St. Athanasius

The Catholic Encyclopedia entry on St. Athanasius opens with the following synopsis:

Bishop of Alexandria; Confessor and Doctor of the Church; born c. 296; died 2 May, 373. Athanasius was the greatest champion of Catholic belief on the subject of the Incarnation that the Church has ever known and in his lifetime earned the characteristic title of "Father of Orthodoxy", by which he has been distinguished every since. While the chronology of his career still remains for the most part a hopelessly involved problem, the fullest material for an account of the main achievements of his life will be found in his collected writings and in the contemporary records of his time.

Readings:

• Pope Benedict XVI's reflection on St. Athanasius 
• On the Incarnation -- New Advent  (optional)
• On the Incarnation -- Popular Patristics Series (optional)

"St Athanasius stood contra mundum for the Trinitarian doctrine 'whole and undefiled,' when it looked as if all the civilized world was slipping back from Christianity into the religion of Arius, into one of those 'sensible' synthetic religions which are so strongly recommended today and which then, as now, included among their devotees many highly cultivated clergymen. The glory of St Athanasius is that he did not move with the times; it is his reward that he now remains when those times, like all others, have passed away."

• Arianism as defined at New Advent
• Arianism as described by Hilaire Belloc
• Arianism and the Council of Nicea

St. Cyprian of Carthage

The Catholic Encyclopedia begins its discussion of St. Cyprian of Carthage with this synopsis:

Bishop and martyr. Of the date of the saint's birth and of his early life nothing is known. At the time of his conversion to Christianity he had, perhaps, passed middle life. He was famous as an orator and pleader, had considerable wealth, and held, no doubt, a great position in the metropolis of Africa. We learn from his deacon, St. Pontius, whose life of the saint is preserved, that his mien was dignified without severity, and cheerful without effusiveness. His gift of eloquence is evident in his writings. He was not a thinker, a philosopher, a theologian, but eminently a man of the world and an administrator, of vast energies, and of forcible and striking character.

Readings:

• Pope Benedict XVI's reflection on St. Cyprian
• Treatise IV: On the Lord's Prayer
• Treatise I: On the Unity of the Church (optional)
• Life and Passion of St. Cyprian, by Pontius the Deacon (optional)

Cyprian says:

Before all things, the Teacher of peace and the Master of unity would not have prayer to be made singly and individually, as for one who prays to pray for himself alone.  For we say not "My Father, which art in heaven," nor "Give me this day my daily bread"....  Our prayer is public and common; and when we pray, we pray not for one, but for the whole people, because we the whole people are one."