Pope_Pius_I

Saint Pius I





Birth name

Pius


Papacy began

c. 140


Papacy ended

c. 154


Predecessor

Hyginus


Successor

Anicetus


Born

c. late 1st century
Aquileia, Italy


Died

c. 154
Rome, Italy


Other popes named Pius


Pope Saint Pius I was bishop of Rome for about 14 years during the mid-second century. His dates are uncertain due to conflicting sources, with beginning dates ranging from 142 to 146 C.E. and ending dates ranging from 154 or 161.
Pius is believed to have been born at Aquileia in Northern Italy, during the late first century. His father was called Rufinus, and he was the brother of Hermas, author of the apocalyptic text known as The Shepherd of Hermas.
During Pius' time, the Roman church was visited by various well known teachers such as Justin Martyr and the heretics Marcion and Valentinus. The second century writer Irenaeus of Lyons indicates that Pius excommunicated Marcion, and later sources say that he provided for Jewish Christians to rejoin the church if they recanted their "heresy."

Contents

1 Pontificate
2 Legacy
3 Notes
4 References
5 External links
6 Credits



Once considered a martyr, Pius is no longer commemorated as such in the Roman Catholic Church. His feast day is July 11.

Pontificate
Pius I was a leader the Roman church in the middle of the second century, during the reigns of the Emperors Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius, although it may still be too early to speak of him as a "pope" in the sense of single ruling bishop of Rome, and the term "pope" was certainly not yet used by the bishops of Rome themselves.
Pius is one of the first early Roman bishops for whom we have a some biographical details beyond where he came from and the name of his father. The second-century Muratorian fragment indicates that he was the brother of Hermas, the writer of the apocalyptic text known as The Shepherd, which urged the church to purify itself in preparation for the imminent Second Coming of Christ. Since Hermas identifies himself as a former slave, it is presumed that both Hermas and Pius I were freedmen.

 Marcion, who was excommunicated by Pius I, displaying his canon of Christian scripture.
During Pius' time at Rome, Justin Martyr taught his version of Christian doctrine there and the "heretics" Valentinus, Cerdon, and Marcion were also active. Valentinus was perhaps the best known Gnostic teacher of his day. He was already active in Rome during the time of Pius' predecessor Hyginus and continued to teach his doctrine during the time of Pius. Cerdon, whose teachings anticipated those of Marcion, was also active in Rome during this time, and Marcion himself also arrived in the capital in this period. Bishop Ireneaus of Lyons indicates that Marcion was  excommunicated by Pius (Against Heresies III.3), after which Marcion, a wealthy shipbuilder, was able to sustain a separate congregation centered on his doctrine. The Christian community in Rome thus seems to have been emerging at this time as an important center of Christian life and controversy.
The Liber Pontificalis indicates that Pius instituted a policy to allow Jewish Christians to be accepted back into the church if they renounced the "heresy" of Judaism. Although this source often attributes policies to the popes anachronistically, in this case other circumstances make this attribution more plausible. For example, Justin's writing indicate strong anti-Judaistic feelings among the Roman Christians, and Marcion's doctrine specified that the Old Testament scriptures were not valid because the Jewish deity who inspired them was an inferior, wrathful being, very different from the True God who was the Heavenly Father of Jesus. In any case, it is probable that during Pius' time, the church was forced by teachers such as Marcion to face the question of whether the Old Testament scriptures were inspired by the Christian God.

Legacy
 The church of Santa Pudenziana in Rome.
A later legend places the foundation of two major Roman churches, the Santa Pudenziana and the titulus Praxedis, to the time of Pius. Both Catholic and secular scholarship, however, currently hold that these two churches, as such, came into existence in the fourth century. It is possible, however, that these later buildings replaced Christian house churches that had been in operation during Pius' time.
A tradition also exists that Pius died as a martyr in Rome, and this tradition entered the early editions of the Breviary. However, he is one of the very few popes not identified as a martyr in the Liber Pontificalis, and the 1969 revision of the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints stated that there are no grounds for him to be considered a martyr today. He is thus not presented as such in contemporary the Roman Martyrology.
Pius I's feast day is celebrated on July 11. In the Tridentine Calendar it was 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 1962. Though no longer mentioned in the General Roman Catholic calendar of saints, he may now be celebrated on his feast day with a "memorial."[1]
By excommunicating Marcion, Pius established the Christian tradition to recognize the Jewish and Christian deities as one and the same God and created the foundation for accepting the Old Testament into the later Christian canon of scripture. In his time, the Roman church appears to have begun to assume a defining role in establishing Christian doctrine, not only by later reputation, but also in actual practice.




Roman Catholic Popes


Preceded by:
Hyginus

Bishop of Rome 
Pope
140–154

Succeeded by: Anicetus


Notes

↑ ACBC, General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 355 c. Retrieved December 25, 2008.


ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
Attwater, Donald, and Catherine Rachel John. The Penguin Dictionary of Saints, 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 0140513124.
Chapman, John. Studies on the Early Papacy. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1971. ISBN 9780804611398.
Fortescue, Adrian, and Scott M. P. Reid. The Early Papacy: To the Synod of Chalcedon in 451. Southampton: Saint Austin Press, 1997. ISBN 9781901157604.
Loomis, Louise Ropes. The Book of Popes (Liber Pontificalis). Merchantville, NJ: Evolution Publishing. ISBN 1889758868.
This article incorporates text from the Catholic Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.

External links
All links retrieved November 25, 2022.

Catholic Encyclopedia: Pope St. Pius I
Popes of the Catholic Church
Peter 
Linus 
Anacletus 
Clement I 
Evaristus 
Alexander I 
Sixtus I 
Telesphorus 
Hyginus 
Pius I 
Anicetus 
Soter 
Eleuterus 
Victor I 
Zephyrinus 
Callixtus I 
Urban I 
Pontian 
Anterus 
Fabian 
Cornelius 
Lucius I 
Stephen I 
Sixtus II 
Dionysius 
Felix I 
Eutychian 
Caius 
Marcellinus 
Marcellus I 
Eusebius 
Miltiades 
Sylvester I 
Mark


Julius I 
Liberius 
Damasus I 
Siricius 
Anastasius I 
Innocent I 
Zosimus 
Boniface I 
Celestine I 
Sixtus III
Leo I 
Hilarius 
Simplicius 
Felix III 
Gelasius I 
Anastasius II 
Symmachus 
Hormisdas 
 John I 
Felix IV 
Boniface II 
John II 
Agapetus I 
Silverius 
Vigilius 
Pelagius I
John III 
Benedict I 
Pelagius II 
Gregory I 
Sabinian 
Boniface III 
Boniface IV 
Adeodatus I


Boniface V 
Honorius I 
Severinus 
John IV 
Theodore I 
Martin I 
Eugene I
Vitalian 
Adeodatus II 
Donus 
Agatho 
Leo II 
Benedict II 
John V 
Conon 
Sergius I 
John VI 
John VII 
Sisinnius 
Constantine 
Gregory II 
Gregory III
Zachary 
Stephen II 
Paul I 
Stephen III 
Adrian I 
Leo III 
Stephen IV 
Paschal I 
Eugene II 
 Valentine 
Gregory IV 
Sergius II


Leo IV 
Benedict III 
Nicholas I 
Adrian II 
John VIII 
Marinus I 
Adrian III 
Stephen V 
Formosus 
Boniface VI 
Stephen VI 
Romanus 
Theodore II 
John IX 
Benedict IV 
Leo V 
Sergius III 
Anastasius III 
Lando 
John X 
Leo VI 
Stephen VII 
John XI 
Leo VII 
Stephen VIII 
Marinus II 
Agapetus II 
John XII 
Leo VIII 
Benedict V 
John XIII 
Benedict VI 
Benedict VII 
John XIV


John XV 
Gregory V 
Sylvester II 
John XVII 
John XVIII 
Sergius IV 
 Benedict VIII 
John XIX 
Benedict IX 
Sylvester III 
Benedict IX 
Gregory VI 
Clement II 
Benedict IX 
Damasus II 
Leo IX 
Victor II 
Stephen IX 
Nicholas II 
Alexander II 
Gregory VII 
Victor III 
Urban II 
Paschal II 
Gelasius II 
Callixtus II 
Honorius II 
Innocent II 
Celestine II 
Lucius II 
Eugene III 
Anastasius IV 
Adrian IV 
Alexander III


Lucius III 
Urban III 
Gregory VIII 
Clement III 
Celestine III 
Innocent III 
Honorius III 
Gregory IX 
Celestine IV 
Innocent IV 
Alexander IV 
Urban IV 
Clement IV 
Gregory X 
Innocent V 
Adrian V 
John XXI 
Nicholas III 
Martin IV 
Honorius IV 
Nicholas IV 
Celestine V 
Boniface VIII 
Benedict XI 
Clement V 
John XXII 
Benedict XII 
Clement VI 
Innocent VI 
Urban V 
Gregory XI 
Urban VI 
Boniface IX 
Innocent VII


Gregory XII 
Martin V 
Eugene IV 
Nicholas V 
Callixtus III 
Pius II 
Paul II 
Sixtus IV 
Innocent VIII 
Alexander VI 
Pius III 
Julius II 
Leo X 
Adrian VI 
Clement VII 
Paul III 
Julius III 
Marcellus II 
Paul IV 
Pius IV 
Pius V 
Gregory XIII 
Sixtus V 
Urban VII 
Gregory XIV 
Innocent IX 
Clement VIII 
Leo XI 
Paul V 
Gregory XV 
Urban VIII 
Innocent X 
Alexander VII 
Clement IX


Clement X 
Innocent XI 
Alexander VIII 
Innocent XII 
Clement XI 
Innocent XIII 
Benedict XIII 
Clement XII 
Benedict XIV 
Clement XIII 
Clement XIV 
Pius VI 
Pius VII 
Leo XII 
Pius VIII 
Gregory XVI 
Pius IX 
Leo XIII 
Pius X 
Benedict XV 
Pius XI 
Pius XII 
John XXIII 
Paul VI 
John Paul I 
John Paul II
Benedict XVI

Currently: Francis

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