1.
Pope Fabian
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Fabian was the Bishop of Rome from 10 January 236 to his death in 250, succeeding Anterus. He is famous for the nature of his election, in which a dove is said to have descended on his head to mark him as the Holy Spirits unexpected choice to become the next pope. It was also probably during his reign that the schism between the two corresponding Roman congregations of these leaders was ended and he was highly esteemed by Cyprian, Novatian refers to his nobilissima memoriae, and he corresponded with Origen. One authority refers to him as Flavian, the Liber Pontificalis, a fourth-century document that survives in later copies, says that he divided Rome into diaconates and appointed secretaries to collect the records of the martyrs. He is also said, probably without basis, to have baptized the emperor Philip the Arab, more plausible is the report in the Liberian Catalogue that he sent out seven apostles to the Gauls as missionaries. He died a martyr at the beginning of the Decian persecution and is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church, Fabians feast day is commemorated on January 20, the same as Saint Sebastian, in whose church his sepulcher lies in Rome. According to the Liber Pontificalis, Fabian was a noble Roman by birth, nothing more is known about his background. The legend concerning the circumstances of his election is preserved by the fourth-century writer Eusebius of Caesarea, after the short reign of Pope Anterus, Fabian had come to Rome from the countryside when the new papal election began. Although present, says Eusebius, Fabian was in the mind of none, while the names of several illustrious and noble churchmen were being considered over the course of thirteen days, a dove suddenly descended upon the head of Fabian. To the assembled electors, this strange sight recalled the scene of the descent of the Holy Spirit on Jesus at the time of his baptism by John the Baptist. The congregation took this as a sign that he was marked out for this dignity, during Fabians reign of 14 years, there was a lull in the storm of persecution which had resulted in the exile of both Anterus predecessor Pontian and the antipope Hippolytus. Fabian had enough influence at court to effect the return of the bodies of both of these martyrs from Sardinia, where they had died at hard labor in the mines. According to the sixth-century historian Gregory of Tours Fabian sent out the apostles to the Gauls to Christianise Gaul in A. D.245 and he also condemned Privatus, the originator of a new heresy in Africa. The Liber Pontificalis says that Fabian divided the Christian communities of Rome into seven districts, Eusebius adds that he appointed seven subdeacons to help collect the acta of the martyrs—the reports of the court proceedings on the occasion of their trials. There is also a tradition that he instituted the four minor orders, Porter, lector, exorcist. However most scholars believe these offices evolved gradually and were instituted at a later date. With the advent of Emperor Decius, the Roman governments tolerant policy toward Christianity temporarily ended, Decius ordered leading Christians to demonstrate their loyalty to Rome by offering incense to the cult images of deities which represented the Roman state. This was unacceptable to many Christians, who, while no longer holding most of the laws of the Old Testament to apply to them, took the commandment against idolatry with deadly seriousness
2.
Pope Lucius I
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Pope Lucius I was the Bishop of Rome from 25 June 253 to his death in 254. He was banished soon after his consecration, but gained permission to return and he was mistakenly classified as a martyr in the persecution of Valerian, which did not begin until after Lucius death. A Danish legend held that the demons of Isefjord feared nothing but the skull of Lucius I, and when this skull was taken to Denmark, it brought peace, and Lucius was declared patron of Zealand. The skull was preserved as a national relic until carbon dating proved that it did not date back as far as his time. St. Lucius was born in Rome at a date, nothing is known about his family except his fathers name. He was elected probably on 25 June 253 and died on 5 March 254 and he is praised in several letters of St. Cyprian for condemning the Novationists for their refusal to readmit to communion Christians who repented for having lapsed under persecution. For his faith in Christ he suffered exile and acted as a confessor of the faith, with moderation and prudence. His feast did not appear in the Tridentine Calendar of Pope Saint Pius V, in 1602, it was inserted under the date of 4 March, into the General Roman Calendar. With the insertion in 1621 on the date of the feast of Saint Casimir. In spite of what is stated in the Liber Pontificalis. The persecution of Valerian in which he was said to have been martyred is known to have started later than March 254 and his tombstone is still extant in the catacomb of Callixtus. His relics were brought to the church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, along with the relics of St. Cecilia. His head is preserved in a reliquary in St. Ansgars Cathedral in Copenhagen and this relic was brought to Roskilde around the year 1100, after St. Lucius had been declared patron of the Danish region Zealand. The skull remained in Roskilde Cathedral until 1908, when it was moved to Saint Ansgars Cathedral while the property of Copenhagens National museum, Pope St. Lucius head is among the few relics to have survived the Reformation in Denmark. However the Norwegian researcher Øystein Morten started wondering if St. Lucius skull might have mixed up with the skull of the Norwegian king Sigurd Jorsalfar. This skull had also kept in the Danish National Museum collection in the 1800s until it was donated to Oslo University in 1867. So the skull in question never belonged to St. Lucius, the results also rule out that it may have belonged to the crusader king Sigurd. List of Catholic saints List of popes This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
3.
Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
4.
Civitavecchia
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Civitavecchia is a town and comune of the Metropolitan City of Rome in the central Italian region of Lazio. A sea port on the Tyrrhenian Sea, it is located 80 kilometres west-north-west of Rome, the harbour is formed by two piers and a breakwater, on which is a lighthouse. The name Civitavecchia means ancient town, population was around 53,000 as of 2015. The modern city was built over a pre-existing Etruscan settlement, the harbour was constructed by the Emperor Trajan at the beginning of the 2nd century. The first occurrence of the name Centum Cellae is from a letter by Pliny the Younger, the origin of the name is disputed, it has been suggested that it could refer to the centum halls of the villa of the emperor. In the early Middle Ages, Centumcellae was a Byzantine stronghold and it became part of the Papal States in 728. As the port was raided by the Saracens in 813-814,828,846 and finally in 876, a new settlement in a more secure place was therefore built by order of Pope Leo VII as soon as 854. The Popes gave the settlement as a fief to several lords, including the Count Ranieri of Civitacastellana and the Abbey of Farfa, and the Di Vico. The place became a port under Pope Innocent XII in 1696. The French Empire occupied it in 1806, on 16 April 1859 the Rome and Civitavecchia Rail Road was opened for service. The Papal troops opened the gates of the fortress to the Italian general Nino Bixio in 1870, during World War II, Allied bombings severely damaged Civitavecchia, and caused civilian casualties. Louis Till, the father of Emmett Louis Till was convicted of the rape of two local Italian women and the murder of another in Civitavecchia. Civitavecchia is today a major cruise and ferry port, the starting point for sea connection from central Italy to Sardinia, Sicily, Malta, Tunis. The city is also the seat of two power stations. The conversion of one of them to coal has raised the populations protests, the massive Forte Michelangelo was first commissioned from Donato Bramante by Pope Julius II, to defend the port of Rome. The upper part of the tower, however, was designed by Michelangelo. North of the city at Ficoncella are the Terme Taurine baths frequented by Romans, the modern name stems from the common fig plants among the various pools. And also next to the town is the location of the ship docks
5.
Roman Empire
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Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesars adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavians power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power, the imperial period of Rome lasted approximately 1,500 years compared to the 500 years of the Republican era. The first two centuries of the empires existence were a period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, following Octavians victory, the size of the empire was dramatically increased. After the assassination of Caligula in 41, the senate briefly considered restoring the republic, under Claudius, the empire invaded Britannia, its first major expansion since Augustus. Vespasian emerged triumphant in 69, establishing the Flavian dynasty, before being succeeded by his son Titus and his short reign was followed by the long reign of his brother Domitian, who was eventually assassinated. The senate then appointed the first of the Five Good Emperors, the empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan, the second in this line. A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus, Commodus assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared emperor by the Roman Senate over a time span. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four emperors rule the empire at once. This arrangement was unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I. Constantine subsequently shifted the capital to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople in his honour and it remained the capital of the east until its demise. Constantine also adopted Christianity which later became the state religion of the empire. However, Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern colleague, and separate rule in the Western part of the empire ceased to exist upon the death of Julius Nepos. The Eastern Roman Empire endured for another millennium, eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world of its time. It was one of the largest empires in world history, at its height under Trajan, it covered 5 million square kilometres. It held sway over an estimated 70 million people, at that time 21% of the entire population. Throughout the European medieval period, attempts were made to establish successors to the Roman Empire, including the Empire of Romania, a Crusader state. Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, then, it was an empire long before it had an emperor
6.
Pope
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The pope is the Bishop of Rome and, therefore, the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church. The current pope is Francis, who was elected on 13 March 2013, the office of the pope is the papacy. The pope is considered one of the worlds most powerful people because of his diplomatic and he is also head of state of Vatican City, a sovereign city-state entirely enclaved within the Italian capital city of Rome. The papacy is one of the most enduring institutions in the world and has had a prominent part in world history, the popes in ancient times helped in the spread of Christianity and the resolution of various doctrinal disputes. In the Middle Ages, they played a role of importance in Western Europe. Currently, in addition to the expansion of the Christian faith and doctrine, the popes are involved in ecumenism and interfaith dialogue, charitable work, Popes, who originally had no temporal powers, in some periods of history accrued wide powers similar to those of temporal rulers. In recent centuries, popes were gradually forced to give up temporal power, the word pope derives from Greek πάππας meaning father. The earliest record of the use of title was in regard to the by then deceased Patriarch of Alexandria. Some historians have argued that the notion that Peter was the first bishop of Rome, the writings of the Church Father Irenaeus who wrote around AD180 reflect a belief that Peter founded and organised the Church at Rome. Moreover, Irenaeus was not the first to write of Peters presence in the early Roman Church, Clement of Rome wrote in a letter to the Corinthians, c. 96, about the persecution of Christians in Rome as the struggles in our time and presented to the Corinthians its heroes, first, the greatest and most just columns, the good apostles Peter and Paul. St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote shortly after Clement and in his letter from the city of Smyrna to the Romans he said he would not command them as Peter and Paul did. Given this and other evidence, many agree that Peter was martyred in Rome under Nero. Protestants contend that the New Testament offers no proof that Jesus established the papacy nor even that he established Peter as the first bishop of Rome, others, using Peters own words, argue that Christ intended himself as the foundation of the church and not Peter. First-century Christian communities would have had a group of presbyter-bishops functioning as leaders of their local churches, gradually, episcopacies were established in metropolitan areas. Antioch may have developed such a structure before Rome, some writers claim that the emergence of a single bishop in Rome probably did not occur until the middle of the 2nd century. In their view, Linus, Cletus and Clement were possibly prominent presbyter-bishops, documents of the 1st century and early 2nd century indicate that the Holy See had some kind of pre-eminence and prominence in the Church as a whole, though the detail of what this meant is unclear. It seems that at first the terms episcopos and presbyter were used interchangeably, the consensus among scholars has been that, at the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries, local congregations were led by bishops and presbyters whose offices were overlapping or indistinguishable
7.
