St. Cyril, of Alexandria.

St. Cyril, of Alexandria.

If Cyril was a Saint, may God forbid

That me or mine should be saintly be!
For all you know plunderer’s history
Must grieve that ever such a monster hid
His fiendish soul in human form. For he— 5
A Christian[*] Prelate, who surely bless,
Not curse, his fellows—in their distress,
And murder’d wholesale—in his lust to be
Tyrant o’er mind and body—Pagan and Jew;
And pour’d his causes where his murderous crew 10
Of monks and mob durst not their murders do,
On the Nestorean Christians! nor would bow,
As peaceful citizen, to the civil power,
Which ought to have curb’d him in that evil hour.

George Markham Tweddell

p. 17 [in Miscellaneous Sonnets]
[*] Christian is followed by ‘(?)’ in the text.
Middlesbrough Weekly News, Oct. 27, 1883.
[From 1580 until 1882, St. Cyril was not included in the Roman Catholic
Tradentine Calendar. GMT’s opinion about him reflects that of the Roman
Emperor Theodosius II and this poem may have been written as a call against
Cyril’s inclusion on the new date of February 9th.]

More info on Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyril_of_Alexandria