Sts. Cyril and Methodius

February 14 is the joint feast of Sts. Cyril (827-869) and Methodius (815-885), the Byzantine brothers from Thessaloniki who evangelized the Slavs. Sent by the Patriarch of Constantinople to Moravia in 863 at the request of Prince Rastislav, they translated the Scriptures and the liturgy into the Slavonic tongue — for which Cyril invented the Glagolitic alphabet, the ancestor of Cyrillic — and trained a native clergy.

The mission brought them into conflict with the German bishops of Bavaria, who claimed jurisdiction over Moravia and insisted on the Latin liturgy. The brothers appealed to Rome, and in 868 Cyril (who took the name Cyril only on his deathbed, when he became a monk) placed the relics of Pope St. Clement, recovered by him in the Crimea, on the altar of St. Peter's. Pope Adrian II approved the Slavonic liturgy — a remarkable concession in the 9th century — and ordained Methodius bishop of Sirmium.

Cyril died in Rome in 869 and is buried in the Church of San Clemente, where the relics of St. Clement he had brought are also venerated. Methodius returned to Moravia, was imprisoned by the German bishops for two years, and died at Velehrad in 885. The feast was extended to the universal Church in 1880 by Pope Leo XIII, and in 1980 Pope John Paul II proclaimed them co-patrons of Europe, with Benedict. From Rome, where Cyril lies, to Velehrad, where Methodius died, the February 14 feast is the feast of the Slavic apostles.