Pope Marcellus I (6 January 255 – 16 January 309) 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 .
47-640: Saint Marcellus may refer to: Pope Marcellus I Marcellus of Capua Marcellus of Tangier Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Saint Marcellus . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Saint_Marcellus&oldid=798563714 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Title and name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
94-429: A final assault against some Ursinian supporters who had fled to the cemetery of Saint Agnes, slaying many. Church historians such as Jerome and Rufinus championed Damasus. At a synod in 378, Ursinus was condemned and Damasus exonerated and declared the true pope. The former antipope continued to intrigue against Damasus for the next few years and unsuccessfully attempted to revive his claim on Damasus's death. Ursinus
141-577: A new burial-place, the Cœmeterium Novellœ on the Via Salaria (opposite the Catacomb of St. Priscilla), laid out. The Liber Pontificalis says: "He established a cemetery on the Via Salaria, and he appointed 25 "title" churches as jurisdictions within the city of Rome to provide baptism and penance for the many who were converted among the pagans and burial for the martyrs." At the beginning of
188-416: A petition to the civil authority on the part of Faustinus and Marcellinus [ ru ] , two anti-Damasan presbyters. Such was the violence and bloodshed that the two prefects of the city were called in to restore order, and after a first setback, when they were driven to the suburbs and a massacre of 137 was perpetrated in the basilica of Sicininus (the modern Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore ),
235-555: A priest. This later became the basilica of Saint Lawrence outside the Walls in Rome. Damasus was archdeacon of the Roman church when Pope Liberius was banished by Emperor Constantius II to Berea in 354. Damasus followed Liberius into exile, though he immediately returned to Rome. During the period before Liberius' return, Damasus had a great share in the government of the church. In
282-411: A prominent place in his councils. Jerome spent three years (382–385) in Rome in close intercourse with Pope Damasus and the leading Christians. Writing in 409, Jerome remarked, "A great many years ago when I was helping Damasus, bishop of Rome with his ecclesiastical correspondence, and writing his answers to the questions referred to him by the councils of the east and west..." In order to put an end to
329-637: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Pope Marcellus I For some time after the death of Marcellinus in 304, the Diocletian persecution continued with unabated severity. After the abdication of Diocletian in 305, and the accession in Rome of Maxentius to the throne of the Caesars in October of the following year, the Christians of
376-487: Is mentioned by the itineraries to the graves of the Roman martyrs as existing in the basilica of St. Silvester (De Rossi, Roma sotterranea , I, 176). A 5th-century "Passio Marcelli", which is included in the legendary account of the martyrdom of Cyriacus (cf. Acta Sanct., Jan., II, 10–14) and is followed by the Liber Pontificalis , gives a different account of the end of Marcellus. According to this version,
423-525: Is more familiarly known as the opening part of the Gelasian Decree, in regard to the canon of Scripture: De libris recipiendis vel non-recipiendis. It is now commonly held that the part of the Gelasian Decree dealing with the accepted canon of Scripture is an authentic work of the Council of Rome of 382 A.D. and that Gelasius edited it again at the end of the fifth century, adding to it the catalog of
470-659: Is not found in it shall perish when the flood prevails. But since by reason of my sins I have betaken myself to this desert which lies between Syria and the uncivilized waste, I cannot, owing to the great distance between us, always ask of your sanctity the holy thing of the Lord. Consequently I here follow the Egyptian confessors who share your faith, and anchor my frail craft under the shadow of their great argosies. I know nothing of Vitalis; I reject Meletius; I have nothing to do with Paulinus. He that gathers not with you scatters; he that
517-584: Is not of Christ is of Antichrist. The Eastern Church, in the person of Basil of Caesarea , earnestly sought the aid and encouragement of Damasus against an apparently triumphant Arianism . Damasus, however, harbored some degree of suspicion against the great Cappadocian Doctor of the Church . In the matter of the Meletian Schism at Antioch, Damasus – together with Athanasius of Alexandria , and his successor, Peter II of Alexandria – sympathized with
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#1732765700319564-423: Is overweening; let the state of Roman majesty withdraw. My words are spoken to the successor of the fisherman, to the disciple of the cross. As I follow no leader save Christ, so I communicate with none but your blessedness, that is with the chair of Peter. For this, I know, is the rock on which the church is built! This is the house where alone the paschal lamb can be rightly eaten. This is the ark of Noah, and he who
