Age
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Clark C. Abalos III- St. Bernadette
Pope St. Pius I Date of birth unknown; pope from about 140 to about 154. According to the earliest list of the popes, given by Irenaeus (Against Heresies II.31; cf. Eusebius,Church History V.6), Pius was the ninth successor of St. Peter. The dates given in the Liberian Catalogue for his pontificate (146-61) rest on a false calculation of earlier chroniclers, and cannot be accepted. The only chronological datum we possess is supplied by the year of St. Polycarp of Smyrna's death, which may be referred with great certainty to 155-6. On his visit to Rome in the year before his death Polycarp found Anicetus, the successor of Pius, bishop there; consequently, the death of Pius must have occurred about 154. The "Liber Pontificalis" (ed. Duchesne, I, 132) says the father of Pius was Rufinus, and makes him a native ofAquileia; this is, however, probably a conjecture of the author, who had heard ofRufinus of Aquileia (end of fourth century). From a notice in the "Liberian Catalogue" (in Duchesne, "Liber Pontificalis", I, 5), which is confirmed by the Muratorian Fragment (ed. Preuschen, "Analecta", I, Tübingen, 1910), we learn that a brother of this pope, Hermas by name, published "The Shepherd" (see HERMAS). If the information which the author gives concerning his personal conditions and station (first a slave, then a freedman) were historical, we should know more about the origin of the pope, his brother. It is very possible that the story which Hermasrelates of himself is a fiction.
Pope Cornelius Martyr (251 to 253). We may accept the statement of the Liberian catalogue that he reigned two years, three months, and ten days, for Lipsius, Lightfoot, and Harnack have shown that this list is a first-rate authority for this date. His predecessor, Fabian, was put to death by Decius, 20 January, 250. About the beginning of March, 251 thepersecution slackened, owing to the absence of the emperor, against whom two rivals had arisen. It was possible to assemble sixteen bishops at Rome, and Cornelius was elected though against his will (Cyprian, Ep. lv, 24), "by the judgmentof God and of Christ, by the testimony of almost all the clergy, by the vote of the people then present, by the consent of aged priests and of good men, at a time when no one had been made before him, when the place of Fabian, that is the place of Peter, and the step of the sacerdotal chair were vacant". "What fortitudein his acceptance of the episcopate, what strength of mind, what firmness of faith, that he took his seat intrepid in the sacerdotal chair, at a time when the tyrant in his hatred of bishops was making unspeakable threats, when he heard with far more patience that a rival prince was arising against him, than that a bishop of God was appointed at Rome" (ibid., 9). Is he not, asks St. Cyprian, to be numbered among the glorious confessors and martyrs who sat so long awaiting the sword or thecross or the stake and every other torture?
Clark C. Abalos III- St. Bernadette
Pope St. Simplicius Reigned 468-483; date of birth unknown; died 10 March, 483. According to the"Liber Pontificalis" (ed. Duchesne, I, 249) Simplicius was the son of a citizen ofTivoli named Castinus; and after the death of Pope Hilarius in 468 was elected to succeed the latter. The elevation of the new pope was not attended with any difficulties. During his pontificate the Western Empire came to an end. Since themurder of Valentinian III (455) there had been a rapid succession of insignificant emperors in the Western Roman Empire, who were constantly threatened by warand revolution. Following other German tribes the Heruli entered Italy, and their ruler Odoacer put an end to the Western Empire by deposing the last emperor,Romulus Augustulus, and assuming himself the title of King of Italy. Although anArian, Odoacer treated the Catholic Church with much respect; he also retained the greater part of the former administrative organization, so that the change produced no great differences at Rome. During the Monophysite controversy, that was still carried on in the Eastern Empire, Simplicius vigorously defended the independence of the Church against the Cæsaropapism of the Byzantine rulers and the authority of the Apostolic See in questions of faith. The twenty-eighth canon of the Council of Chalcedon (451) granted the See of Constantinople the same privileges ofhonour that were enjoyed by the Bishop of Old Rome, although the primacy and the highest rank of honour were due to the latter. The papal legates protested against this elevation of the Byzantine Patriarch, and Pope Leo confirmed only the dogmaticdecrees of the council. However, the Patriarch of Constantinople sought to bring the canon into force, and the Emperor Leo II desired to obtain its confirmation bySimplicius. The latter, however, rejected the request of the emperor and opposed the carrying out of the canon, that moreover limited the rights of the old Oriental patriarchates.
Pope Sergius IV Date of birth unknown; consecrated about 31 July, 1009; d. 12 May, 1012. Peter Pig's Snout (Bucca Porci) was the son of Peter the Shoemaker, of the ninth region of Rome (Pina), and before he became Sergius IV had been bishop of Albano (1004-9). He checked the power of the Patricius, John Crescentius, who dominated Romeby strengthening the party in favour of the Germans. Little is known of the doings of Sergius except that by grants of privilege, the papyrus originals of some of which still exist, he exempted several monasteries from episcopal jurisdiction. Though his own temporal power was small, various nobles placed their lands under his protection. He showed himself a great friend of the poor in a time of famine, and was buried in the Lateran Basilica.
