 16, 2026
Season: Time after Pentecost
The day is set within the Roman year so its feast, Martyrology, daily quote, prayer, and reading path may be received together without blurring their proper sources.
Today's pilgrimage
Ss. Cornelius, Pope, and Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs
Rank: Semi-Double
Color: red
Feria: September Ember Day.
Commemoration: St. Euphemia, Virgin and Martyr, and Companions, Martyrs.
Quote for the day
Pope St. Gregory the Great
“There are three states of the converted: the beginning, the middle, and the perfection.”
Roman Martyrology
Roman Martyrology - September 16
The Saints Cornelius and Cyprian, pontiffs and - martyrs, whose birthday is the 14th of this month. — At Chalcedon, the birthday of St. Euphemia, virgin and martyr, under the emperor Diocletian and the proconsul Priscus. For faith in our Lord she was subjected to tortures, imprisonment, blows, the torment of the wheel, fire, the crushing weight of stones, the teeth of beasts, scourging with rods, the cutting of sharp saws, burning pans, all of which she survived. But when she was again exposed to the beasts in the amphitheatre, praying to our Lord to receive her spirit, one of the animals having inflicted a bite on her sacred body, whilst the rest licked her feet, she yielded her unspotted soul to God. — At Rome, the holy martyrs Lucia, noble matron, and Geminian, who were subjected to most grievous afflictions and a long time tortured, by the command of the emperor Diocletian. Finally, being put to the sword, they obtained the glorious victory of martyrdom. — Also, at Rome, at a place on the Flaminian road, ten miles from the city, the holy martyrs Abundius, priest, and Abundantius, deacon, whom the emperor Diocletian caused to be struck with the sword, together with Marcian, an illustrious man, and his son John, whom they had raised from the dead. — At Heraclea, in Thrace, St. Sebastiana, martyr, under the emperor Doinitian and the governor Sergius. Being brought to the faith of Christ by the blessed apostle Paul, she was tormented in various ways and finally beheaded. — At Cordova, the holy martyrs Kogellus and Servideus, who were decapitated, after their hands and feet had been cut off. — In Scotland, St. Ninian, bishop and confessor. — In England, St. Editha, virgin, daughter of the English king Edgar, who was consecrated to God in a monastery from her tender years, whence she may be said to have been ignorant of the world rather than to have forsaken it.
Highlighted saint
Ss. Cornelius and Cyprian
Pontiffs and martyrs, confessors of Catholic unity.
The Martyrology honors Saints Cornelius and Cyprian as pontiffs and martyrs.
Their witness joins pastoral office to martyrdom and Catholic unity. Shepherds are not given to the Church for human management, but for confession of the true faith unto sacrifice.
Virtue to practice
Pastoral fidelity unto martyrdom.
Error to resist
The false unity that preserves peace by softening doctrine.
For the pilgrim in exile
Ask these martyrs to strengthen love for true unity. Catholic unity is not a mood; it is shared faith, true worship, and fidelity under lawful order.
Imitate today
- Pray for faithful shepherds.
- Hold Catholic unity without compromise.
- Accept suffering rather than betray doctrine.
Sources
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, September 16.
- Roman Martyrology, 1916 Baltimore edition, September 16.
Breviary Witness
Pontiffs and martyrs guarding unity.
Matins - Ss. Cornelius and Cyprian
Breviary witness
- The Breviary honors Cornelius and Cyprian as pontiffs and martyrs, shepherds whose witness joined office, doctrine, unity, and suffering.
- Their feast teaches that unity in the Church is not maintained by vagueness, but by confession of the true faith.
For the pilgrim in exile
Love Catholic unity enough to reject its counterfeits. Peace without truth is not the peace of Christ.
Sources
- Roman Breviary, Matins lessons for September 16, Ss. Cornelius and Cyprian.
- Roman Martyrology, 1916 Baltimore edition, September 16.
Meditation
Growth After Pentecost
In the Time after Pentecost, the Church sends the faithful back into daily labor under the light of the Holy Ghost. The soul must not seek fire as excitement only. It must seek the fire that purifies speech, strengthens duty, exposes false peace, and keeps the Church's received worship dear.
Related paths
Walk the day through the City.
Today's chapters
Read with the feast.
Prayer
The day should become prayer.
O Lord, make doctrine fruitful in habit. Let truth become patience, courage, purity, recollection, penance, charity, and perseverance.
Thought for the pilgrim
Virtue grows by repeated acts under grace.
Practice
The day should become obedience.
Choose one virtue for the day and practice it deliberately before evening.
Source notes
Universal Roman Calendar under the rubrics of Pope St. Pius X
Fasting and abstinence according to the laws observed in 1952
Daily quotations and pilgrimage excerpts should come from Scripture, Fathers, Doctors, saints, traditional popes before 1958, traditional catechisms, approved devotional works, or received liturgical texts.
The Roman Martyrology, Baltimore, 1916, published by John Murphy Company; the local 1916 text is displayed and traceable to its source lines.
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, Liturgical Calendar, pp. xvii–xxviii.
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, Liturgical Calendar, pp. xiii and xv: Ember Days occur in Advent, Lent, Whitsuntide, and after September 14.
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, Division of the Ecclesiastical Year, p. x: Ember Days are non-privileged ferias; their commemoration remains distinct from the feast and from the separate 1952 fasting layer.