St. Cyprian, you were ordained a deacon shortly after your conversion to Christianity. You soon became a priest and the bishop of Carthage, choosing to devote your life wholly to serving God and His Church. Please bring my petitions before God Whom you served with such devotion! PRAYER OF SAINT CYPRIAN OF CARTHAGE For Prisoners & Correction Officers. Most gracious Father, bless with your special care all penitentiaries and homes of refuge. Look with pity on those who are housed there. Guide and protect those who have returned to the world. Grant all of them true contrition for past sins, and strengthen them in their good resolutions. Lead them along from grace to grace so that by the help of the Holy Spirit they may persevere in the ways of obedience and humility, and in the struggle against evil thoughts and desires. Grant the Holy Spirit to those engaged in teaching and training them, that they might have a right judgment with respect to those entrusted to them. May they labor for love of your with deep humility and singleness of purpose, purity of heart and life, andtrue zeal for your glory and the salvati on of souls. Give them faith and love to sustain them in disappointment, love and patience toward those under them, and in your own good time crown their work with an eternal recompense. Amen.