Pope Eusebius was the bishop of Rome from 18 April 310 until his death on 17 August 310.
Difficulty arose, as in the case of his predecessor, Marcellus I, out of Eusebius's attitude toward the lapsi.[1][2] Eusebius maintained the attitude of the Roman Church, adopted after the Decian persecutions (250–51), that the apostates should not be forever debarred from ecclesiastical communion, but readmitted after doing proper penance. This view was opposed by a faction of Christians in Rome under the leadership of Heraclius. Johann Peter Kirsch believes it likely that Heraclius was the chief of a party made up of apostates and their followers, who demanded immediate restoration to the Roman Church. Emperor Maxentius intervened and exiled them both.[3]
Eusebius died in exile in Sicily very soon after being banished and was buried in the catacomb of Callixtus.[4]Pope Damasus I placed an epitaph of eight hexameters over his tomb because of his firm defence of ecclesiastical discipline and the banishment which he suffered thereby.[3][2] His feast is celebrated on 17 August. The feast had previously been observed on 26 September.[4]
Pope Linus was the bishop of Rome from c. AD 67 to his death. He is generally regarded as the second Bishop of Rome, after St. Peter. As with all the early popes, he was canonized.
Pope Martin I, also known as Martin the Confessor, was the bishop of Rome from 21 July 649 to his death 16 September 655. He served as Pope Theodore I's ambassador to Constantinople and was elected to succeed him as Pope. He was the only pope during the Eastern Roman domination of the papacy whose election was not approved by an imperial mandate from Constantinople. For his strong opposition to Monothelitism, Pope Martin I was arrested by Emperor Constans II, carried off to Constantinople, and ultimately banished to Cherson. He is considered a saint by both the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church and he is the last pope recognized as a martyr.
Pope Marcellus I was the bishop of Rome from May or June 308 to his death. He succeeded Marcellinus after a considerable interval. Under Maxentius, he was banished from Rome in 309, on account of the tumult caused by the severity of the penances he had imposed on Christians who had lapsed under the recent persecution. He died the same year, being succeeded by Eusebius. His relics are under the altar of San Marcello al Corso in Rome. Since 1969 his feast day, traditionally kept on 16 January by the Catholic Church, is left to local calendars and is no longer inscribed in the General Roman Calendar.
Pope Miltiades, also known as Melchiades the African, was the bishop of Rome from 311 to his death on 10 or 11 January 314. It was during his pontificate that Emperor Constantine the Great issued the Edict of Milan (313), giving Christianity legal status within the Roman Empire. The pope also received the palace of Empress Fausta where the Lateran Palace, the papal seat and residence of the papal administration, would be built. At the Lateran Council, during the schism with the Church of Carthage, Miltiades condemned the rebaptism of apostatised bishops and priests, a teaching of Donatus Magnus.
Pope Urban I, also known as Saint Urban (175?–230), was the bishop of Rome from 222 to 23 May 230. He was born in Rome and succeeded Callixtus I, who had been martyred. It was believed for centuries that Urban I was also martyred. However, recent historical discoveries now lead scholars to believe that he died of natural causes.
Pope Victor I was a Roman African prelate of the early Christian Church who served as Bishop of Rome in the late second century. The dates of his tenure are uncertain, but one source states he became pope in 189 and gives the year of his death as 199. He was born in the Roman Province of Africa—probably in Leptis Magna. He was later considered a saint. His feast day is celebrated on 28 July as "St Victor I, Pope and Martyr". He was of Berber origin.
Pope Innocent I was the bishop of Rome from 401 to his death on 12 March 417. From the beginning of his papacy, he was seen as the general arbitrator of ecclesiastical disputes in both the East and the West. He confirmed the prerogatives of the Archbishop of Thessalonica, and issued a decretal on disciplinary matters referred to him by the Bishop of Rouen. He defended the exiled John Chrysostom and consulted with the bishops of Africa concerning the Pelagian controversy, confirming the decisions of the African synods. The Catholic priest-scholar Johann Peter Kirsch, 1500 years later, described Innocent as a very energetic and highly gifted individual "...who fulfilled admirably the duties of his office".
Pope Julius I was the bishop of Rome from 6 February 337 to his death on 12 April 352. He is notable for asserting the authority of the pope over the Arian Eastern bishops, as well as setting December 25 as the official birthdate of Jesus.
Pope Hilarius was the bishop of Rome from AD 461 to 468.
Pope Lucius I was the bishop of Rome from 25 June 253 to his death on 5 March 254. He was banished soon after his consecration, but gained permission to return. He was mistakenly classified as a martyr in the persecution by Emperor Valerian, which did not begin until after Lucius' death.
Pope Zephyrinus was the bishop of Rome from 199 to his death on 20 December 217. He was born in Rome, and succeeded Victor I. Upon his death on 20 December 217, he was succeeded by his principal advisor, Callixtus I. He is known for combating heresies and defending the divinity of Christ.
Pope Pontian was the bishop of Rome from 21 July 230 to 28 September 235. In 235, during the persecution of Christians in the reign of the Emperor Maximinus Thrax, Pontian was arrested and sent to the island of Sardinia.
Pope Dionysius was the bishop of Rome from 22 July 259 to his death on 26 December 268. His task was to reorganize the Roman church, after the persecutions of Emperor Valerian I and the edict of toleration by his successor Gallienus. He also helped rebuild the churches of Cappadocia, devastated by the marauding Goths.
Pope Eutychian, also called Eutychianus, was the bishop of Rome from 4 January 275 to his death on 7 December 283.
Pope Hyginus was the bishop of Rome from c. 138 to his death in c. 142. Tradition holds that during his papacy he determined the various prerogatives of the clergy and defined the grades of the ecclesiastical hierarchy.
Pope Vitalian was the bishop of Rome from 30 July 657 to his death. His pontificate was marked by the dispute between the papacy and the imperial government in Constantinople over Monothelitism, which Rome condemned. Vitalian tried to resolve the dispute and had a conciliatory relationship with Emperor Constans II, who visited him in Rome and gave him gifts. Vitalian's pontificate also saw the secession of the Archbishopric of Ravenna from the papal authority.
Saint Bibiana is a Roman Virgin martyr. The earliest mention in an authentic historical authority occurs in the Liber Pontificalis, where the biography of Pope Simplicius (468–483) states that this pope "consecrated a basilica of the holy martyr Bibiana, which contained her body, near the 'palatium Licinianum'". The Basilica of Santa Bibiana is dedicated to her.
Symphorian, Timotheus (Timothy), and Hippolytus of Rome are three Christian martyrs who, though they were unrelated and were killed in different places and at different times, shared a common feast day in the General Roman Calendar from at least the 1568 Tridentine calendar to the Mysterii Paschalis. While still a young man, Symphorian was either beheaded or beaten to death with clubs.
Eusebius of Rome, the founder of the church on the Esquiline Hill in Rome that bears his name, is listed in the Roman Martyrology as one of the saints venerated on 14 August.
Heraclius was a Roman who, in 310, opposed the election of Pope Eusebius, earning him the title of antipope. All that is known of Heraclius appears in an epitaph written by Pope Damasus I for Eusebius. Heraclius and Eusebius disagreed over the policy which should be taken towards the lapsi. Damasus' epitaph is ambiguous as to whether Heraclius' position was that the lapsi should be readmitted to the church without compelling them to do penance, or that they should not be readmitted at all.
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One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Jackson, Samuel Macauley, ed. (1914). "Eusebius". New Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (third ed.). London and New York: Funk and Wagnalls.
