Cyril of Constantinople, Saint

CIRILLO of CONSTANTINOPLE, saint. – Third superior general of the Carmelite Order and formerly prior on Mount Carmel, where he died, almost a centenarian, around 1225. In addition to many false prophecies circulated by the Spirituals of the thirteenth century, he has been credited with the celebrated Oraculum angelicum, used by Arnaldo di Villanova and Clareno, and which inspired no little of Cola di Rienzo’s activity. According to legend, while in 1192 C. was celebrating Holy Mass on Carmel for the feast of St. Ilarione the abbot, an angel appeared to him with two silver tablets on which a message in Greek was written; it was supposedly interpreted for him by the abbot Gioacchino da Fiore. This circumstance arouses suspicion regarding the milieu in which the revelation originated, which was moreover imbued with spiritualist-Joachimist ideas. It also appears to foreshadow the struggle between the Angevins and the Aragonese for Naples; a punitive judgment is announced, and the abandonment of the clergy and the persecution of the Spirituals are lamented. He worked greatly for the union of the Churches, and the Carmelite Order commemorates his feast on 6 March.