1.
Pope Urban I
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Pope Urban I was Bishop of Rome or pope from 222 to 23 May 230. He was born in Rome and succeeded Pope Callixtus I, who had been martyred and it was previously believed for centuries that Urban I was also martyred. However, recent historical discoveries now lead scholars to believe that he died of natural causes, much of Urbans life is shrouded in mystery, leading to many myths and misconceptions. Despite the lack of sources he is the first Pope whose reign can be definitely dated, two prominent sources do exist for Urbans pontificate, Eusebius history of the early Church and also an inscription in the Coemeterium Callisti which names the Pope. Urban ascended to the Chair of Saint Peter in the year of the Roman Emperor Elagabalus assassination and it is believed that Urbans pontificate was during a peaceful time for Christians in the Empire as Severus did not promote the persecution of Christianity. Urban is a saint of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church and it is believed that the schismatic Hippolytus was still leading a rival Christian Congregation in Rome, and that he published the Philosophumena, an attack on Pope Urbans predecessor Callixtus. Urban is said to have maintained the policy of Callixtus when dealing with the schismatic party. Due to the freedoms the Christian community had during Severus reign the Church in Rome grew. It had been believed that he was buried in the Coemetarium Praetextati where a tomb was inscribed with his name, however, when excavating the Catacomb of Callixtus Italian archaeologist Giovanni de Rossi uncovered the lid of a sarcophagus which suggested that Pope Urban was in fact buried there. De Rossi also found a list of martyrs and confessors who were buried at St. Callistus, de Rossi therefore concluded that the Urban buried in the Coemetarium Praetextati was another bishop and Pope Urban was located in Catacomb of St. Callistus. Therefore, it is possible that Pope Urban is indeed buried in the Coemetarium Praetextati, as no contemporary accounts of Urbans pontificate exist there have been many legends and acts attributed to him which are fictitious or difficult to ascertain the factual nature of. The legendary Acts of St. Cecilia and the Liber Pontificalis both contain information on Urban, although of doubtable accuracy, chaucer had him a character in his Second Nuns Tale in the Canterbury Tales. A story that was included in the Catholic Churchs Breviary states that Saint Urban had many converts among whom were Tiburtius and his brother Valerianus. Tradition credits Saint Urban with the miracle of toppling an idol through prayer and this event is believed to have led to Saint Urban being beaten and tortured before being sentenced to death by beheading. A further belief, now known as an invention from the century, was that Urban had ordered the making of silver liturgical vessels. Urban is found in pieces of artwork usually in one of two forms. Often he is found sitting wearing the Papal Tiara, Papal robes, otherwise Urban may be portrayed wearing Papal garb and a Bishops Mitre while holding a bible and a bunch of grapes. An image of Pope Saint Urbanus is on a 12th-century fresco at Chalivoy-Milon in the Berry Art Gallery, other less common depictions of Pope Urban are, after his beheading, with the papal tiara near him
2.
Pope Anterus
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Pope Anterus was the Bishop of Rome from 21 November 235 to his death in 236. He succeeded Pope Pontian, who had been deported from Rome to Sardinia, Anterus was the son of Romulus, born in Petilia Policastro, Calabria. He is thought to have been of Greek origin, and his name may indicate that he was a freed slave and he created one bishop, for the city of Fondi. Some scholars believe he was martyred, because he ordered greater strictness in searching into the acts of the martyrs, other scholars doubt this and believe it is more likely that he died in undramatic circumstances during the persecutions of Emperor Maximinus the Thracian. He was buried in the crypt of the Catacomb of Callixtus. His ashes had been removed to the Church of Saint Sylvester in the Campus Martius and were discovered on 17 November 1595, List of popes List of Catholic saints
3.
Sardinia
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Sardinia is the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and an autonomous region of Italy. It is located in the Western Mediterranean, just south of the French island of Corsica, the regions official name is Regione Autonoma della Sardegna / Regione Autònoma de Sardigna, and its capital and largest city is Cagliari. It is divided into four provinces and a metropolitan city and its indigenous language and the other minority languages spoken by the Sardinians enjoy equal dignity with Italian under regional law. The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *srd-, later romanised as sardus and it makes its first appearance on the Nora Stone, where the word Šrdn testifies to the names existence when the Phoenician merchants first arrived. According to Timaeus, one of Platos dialogues, Sardinia and its people as well might have named after Sardò. There has also been speculation that identifies the ancient Nuragic Sards with the Sherden, in Classical antiquity, Sardinia was called Ichnusa, Σανδάλιον Sandal, Sardinia and Sardó. Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 24,100 square kilometres and it is situated between 38°51 and 41°18 latitude north and 8°8 and 9°50 east longitude. To the west of Sardinia is the Sea of Sardinia, a unit of the Mediterranean Sea, to Sardinias east is the Tyrrhenian Sea, the nearest land masses are the island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia, the Balearic Islands, and Provence. The Tyrrhenian Sea portion of the Mediterranean Sea is directly to the east of Sardinia between the Sardinian east coast and the west coast of the Italian mainland peninsula, the Strait of Bonifacio is directly north of Sardinia and separates Sardinia from the French island of Corsica. The island has an ancient geoformation and, unlike Sicily and mainland Italy, is not earthquake-prone and its rocks date in fact from the Palaeozoic Era. Due to long erosion processes, the highlands, formed of granite, schist, trachyte, basalt, sandstone and dolomite limestone. The highest peak is Punta La Marmora, part of the Gennargentu Ranges in the centre of the island. The islands ranges and plateaux are separated by wide valleys and flatlands. Sardinia has few rivers, the largest being the Tirso,151 km long, which flows into the Sea of Sardinia, the Coghinas. There are 54 artificial lakes and dams that supply water and electricity, the main ones are Lake Omodeo and Lake Coghinas. The only natural lake is Lago di Baratz. A number of large, shallow, salt-water lagoons and pools are located along the 1,850 km of the coastline, the climate of the island is variable from area to area, due to several factors including the extension in latitude and the elevation. During the year there is a concentration of rainfall in the winter and autumn, some heavy showers in the spring
4.
