St. Cyprian

St. Cyprian (c. 210-258) was Bishop of Carthage, the leading church of North Africa. Born to a wealthy pagan family, he was baptized around 245 and became bishop in 248/249. He wrote De Ecclesiae Catholicae Unitate — "On the Unity of the Catholic Church" — whose most famous line is "He can no longer have God for his Father, who has not the Church for his mother." He was tried before the proconsul Galerius Maximus on September 14, 258, and beheaded at Carthage the same day. His last words: "Thanks be to God." Patron of North Africa and of the Berbers.