Cyprian
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Cyprian was bishop of Carthage and a notable Early Christian writer of berber descent. Many of whose Latin works are extant and he was born around the beginning of the 3rd century in North Africa, perhaps at Carthage, where he received a classical education. Soon after converting to Christianity, he became a bishop in 249 and his skillful Latin rhetoric led to his being considered the pre-eminent Latin writer of Western Christianity until Jerome and Augustine. The Plague of Cyprian is named after him, owing to his description of it, Cyprian was born into a rich, pagan, berber, Carthage family sometime during the early third century. His original name was Thascius, he took the additional name Caecilius in memory of the priest to whom he owed his conversion. Before his conversion, he was a member of a legal fraternity in Carthage, an orator, a pleader in the courts. After a dissipated youth, Cyprian was baptised when he was years old. After his baptism, he gave away a portion of his wealth to the poor of Carthage, as befitted a man of his status. But after that, by the help of the water of new birth, the stain of my life was washed away. A second birth restored me to a new man, then, in a wondrous manner every doubt began to fade. I clearly understood that what had first lived within me, enslaved by the vices of the flesh, was earthly and that what, instead, not long after his baptism he was ordained a deacon, and soon afterwards a priest. Some time between July 248 and April 249 he was elected bishop of Carthage, a choice among the poor who remembered his patronage as demonstrating good equestrian style. However his rapid rise did not meet with the approval of members of the clergy in Carthage. Not long afterward, the community was put to an unwanted test. Christians in North Africa had not suffered persecution for many years, Early in 250 the Decian persecution began. Roman officials demanded that all citizens sacrifice to the pagan gods, Cyprian chose to go into hiding rather than face potential execution. The persecution was especially severe at Carthage, according to Church sources, many Christians fell away, and were thereafter referred to as lapsi. The majority had obtained signed statements certifying that they had sacrificed to the Roman gods in order to avoid persecution or confiscation of property, in some cases Christians had actually sacrificed, whether under torture or otherwise
8.
Trebonianus Gallus
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Trebonianus Gallus, also known as Gallus, was Roman Emperor from 251 to 253, in a joint rule with his son Volusianus. Gallus was born in Italy, in a family with respected ancestry of Etruscan senatorial background and he had two children in his marriage with Afinia Gemina Baebiana, Gaius Vibius Volusianus, later Emperor, and a daughter, Vibia Galla. His early career was a typical cursus honorum, with several appointments and he was suffect consul and in 250 was nominated governor of the Roman province of Moesia Superior, an appointment that showed the confidence of Emperor Trajan Decius in him. In June 251, Decius and his co-emperor and son Herennius Etruscus died in the Battle of Abrittus at the hands of the Goths they were supposed to punish for raids into the empire. According to rumours supported by Dexippus and the Thirteenth Sibylline Oracle, Decius failure was owing to Gallus. In any case, when the heard the news, the soldiers proclaimed Gallus emperor, despite Hostilian, Decius surviving son. This action of the army, and the fact that Gallus seems to have been on terms with Decius family. Gallus did not back down from his intention to become emperor, anxious to secure his position at Rome and stabilize the situation on the Danube frontier, Gallus made peace with the Goths. Peace terms allowed the Goths to leave the Roman territory while keeping their captives, in addition, it was agreed that they would be paid an annual subsidy. Reaching Rome, Gallus proclamation was formally confirmed by the Senate, on June 24,251, Decius was deified, but by July 15 Hostilian disappears from history—he may have died in an outbreak of plague. Gallus may have ordered a localized and uncoordinated persecution of Christians. However, only two incidents are known to us, the Pope Cornelius exile to Centumcellae, where he died in 253, the latter was recalled to Rome during the reign of Valerian. Like his predecessors, Gallus did not have an easy reign, in the East, an Antiochene nobleman, Mariades, revolted and began ravaging Syria and Cappadocia, then fled to the Persians. Gallus ordered his troops to attack the Persians, but Persian Emperor Shapur I invaded Armenia and destroyed a large Roman army, Shapur I then invaded the defenseless Syrian provinces, captured all of its legionary posts and ravaged its cities, including Antioch, without any response. Persian invasions were repeated in the year, but now Uranius Antoninus. He proclaimed himself emperor, however, and minted coins with his image upon them, on the Danube, Scythian tribes were once again on the loose, despite the peace treaty signed in 251. They invaded Asia Minor by sea, burned the great Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, lower Moesia was also invaded in early 253. Aemilianus, governor of Moesia Superior and Pannonia, took the initiative of battle, since the army was no longer pleased with the Emperor, the soldiers proclaimed Aemilianus emperor
Chapman, John (1913). "Pope Cornelius". In Herbermann, Charles. Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Chapman, John (1913). "
