CIRILLO DI COSTANTINOPOLI, SANTO

Cyril of Constantinople, St. — Third general of the Carmelite Order and former prior on Mount Carmel, where he died almost a centenarian around 1225. To him have been attributed, besides many false prophecies spread by the Spirituals of the 13th century, the most famous *Oraculum angelicum*, used by Arnaldo of Villanova and by the Clarencans and which greatly inspired the actions of Cola di Rienzo. According to legend, while in 1192 C. was celebrating Holy Mass on Carmel for the feast of St. Hilarion the Abbot, an angel appeared to him with two silver tablets on which a message in Greek was written; this was allegedly interpreted by Abbot Joachim of Fiore. This circumstance suggests the milieu in which the revelation originated, which was moreover imbued with Joachimite spiritualist ideas. In it, moreover, the struggle between the Angevins and the Aragonese for Naples is foretold, a punitive judgment is announced, and the abandonment of the clergy and the persecution of the Spirituals are lamented. He worked much for the union of the Churches, and the Carmelite Order commemorates his feast on March 6.