Are saints always well-mannered, polite, tactful, correct in their practices and policies? Do they ever behave rashly or rudely or even sinfully? Today's saint was not always "saintly”. St. Cyril was a Church Father and Doctor of the Church due to his correct teaching about Jesus as being both God and man.
In the fifth century the Church was trying to figure out the true understanding of Jesus. The Council of Ephesus was convoked in 431 because there was some false teaching about Jesus that indicated that he was not both fully God and fully man. Nestorius, the Patriarch of Constantinople, had declared that Mary could be called the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of Christ, but NOT the Mother of God. This was an attack on Jesus as God and man! St. Cyril led the way in affirming that Mary was Theotokos, which means God-bearer, at the council. This helped in understanding of Christ as having two natures.
However, early in his career he had participated in the removal of a saint from the patriarchate of Constantinople, he expelled the Jews from Alexandria for their attacks on Christians, and he confiscated church buildings from a heretical group of Christians. In other words, he was intemperate and unwise. One could even say sinful.
No saint claims to not be a sinner. One does not become a saint at conception (except for the Virgin Mary, of course), but rather it takes a lifetime of conversion. Our call to holiness, our call to sainthood, is a lifelong journey and struggle. But with the grace of God, we can overcome our intemperance, folly, and even sinfulness, as did St. Cyril.
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