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
5.
Mysterii Paschalis
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Mysterii Paschalis is the incipit of an apostolic letter issued motu proprio by Pope Paul VI on 14 February 1969. It reorganized the liturgical year of the Roman Rite and revised the liturgical celebrations of Jesus Christ, the motu proprio and the decree were included, with an unofficial commentary by the Council for the Proper Implementation of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, in the book Calendarium Romanum. The new norms became effective on 1 January 1970, a liturgical day is defined as running from midnight to midnight except for Sundays and solemnities, which begin on the previous evening. Sunday, as the day of the resurrection of Christ, is the primordial feast day, in Advent, Lent and Easter, Sundays outrank even solemnities. With a very few exceptions, other celebrations are as a not to be assigned so that they always fall on a Sunday. A new ranking of liturgical days in the Roman Rite was established with regard to celebrations of saints, in accordance with the relative importance of the celebrations, they are ranked as solemnities, feasts, or memorials. The solemnities of the Nativity of the Lord and Easter each have an octave, special norms apply also to the Paschal Triduum, Eastertide, Lent, Christmastide, Advent, Ordinary Time, and Rogation and Ember days. Some were feasts of saints who died later than 1568, others were added as devotional feasts or because monarchs and religious institutes wanted their own saints inserted. The devotional feasts of the Lord that have kept with high ranking are Trinity Sunday, Body and Blood of Christ, Christ the King, the Holy Family. The Holy Name of Jesus was at first removed but later restored as an optional memorial, progress in historical and hagiographical studies led to distinguishing three classes of saints included in the 1960 calendar that it seemed better not to keep in the revision. One class is that of the saints about whom there are serious historical problems, a third class is that of the founders of the ancient Roman churches known as tituli and about whom there exists a specific genre of legends. For lack of evidence that they were martyrs or confessors, as pictured in the legends, they were excluded from the revision, a similar selection was made among non-martyr saints, with the result that 30 were removed to particular calendars. For the sake of balance, most of these were Italians. The following are changes introduced in 1969 by removal or transfer of celebrations in the calendar as it immediately before. Celebrations that remained unaltered are not indicated, new celebrations were also added to the calendar, the better to reflect the universality of the Catholic Church. For all of these, see General Roman Calendar, the explanations given are those published in Calendarium Romanum in 1969. By particular calendars are meant those of a particular Church or nation or family of religious, the phrase truly of universal importance is also taken from the Second Vatican Councils Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. For pre-1969 removals and transfers of celebrations in the General Roman Calendar, see General Roman Calendar of Pope Pius XII, telephorus,5 January, added in 1602, deleted, the feast was originally that of an otherwise unknown martyr, who was not a pope
6.
General Roman Calendar of 1960
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This article lists the feast days of the General Roman Calendar as reformed on 23 July 1960 by Pope John XXIIIs motu proprio Rubricarum instructum. Rubricarum instructum replaced the former classifications of Doubles, Semidoubles, and Simples with I, II, and III class feasts and commemorations. It removed a few feasts, in particular duplications such as the Feast of the Cross, the Chair of Peter, Saint Peter, Saint John the Evangelist, Saint Michael, see General Roman Calendar of Pope Pius XII. Feasts previously ranked as doubles of the I class were reclassified as feasts of the I class, feasts previously ranked as doubles of the II class were reclassified as feasts of the II class. Feasts previously ranked as doubles, doubles, and simples were reclassified as feasts of the III class. Feasts that had formerly been ranked as simples and had reduced to commemorations in Pius XIIs 1955 revision of the calendar remained commemorations. The Sundays of Advent, Lent, and Passiontide, and Low Sunday were classified as Sundays of the I class, All other Sundays of the year—excluding those perpetually impeded by feasts of the I class—became Sundays of the II class. Ash Wednesday, the ferias of Holy Week, the Paschal Triduum, the ferias of Advent, excluding 17–23 December, were ranked as ferias of the III class, as were the ferias of Lent and Passiontide. The remaining ferias of the year were classified ferias of the IV class, the following feasts were reduced to commemorations, St. George Martyr Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel St. Alexis Confessor Ss. Cyriacus, Largus, and Smaragdus Martyrs The Impression of the Sacred Stigmata of St. Francis Confessor Ss, sergius, Bacchus, Marcellus, and Apuleius Martyrs was transferred from 7 to 8 October. 1, Octave of the Nativity of the Lord, I class,5, Commemoration of St. Telesphorus Pope and Martyr, Comm. 6, On the Epiphany of the Lord, I class,11, Commemoration of St. Hyginus Pope and Martyr, Comm. 13, On the Commemoration of the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ,14, St. Hilary Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor of the Church, III class, Com. of St. Felix Priest and Martyr. 15, St. Paul first hermit, Confessor, III class,16, St. Marcellus I Pope and Martyr, III class. 17, St. Anthony Abbot, III class,18, Commemoration of St. Prisca Virgin and Martyr, Comm. Marius, Martha, Audifax, and Abachum Martyrs, Comm, fabian Pope and Sebastian Martyrs, III class. 21, St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr, III class 22, Vincent and Anastasius Martyrs, III class. 23, St. Raymund of Peñafort Confessor, III class, Com. of St. Emerentiana Virgin,24, St. Timothy Bishop and Martyr, III class
7.
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
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope St. Pontian". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "
