Pope Eusebius

For other uses, see Eusebius (disambiguation).

Pope Saint Eusebius
Bishop of Rome
Church	Early Christianity
Papacy began	18 April 310
Papacy ended	17 August 310
Predecessor	Marcellus I
Successor	Miltiades
Personal details
Born	3rd Century Rome
Died	17 August 310 Sicily, Roman Empire
Sainthood
Feast day	17 August

Pope Eusebius (died 17 August 310) was the bishop of Rome from 18 April 310 until his death on 17 August 310.

Difficulty arose, as in the case of his predecessor, Marcellus I, out of Eusebius's attitude toward the lapsi.^[1][2] 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.^[3]

Eusebius died in exile in Sicily very soon after being banished and was buried in the catacomb of Callixtus.^[4] Pope Damasus I placed an epitaph of eight hexameters over his tomb because of his firm defence of ecclesiastical discipline and the banishment which he suffered thereby.^[3][2] His feast is celebrated on 17 August. The feast had previously been observed on 26 September.^[4]

Notes

1. "Butler, Alban. "St. Eusebius, Pope and Confessor", Lives of the Saints, 1866". 12 January 2023.
2.  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication in the public domain: Jackson, Samuel Macauley, ed. (1914). "Eusebius". New Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (third ed.). London and New York: Funk and Wagnalls.
3. "Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope St. Eusebius." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 16 Mar. 2015".
4. "Saint Eusebius". Encyclopædia Britannica. 20 July 1998. Retrieved 7 March 2020.

External links

• Opera Omnia

Titles of the Great Christian Church
Preceded by Marcellus I	Bishop of Rome 309–310	Succeeded by Miltiades