Pope St. Pius I Date of birth unknown; pope from about 140 to about 154. According to the earliest list of the popes, given by Irenaeus (Against Heresies II.31; cf. Eusebius,Church History V.6), Pius was the ninth successor of St. Peter. The dates given in the Liberian Catalogue for his pontificate (146-61) rest on a false calculation of earlier chroniclers, and cannot be accepted. The only chronological datum we possess is supplied by the year of St. Polycarp of Smyrna's death, which may be referred with great certainty to 155-6. On his visit to Rome in the year before his death Polycarp found Anicetus, the successor of Pius, bishop there; consequently, the death of Pius must have occurred about 154. The "Liber Pontificalis" (ed. Duchesne, I, 132) says the father of Pius was Rufinus, and makes him a native ofAquileia; this is, however, probably a conjecture of the author, who had heard ofRufinus of Aquileia (end of fourth century). From a notice in the "Liberian Catalogue" (in Duchesne, "Liber Pontificalis", I, 5), which is confirmed by the Muratorian Fragment (ed. Preuschen, "Analecta", I, Tübingen, 1910), we learn that a brother of this pope, Hermas by name, published "The Shepherd" (see HERMAS). If the information which the author gives concerning his personal conditions and station (first a slave, then a freedman) were historical, we should know more about the origin of the pope, his brother. It is very possible that the story which Hermasrelates of himself is a fiction.
Pope Cornelius Martyr (251 to 253). We may accept the statement of the Liberian catalogue that he reigned two years, three months, and ten days, for Lipsius, Lightfoot, and Harnack have shown that this list is a first-rate authority for this date. His predecessor, Fabian, was put to death by Decius, 20 January, 250. About the beginning of March, 251 thepersecution slackened, owing to the absence of the emperor, against whom two rivals had arisen. It was possible to assemble sixteen bishops at Rome, and Cornelius was elected though against his will (Cyprian, Ep. lv, 24), "by the judgmentof God and of Christ, by the testimony of almost all the clergy, by the vote of the people then present, by the consent of aged priests and of good men, at a time when no one had been made before him, when the place of Fabian, that is the place of Peter, and the step of the sacerdotal chair were vacant". "What fortitudein his acceptance of the episcopate, what strength of mind, what firmness of faith, that he took his seat intrepid in the sacerdotal chair, at a time when the tyrant in his hatred of bishops was making unspeakable threats, when he heard with far more patience that a rival prince was arising against him, than that a bishop of God was appointed at Rome" (ibid., 9). Is he not, asks St. Cyprian, to be numbered among the glorious confessors and martyrs who sat so long awaiting the sword or thecross or the stake and every other torture?
Clark C. Abalos III- St. Bernadette
Pope St. Simplicius Reigned 468-483; date of birth unknown; died 10 March, 483. According to the"Liber Pontificalis" (ed. Duchesne, I, 249) Simplicius was the son of a citizen ofTivoli named Castinus; and after the death of Pope Hilarius in 468 was elected to succeed the latter. The elevation of the new pope was not attended with any difficulties. During his pontificate the Western Empire came to an end. Since themurder of Valentinian III (455) there had been a rapid succession of insignificant emperors in the Western Roman Empire, who were constantly threatened by warand revolution. Following other German tribes the Heruli entered Italy, and their ruler Odoacer put an end to the Western Empire by deposing the last emperor,Romulus Augustulus, and assuming himself the title of King of Italy. Although anArian, Odoacer treated the Catholic Church with much respect; he also retained the greater part of the former administrative organization, so that the change produced no great differences at Rome. During the Monophysite controversy, that was still carried on in the Eastern Empire, Simplicius vigorously defended the independence of the Church against the Cæsaropapism of the Byzantine rulers and the authority of the Apostolic See in questions of faith. The twenty-eighth canon of the Council of Chalcedon (451) granted the See of Constantinople the same privileges ofhonour that were enjoyed by the Bishop of Old Rome, although the primacy and the highest rank of honour were due to the latter. The papal legates protested against this elevation of the Byzantine Patriarch, and Pope Leo confirmed only the dogmaticdecrees of the council. However, the Patriarch of Constantinople sought to bring the canon into force, and the Emperor Leo II desired to obtain its confirmation bySimplicius. The latter, however, rejected the request of the emperor and opposed the carrying out of the canon, that moreover limited the rights of the old Oriental patriarchates.
Pope Sergius IV Date of birth unknown; consecrated about 31 July, 1009; d. 12 May, 1012. Peter Pig's Snout (Bucca Porci) was the son of Peter the Shoemaker, of the ninth region of Rome (Pina), and before he became Sergius IV had been bishop of Albano (1004-9). He checked the power of the Patricius, John Crescentius, who dominated Romeby strengthening the party in favour of the Germans. Little is known of the doings of Sergius except that by grants of privilege, the papyrus originals of some of which still exist, he exempted several monasteries from episcopal jurisdiction. Though his own temporal power was small, various nobles placed their lands under his protection. He showed himself a great friend of the poor in a time of famine, and was buried in the Lateran Basilica.
