St. Cyril of Jerusalem

St. Cyril of Jerusalem (born c. 315, Jerusalem—died 386?, Jerusalem; feast day March 18) was an early Christian bishop of Jerusalem who fostered the development of the city as a pilgrimage center for all Christendom. He is venerated as the patron saint of catechists (religious teachers) and catechumens (people receiving religious instruction). In 1883 he was declared a doctor of the church, a title granted to saints of the Roman Catholic Church whose writings and teachings are considered especially significant.

A senior presbyter when he succeeded Maximus as bishop (c. 350), Cyril was exiled about 357 and at two later times from his see by the Arians, a heretical sect. Many years later at the Council of Constantinople (381) there was evidence that he might have been suspected by the strictly orthodox for his associations with the Homoiousians (moderate Arians), who had reinstated him as bishop at the Council of Seleucia (359). He retained his bishopric during the reign of Emperor Julian the Apostate (361–363).

Cyril’s primary surviving work is Catecheses, a collection of 23 catechetical lectures delivered to candidates for baptism. The first 18, based on the Jerusalem baptismal creed, were given during Lent, and the concluding 5 instructed the newly baptized during the week after Easter.