611-658: Is recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church ; his feast day is 11 December. His life coincided with the rise of Emperor Constantine I and the reunion and re-division of the Western and Eastern Roman Empires , which is associated with the legitimization of Christianity and its later adoption as the official religion of the Roman state in 380 . The reign of Gratian , which coincided with Damasus' papacy, forms an important epoch in ecclesiastical history, since during that period (359–383), Catholic Christianity for
658-571: Is tempered by some perplexity as to their exact standing, and among those we note St. Thomas Aquinas. Few are found to unequivocally acknowledge their canonicity. The prevailing attitude of Western medieval authors is substantially that of the Greek Fathers. The chief cause of this phenomenon in the West is to be sought in the influence, direct and indirect, of St. Jerome's depreciating Prologus. Significant scholarly doubts and disagreements about
705-480: The Liber Pontificalis , Marcellus divided the territorial administration of the church into twenty-five districts (tituli), appointing over each a priest, who saw to the preparation of the catechumens for baptism and directed the performance of public penances. The priest was also made responsible for the burial of the dead and for the celebrations commemorating the deaths of the martyrs. The pope also had
752-594: The First Council of Constantinople that was convoked in 381 to address these heresies . One of the important works of Pope Damasus was to preside in the Council of Rome of 382, which determined the canon or official list of Sacred Scripture. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church states: A council probably held at Rome in 382 under Damasus gave a complete list of the canonical books of both
799-654: The Projecta Casket in the British Museum may have been made for her) as "a tissue of tags and clichés shakily strung together and barely squeezed into the meter". Damasus has been described as "the first society Pope", and was possibly a member of a group of Hispanic Christians, largely related to each other, who were close to the Hispanic Theodosius I . A number of images of "DAMAS" in gold glass cups probably represent him and seem to be
846-431: The 7th century, there were probably twenty-five "title" churches in Rome; even granting that, perhaps, the compiler of the Liber Pontificalis referred this number to the time of Marcellus, there is still a clear historical tradition in support of his declaration that the ecclesiastical administration in Rome was reorganized by this pope after the great persecution. The work of the pope was, however, quickly interrupted by
893-576: The Basilica of Julius and a three-day slaughtering of those assembled there took place. After gaining control of the Lateran basilica Damasus was then ordained as bishop in the cathedral of Rome. However, Damasus was accused of bribing the urban officials of Rome to have Ursinus and chief supporters exiled, including some presbyters. As a result of this attempt, some of the (apparently quite numerous) supporters of Ursinus interrupted this process and rescued
940-647: The Old Testament and the New Testament (also known as the ' Gelasian Decree ' because it was reproduced by Gelasius in 495), which is identical with the list given at Trent. American Catholic priest and historian William Jurgens stated : "The first part of this decree has long been known as the Decree of Damasus, and concerns the Holy Spirit and the seven-fold gifts. The second part of the decree
987-456: The age of almost eighty". Damasus may be the author of the anonymous Carmen contra paganos (song against the pagans). The letters from Jerome to Damasus are examples of the primacy of the See of Peter: Yet, though your greatness terrifies me, your kindness attracts me. From the priest I demand the safe-keeping of the victim, from the shepherd the protection due to the sheep. Away with all that
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#17327657003191034-655: The biblical canon in the West . Nonetheless, as the Catholic Encyclopedia states, In the Latin Church, all through the Middle Ages we find evidence of hesitation about the character of the deuterocanonicals. There is a current friendly to them, another one distinctly unfavourable to their authority and sacredness, while wavering between the two are a number of writers whose veneration for these books
1081-474: The capital again enjoyed comparative peace. Nevertheless, nearly two years passed before a new bishop of Rome was elected. Then in 308, according to the Catalogus Liberianus , Marcellus first entered on his office: "He was bishop in the time of Maxentius , from the 4th consulship of Maxentius when Maximus was his colleague, until after the consulship." At Rome, Marcellus found the church in
1128-548: The chair being Eusebius (Neues Archiv, 1896, XXI, 350–3). The Catholic Encyclopedia dismisses this hypothesis as unsupported. Pope Damasus I Pope Damasus I ( / ˈ d æ m ə s ə s / ; c. 305 – 11 December 384), also known as Damasus of Rome , was the bishop of Rome from October 366 to his death in 384. He presided over the Council of Rome of 382 that determined the canon or official list of sacred scripture. He spoke out against major heresies (including Apollinarianism and Macedonianism ), thus solidifying
