Pope Pius I

Pope Pius I was the bishop of Rome from c. 140 to his death c. 154,[1] according to the Annuario Pontificio. His dates are listed as 142 or 146 to 157 or 161, respectively.[2] He is considered to have opposed both the Valentinians and Gnostics during his papacy. He is considered a saint by the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church[3] with a feast day in 11 July, but it is unclear if he died as a martyr.

"Pius of Rome" redirects here. For the Roman emperor, see Antoninus Pius.
Pope Saint

Pius I
Bishop of Rome
SeeHoly See
Papacy beganc. 140
Papacy endedc. 155
PredecessorHyginus
SuccessorAnicetus
Personal details
Birth namePius
Bornc. late 1st century
Aquileia, Italy
Diedc. 155
Rome, Roman Empire
Sainthood
Feast day11 July
Other popes named Pius

Early life

Pius is believed to have been born at Aquileia, in Northern Italy, during the late 1st century.[4] His father was an Italian[5] called "Rufinus", who was also a native of Aquileia according to the Liber Pontificalis.[6] According to the 2nd-century Muratorian Canon[7] and the Liberian Catalogue,[8] that he was the brother of Hermas, author of the text known as The Shepherd of Hermas. The writer of the later text identifies himself as a former slave. This has led to speculation that both Hermas and Pius were freedmen. However Hermas' statement that he was a slave may just mean that he belonged to a low-ranking plebeian family.[9]

Pontificate

According to Catholic tradition, Pius I governed the Church in the middle of the 2nd century during the reigns of the Emperors Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius.[4] He is held to be the ninth successor of Saint Peter,[1] who decreed that Easter should only be kept on a Sunday. Although credited with ordering the publication of the Liber Pontificalis,[4] compilation of that document was not started before the beginning of the 6th century.[10] He is also said to have built one of the oldest churches in Rome, Santa Pudenziana.

Saint Justin taught Christian doctrine in Rome during the pontificate of St Pius I but the account of his martyrdom indicates there was no Roman bishop present there, an unsurprising occurrence, considering the brevity of the account.[11] The heretics Valentinus, Cerdon, and Marcion visited Rome during that period. Catholic apologists see this as an argument for the primacy of the Roman See during the 2nd century.[4] Pope Pius I is believed to have opposed the Valentinians and Gnostics under Marcion, whom he excommunicated.[12]

There is some conjecture that Pius was a martyr in Rome, a conjecture that entered earlier editions of the Roman Breviary. The study that had produced the 1969 revision of the General Roman Calendar stated that there were no grounds for his consideration as a martyr,[13] and he is not presented as such in the Roman Martyrology.[14]

Feast day

Pius I's feast day is 11 July. In the Tridentine Calendar it was given the rank of "Simple" and celebrated as the feast of a martyr. The rank of the feast was reduced to a Commemoration in the 1955 General Roman Calendar of Pope Pius XII and the General Roman Calendar of 1960. Though no longer mentioned in the General Roman Calendar, Saint Pius I may now, according to the rules in the present-day Roman Missal, be celebrated everywhere on his feast day as a Memorial, unless in some locality an obligatory celebration is assigned to that day.[15]

See also

References
  1.  Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope St. Pius I". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  2. Annuario Pontificio per L'anno 2012. Vatican City. 2012. p. 8. ISBN 978-88-209-8722-0.
  3. "List of Popes of Rome". Orthodox Wiki.
  4. Hoever, Rev. Hugo, ed. (1955). Lives of the Saints, For Every Day of the Year. New York: Catholic Book Publishing. p. 263.
  5. Platina (2008). D'Elia, Anthony F. (ed.). Lives of the Popes: Antiquity, Volume 1. Harvard University Press. p. 79. ISBN 978-0674028197.
  6. Ed. Duchesne, I, 132.
  7. Preuschen, Erwin, ed. (1910). Analecta, Volume1. Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr. OCLC 5805331.
  8. Ed. Duchesne, "Liber Pontificalis, I, 5."
  9. Catholic University of America (1967). New Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 11. New York : McGraw-Hill. p. 393.
  10. Levillain, Philippe (1994). Dictionnaire historique de la papauté. Fayard. pp. 1042–1043.
  11. "The Martyrdom of Justin". New Advent.
  12. Delaney, John J. (2005). Dictionary of Saints (2nd ed.). New York: Image/Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-51520-0.
  13. Calendarium Romanum. Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 1969. p. 129.
  14. Martyrologium Romanum. Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 2001. ISBN 88-209-7210-7.
  15. "General Instruction of the Roman Missal" (PDF). Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 July 2008., section 355 c
Titles of the Great Christian Church
Preceded by
Hyginus		 Bishop of Rome
140–154		 Succeeded by
Anicetus
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