Pope Eusebius
Head of the Catholic Church from 309 to 310
Pope Eusebius (died 21 October 310) was the bishop of Rome from 18 April 309 until his exile on 17 August 310.
01Biography
Not much is known about Eusebius's early life, but he was probably a Greek.
As in the case of his predecessor, Marcellus I, difficulty arose out of Eusebius's attitude toward the lapsi. 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 on 17 August 310 (N.S..
Eusebius died in exile in Sicily on 21 October 310 N.S. and was buried in the catacomb of Callixtus. Pope Damasus I placed an epitaph over his tomb because of his firm defence of ecclesiastical discipline and the banishment which he suffered thereby. His feast is celebrated on 17 August. The feast had previously been observed on 26 September.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Pope Eusebius”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Christian in Rome in orante praying position, from the book Die Malereien der Katakomben Roms, plate 88, levels applied 2.jpg by unknown artist 250-300 A.D., Rome, Public domain
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