1175-405: The church at Rome mentioned in the above legend, is still celebrated on 16 January. Theodor Mommsen theorizes that Marcellus was not really a bishop, but a simple Roman presbyter to whom was committed the ecclesiastical administration during the latter part of the period of vacancy of the papal chair. According to this view, 16 January was really the date of Marcellus' death, the next occupant of
1222-425: The controversies to which the question of the readmittance of the lapsi into the church gave rise. The poetic tribute composed by Pope Damasus I in memory of his predecessor and placed over his grave (De Rossi, "Inscr. christ. urbis Romæ", II, 62, 103, 138; cf. Idem, "Roma sotterranea", II, 204–5) relates that Marcellus was looked upon as a wicked enemy by all the lapsed, because he insisted that they should perform
1269-423: The early Church , bishops were customarily elected by the clergy and the people of the diocese. While this simple method worked well in a small community of Christians unified by persecution, as the congregation grew in size, the acclamation of a new bishop was fraught with division, and rival claimants and a certain class hostility between patrician and plebeian candidates unsettled some episcopal elections. At
1316-650: The election of Damasus. The two were elected simultaneously (Damasus' election was held in San Lorenzo in Lucina ). J. N. D. Kelly states that Damasus hired a gang of thugs that stormed the Julian Basilica , carrying out a three-day massacre of the Ursinians. Thomas Shahan says details of this scandalous conflict are related in the highly prejudiced "Libellus precum ad Imperatores" (P.L., XIII, 83–107),
1363-561: The faith of the Catholic Church , and encouraged production of the Vulgate Bible with his support for Jerome . He helped reconcile the relations between the Church of Rome and the Church of Antioch , and encouraged the veneration of martyrs. As well as various prose letters and other pieces Damasus was the author of Latin verse. Alan Cameron describes his epitaph for a young girl called Projecta (of great interest to scholars as
1410-465: The first contemporary images of a pope to survive, though there is no real attempt at a likeness. "Damas" appears with other figures, including a Florus who may be Projecta's father. It has been suggested that Damasus or another of the group commissioned and distributed these to friends or supporters, as part of a programme "insistently inserting his episcopal presence in the Christian landscape". He
1457-632: The first time became dominant throughout the empire. Under the influence of Ambrose, Gratian refused to wear the insignia of the pontifex maximus as unbefitting a Christian, removed the Altar of Victory from the Senate at Rome , despite protests from the pagan members of the Senate. Emperor Gratian also forbade legacies of real property to the Vestals and abolished other privileges belonging to them and to
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1504-498: The greatest confusion. The meeting-places and some of the burial-places of the faithful had been confiscated, and the ordinary life and activity of the church was interrupted. Added to this were the dissensions within the church itself, caused by the large number of weaker members who had fallen away during the long period of active persecution and later, under the leadership of an apostate, violently demanded that they should be readmitted to communion without doing penance. According to
1551-700: The marked divergences in the western texts of that period, Damasus encouraged the highly respected scholar Jerome to revise the available Old Latin versions of the Bible into a more accurate Latin on the basis of the Greek New Testament and the Septuagint , resulting in the Vulgate . According to Protestant biblical scholar, F.F. Bruce , the commissioning of the Vulgate was a key moment in fixing
1598-521: The nature of the Apocrypha continued for centuries and even into Trent, which provided the first infallible definition of the Catholic canon in 1546. Jerome devoted a very brief notice to Damasus in his De Viris Illustribus , written after Damasus' death: "he had a fine talent for making verses and published many brief works in heroic metre. He died in the reign of the emperor Theodosius at
1645-526: The party of Paulinus as more sincerely representative of Nicene orthodoxy. On the death of Meletius he sought to secure the succession for Paulinus and to exclude Flavian . During his papacy, Peter II of Alexandria sought refuge in Rome from the persecuting Arians. He was received by Damasus, who supported him against the Arians. Damasus supported the appeal of the Christian senators to Emperor Gratian for
1692-492: The pontiffs. Pope Damasus I was either born in Rome, or in Lusitania around 305, before moving to Rome at a young age with his parents. Damasus' parents were Antonius, who became a priest at the Church of St. Lawrence (San Lorenzo) in Rome, and his wife Laurentia. Both parents originally came from the region of Lusitania. Damasus began his ecclesiastical career as a deacon in his father's church, where he went on to serve as
