Pope Cornelius, a Roman, died in exile at Civitavecchia on September 14, 253, after a pontificate of two years troubled by the schism of the first antipope, Novatian. St. Cyprian, a former lawyer, was converted to Catholicism and became bishop of Carthage; he was one of the great leaders of the third century African church, its great representative figure. In the thick of persecution he encouraged the faithful to face martyrdom, and was himself beheaded in 258 on the day when St. Cornelius’s relics were transferred to Rome. These two martyrs are also mentioned together in the Canon of the Mass.