St. Cyril of Jerusalem

Ever Ancient, Ever New
A series on Saints with special devotion to the Eucharist


St. Cyril of Jerusalem 


The years of the Eucharistic Revival by the bishops of the United States offer an opportunity for a renewal of hearts and minds and a deeper appreciation for God’s gift of the Eucharist. 

During this time, it is worthwhile to reflect on the saints who had a special devotion to the Eucharist. The witness of their lives brings inspiration and provides an example to follow for  Catholics to become saints.

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem’s (315-386 A.D.) spiritual writings are considered among the most important sources about the liturgy and sacraments in the first decades of Christianity. In particular, his 25 lectures contained in “Catechetical Homilies” to catechumens and “Mystagogic Catecheses” about the mysteries of the Sacraments emphasize his extraordinary recognition of the value and efficacy of the sacrament of baptism and the real presence of Christ’s body and blood in the Eucharist.

Saint Cyril was a bishop of Jerusalem, and is often counted among the early Church fathers. In 1882, he was declared a doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII. Cyril was born a few years before the emergence of Arianism  a heresy denying Jesus’ divinity and unity with God the Father. He was exiled on several occasions during his life for holding fast to his faith. He attended the Council of Constantinople in 381 A.D., where the Nicene Creed was approved and Arianism was ultimately condemned. 

Saint Cyril had a profound understanding about the importance of reverence when receiving the body and blood of Jesus. His writings in “Catechesis Mystagogica” are applicable to each Christian when receiving Christ during Holy Communion: “In approaching therefore, come not with your wrists extended, or your fingers spread; but make your left hand a throne for the right, as for that which is to receive a King. And having hollowed your palm, receive the Body of Christ, saying over it, amen.” 

He also emphasized the magnitude of grace that comes to each person receiving 
Jesus in Holy Communion.

“So then after having carefully hallowed your eyes by the touch of the Holy Body, partake of it; giving heed lest you lose any portion thereof; for whatever you lose, is evidently a loss to you as it were from one of your own members. For tell me, if anyone gave you grains of gold, would you not hold them with all carefulness, being on your guard against losing any of them, and suffering loss? Will you not then much more carefully keep watch, that not a crumb fall from you of what is more precious than gold and precious stones?” 

Saint Cyril advised believers to receive the body and blood of Jesus with deep faith, while forgetting human senses at that time, “O taste and see that the Lord is good. Trust not the judgment to your bodily palate no, but to faith unfaltering; for they who taste are bidden to taste, not bread and wine, but the anti-typical Body and Blood of Christ.” 

May the intercession of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, his feast day being March 18, guide all Catholics to stronger faith in Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist.

Jad Ziolkowska is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.