1739-478: The pope was required by Maxentius, who was enraged at his reorganization of the church, to lay aside his episcopal dignity and make an offering to the gods. On his refusal, he was condemned to work as a slave at a station on the public highway (catabulum). At the end of nine months he was set free by the clergy; but a matron named Lucina having had her house on the Via Lata consecrated by him as "titulus Marcelli" he
1786-426: The prefects banished Ursinus to Gaul . There was further violence when he returned, which continued after Ursinus was exiled again. Another ancient narrative of events, the "Gesta" (dated to 368 A.D.), provides more detail. It describes Ursinus as being the valid successor to Liberius, and Damasus as following a heretical interloper, Felix. This account also records that an armed force instigated by Damasus broke into
1833-533: The presbyters, taking them to the Basilica of Liberius (identified as the "basilica of Sicinnius"), the apparent headquarters of the Ursinian sect. Damasus then responded by ordering an attack against the Liberian basilica, resulting in another massacre: "They broke down the doors and set fire underneath it, then rushed in...and killed a hundred and sixty of the people inside, both men and women." Damasus next sent
1880-549: The prescribed penance for their guilt. As a result, violent conflicts broke out; Maxentius, who had apostatized before the beginning of the persecution, had the pope seized and sent into exile. This took place at the end of 308 or the beginning of 309 according to the passages cited above from the Catalogus Liberianus , which gives the length of the pontificate as no more than one year, six (or seven) months, and twenty days. Marcellus died shortly after leaving Rome, and
1927-462: The rejected books, the apocrypha. It is now almost universally accepted that these parts one and two of the Decree of Damasus are authentic parts of the Acts of the Council of Rome of 382 A.D." Pope Damasus appointed Jerome of Stridon as his confidential secretary. Invited to Rome originally to a synod of 382 convened to end the schism of Antioch , he made himself indispensable to the pope, and took
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1974-982: The removal of the altar of Victory from the Senate House, and lived to welcome the famous edict of Theodosius I , "De fide Catholica" (27 February 380), which proclaimed as the religion of the Roman State that doctrine which Peter had preached to the Romans. Damasus also did much to encourage the veneration of the Christian martyrs , restoring and creating access to their tombs in the Catacombs of Rome and elsewhere, and setting up tablets with verse inscriptions composed by himself, several of which survive or are recorded in his Epigrammata . Damasus rebuilt or repaired his father's church named for Laurence , known as San Lorenzo fuori le Mura ("St Lawrence outside
2021-506: The same time, 4th-century emperors expected each new pope-elect to be presented to them for approval, which sometimes led to state domination of the Church's internal affairs. Following the death of Pope Liberius on 24 September 366, Damasus succeeded to the Papacy amidst factional violence. The deacons and laity supported Liberius' deacon Ursinus . The upper-class former partisans of Felix , who had ruled during Liberius' exile, supported
2068-518: The walls"), which by the 7th century was a station on the itineraries of the graves of the Roman martyrs. Damasus' regard for the Roman martyr is attested also by the tradition according to which the Pope built a church devoted to Laurence in his own house, San Lorenzo in Damaso . Damasus was pope for eighteen years and two months. His feast day is 11 December. He was buried beside his mother and sister in
2115-408: Was again condemned to the work of attending to the horses brought into the station, in which menial occupation he died. All this is probably legendary, the reference to the restoration of ecclesiastical activity by Marcellus alone having an historical basis. The tradition related in the verses of Damasus seems much more worthy of belief. The feast of Saint Marcellus, whose name is to this day borne by
2162-603: Was among the Arian party in Milan , according to Ambrose . Damasus faced accusations of murder and adultery in his early years as pope. The accuracy of these claims has come into question with some suggesting that the accusations were motivated by the conflict with the supporters of Arianism . Damasus I was active in defending the Catholic Church against the threat of schisms . In two Roman synods (368 and 369) he condemned Apollinarianism and Macedonianism , and sent legates to
2209-533: Was venerated as a saint. His feast day was 16 January, according to the Depositio episcoporum of the Chronography of 354 and every other Roman authority. Nevertheless, it is not known whether this is the date of his death or that of the burial of his remains, after these had been brought back from the unknown place to which he had been exiled. He was buried in the catacomb of St. Priscilla where his grave
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