Pope Saint Lucius I was
PopeThe pope is the Bishop of Rome and, as such, is leader of the worldwide Catholic Church...
from June 25,
253-Roman Empire:* Period of the Thirty Tyrants in the Roman empire. For the most part, generals in the border regions are proclaimed emperor by their armies in order to stop the Germanic invaders....
to March 5,
254.
St. Lucius was born in
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
at an unknown date, nothing is known about his family except his father's name, Porphyrianus. He was elected probably on June 25,
253-Roman Empire:* Period of the Thirty Tyrants in the Roman empire. For the most part, generals in the border regions are proclaimed emperor by their armies in order to stop the Germanic invaders....
, and died on March 5,
254. His election took place during the persecution which caused the banishment of his predecessor
Pope CorneliusPope Saint Cornelius was pope from his election on 6 or 13 March, 251 to his martyrdom in June 253.- Christian Persecution :Emperor Decius, who ruled from 249-251AD, persecuted Christians in the Roman Empire rather sporadically and locally, but starting January in the year 250, he ordered all...
, and he also was banished soon after his consecration, but succeeded in gaining permission to return.
He is praised in several letters of
St. CyprianSaint Cyprian was bishop of Carthage and an important early Christian writer. He was born around the beginning of the 3rd century in North Africa, perhaps at Carthage, where he received an excellent classical education...
(see Epist. lxviii. 5) for condemning the
NovationistThe Novatianists following Novatus, or Novatian, held a strict view that refused readmission to communion of Lapsi, those baptized Christians who had denied their faith or performed the formalities of a ritual sacrifice to the pagan gods, under the pressures of the persecution sanctioned by Emperor...
s for their refusal to readmit to communion Christians who repented for having lapsed under persecution.
His feast day is on 5 March, on which date he is commemorated in the
Roman MartyrologyThe Roman Martyrology is the official Martyrology of the Roman Rite of the Roman Catholic Church. It provides an extensive but not exhaustive list of the saints recognized by the Church.-History:...
in the following terms: "In the cemetery of Callistus on the Via Appia, Rome, burial of Saint Lucius, Pope, successor of Saint Cornelius. For his faith in Christ he suffered exile and acted as an outstanding confessor of the faith, with moderation and prudence, in the difficult times that were his."
His feast did not appear in the
Tridentine CalendarThe Tridentine Calendar is the calendar of saints to be honoured in the official liturgy of the Roman Rite during the course of the liturgical year. It was established in 1570 by Pope Pius V, when he implemented a decision of the Council of Trent by promulgating his Roman Missal...
of
Pope Saint Pius VPope St. Pius V , born Antonio Ghislieri , was pope from 1566 to 1572 and is a saint of the Roman Catholic Church...
. In 1602 it was inserted, under the date of 4 March into the
calendarThe General Roman Calendar indicates the days of the year to which are assigned the liturgical celebrations of saints and of the mysteries of the Lord that are to be observed wherever the Roman Rite is used...
of saints for use wherever the
Roman RiteThe liturgical rite of the Catholic Church of Rome is called the Roman Rite. The quite distinct term Latin Rite usually refers not to a liturgical rite but to the particular Church within the Roman Catholic Church that was sometimes referred to also as the Patriarchate of the West...
is celebrated. With the insertion in 1621 on the same date of the feast of
Saint CasimirSaint Casimir Jagiellon , was a Polish-Lithuanian prince from the Jagiellon dynasty who became a patron saint of Poland, Lithuania, and youth....
, the celebration of Pope Lucius was reduced to a commemoration with Saint Casimir's
MassThe Mass is the Eucharistic celebration in the Latin liturgical rites of the Catholic Church. The term is used also of similar celebrations in Old Catholic Churches, in the Anglo-Catholic tradition of Anglicanism, in many Lutheran Churches, and in a small amount of High Church Methodist parishes...
. It remained so until 1969, when Pope Lucius's feast was moved in the
Roman MartyrologyThe Roman Martyrology is the official Martyrology of the Roman Rite of the Roman Catholic Church. It provides an extensive but not exhaustive list of the saints recognized by the Church.-History:...
to the day of his death and omitted from the General Calendar, partly because of the baselessness of the title of "martyr" with which he had previously been honoured.
In spite of what is mistakenly stated in the
Liber Pontificalis, he did not in fact suffer martyrdom. The persecution of
ValerianPublius Licinius Valerianus , commonly known in English as Valerian or Valerian I, was the Roman Emperor from 253 to 260.-Origins and rise to power:...
in which he was said to have been martyred is known to have started later than March 254, when Pope Lucius died.
Tomb
His tombstone is still extant in the
catacomb of CallixtusThe Catacomb of Callixtus was one of the Catacombs of Rome on the Appian Way, most notable for containing the Crypt of the Popes , which contained the tombs of several popes from the second to fourth centuries...
. His relics were later brought to the church of
Santa Cecilia in TrastevereSanta Cecilia in Trastevere is a 5th century church of Rome, located in the Trastevere rione and devoted to Saint Cecilia.-History:The first church on this site was founded probably in the 3rd century, by Pope Urban I; it was devoted to the Roman martyr Cecilia, martyred it is said under Marcus...
, along with the relics of St. Cecilia and others. His head is preserved in a
reliquaryA reliquary is a container for relics. These may be the physical remains of saints, such as bones, pieces of clothing, or some object associated with saints or other religious figures...
in St. Ansgar Catholic Cathedral in
CopenhagenCopenhagen ; ) is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban area with a population of 1,167,569 and a metropolitan area with a population of 1,875,179...
,
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
. This relic was brought to
RoskildeRoskilde is the main city in Roskilde Municipality, Denmark on the island of Zealand. It is an ancient city, dating from the Viking Age.Roskilde train station is a major stop between Copenhagen and the region of Denmark located to its west...
around the year 1100, after St. Lucius had been declared
patronPatrón is a luxury brand of tequila produced in Mexico and sold in hand-blown, individually numbered bottles.Made entirely from Blue Agave, Patrón comes in five varieties: Silver, Añejo, Reposado Gran Patrón Platinum and Gran Patrón Burdeos...
of the Danish region Zealand. There had been
demonIn religion, folklore, and mythology a demon is a supernatural being that is generally described as a malevolent spirit. In Christian terms demons are generally understood as fallen angels, formerly of God. A demon is frequently depicted as a force that may be conjured and insecurely controlled...
s at large at the Issefjord at Roskilde city, and as they declared that they feared nothing but Lucius' skull, this had to be brought to Denmark, whereupon peace took reign of the
fjordGeologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:Fjords are formed when a glacier cuts a v-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Many such valleys were formed during the recent ice age...
again. After the
ReformationThe Protestant Reformation was a Christian reform movement in Europe which is generally deemed to have begun with Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses in 1517 although a number of precursors such as Jan Hus predate that event...
the skull was taken to the exhibition rooms of king Frederik III in
CopenhagenCopenhagen ; ) is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban area with a population of 1,167,569 and a metropolitan area with a population of 1,875,179...
, where it was on exhibit along with the petrified
embryoAn embryo is a multicellular diploid eukaryote in its earliest stage of development, from the time of first cell division until birth, hatching, or germination...
a woman had carried inside her for 28 years, as well as other monstrosities the king had collected—until it was transferred to Copenhagen's National museum. Pope St. Lucius' head is among the few relics to have survived the Reformation in Denmark.
External links