From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   March 4th - Pope St. Lucius I   
      
   (253-254); d. at Rome, 5 March, 254. After the death of St. Cornelius, who   
   died   
   in exile in the summer of 253, Lucius was chosen to fill his place, and   
   consecrated Bishop of Rome. Nothing is known of the early life of this pope   
   before his elevation. According to the "Liber Pontificalis", he was Roman   
   born,   
   and his father's name was Porphyrius. Where the author obtained this   
   information   
   is not known. The persecution of the Church under the Emperor Gallus, during   
   which Cornelius had been banished, still went on. Lucius also was sent into   
   exile soon after his consecration, but in a short time, presumably when   
   Valerian   
   was made emperor, he was allowed to return to his flock. The Felician   
   Catalogue,   
   whose information is found in the "Liber Pontificalis", informs us of the   
   banishment and the miraculous return of Lucius: "Hic exul fuit et postea   
   nutu   
   Dei incolumis ad ecclesiam reversus est." St. Cyprian, who wrote a (lost)   
   letter   
   of congratulation to Lucius on his elevation to the Roman See and on his   
   banishment, sent a second letter of congratulation to him and his companions   
   in   
   exile, as well as to the whole Roman Church (ep. lxi, ed. Hartel, II, 695   
   sqq.).   
      
   The letter begins:   
      
   Beloved Brother, only a short time ago we offered you our congratulations,   
   when   
   in exalting you to govern His Church God graciously bestowed upon you the   
   twofold glory of confessor and bishop. Again we congratulate you, your   
   companions, and the whole congregation, in that, owing to the kind and   
   mighty   
   protection of our Lord, He has led you back with praise and glory to His   
   own, so   
   that the flock can again receive its shepherd, the ship her pilot, and the   
   people a director to govern them and to show openly that it was God's   
   disposition that He permitted your banishment, not that the bishop who had   
   been   
   expelled should be deprived of his Church, but rather that he might return   
   to   
   his Church with greater authority.   
   Cyprian continues, alluding to the three Hebrew children in the fiery   
   furnace,   
   that the return from exile did not lessen the glory of the confession, and   
   that   
   the persecution, which was directed only against the confessors of the true   
   Church, proved which was the Church of Christ. In conclusion he describes   
   the   
   joy of Christian Rome on the return of its shepherd. When Cyprian asserts   
   that   
   the Lord by means of persecution sought "to bring the heretics to shame and   
   to   
   silence them," and thus to prove where the Church was, who was her one   
   bishop   
   chosen by God's dispensation, who were her presbyters bound up with the   
   bishop   
   in the glory of the priesthood, who were the real people of Christ, united   
   to   
   His flock by a peculiar love, who were those who were oppressed by their   
   enemies, and at the same time who those were whom the Devil protects as his   
   own,   
   he obviously means the Novatians. The schism of Novatian, through which he   
   was   
   brought forward as antipope, in opposition to Cornelius, still continued in   
   Rome   
   under Lucius.   
      
   In the matter of confession and the restoration of the "Lapsi" (fallen)   
   Lucius   
   adhered to the principles of Cornelius and Cyprian. According to the   
   testimony   
   of the latter, contained in a letter to Pope Stephen (ep. lxviii, 5, ed.   
   Hartel,   
   II, 748), Lucius, like Cornelius, had expressed his opinions in writing:   
   "Illi   
   enim pleni spiritu Domini et in glorioso martyrio constituti dandam esse   
   lapsis   
   pacem censuerunt et poenitentia acta fructum communicationis et pacis   
   negandum   
   non esse litteris suis signaverunt." (For they, filled with the spirit of   
   the   
   Lord and confirmed in glorious martyrdom, judged that pardon ought to be   
   given   
   to the Lapsi, and signified in their letters that, when these had done   
   penance,   
   they were not to be denied the enjoyment of communion and reconciliation.)   
   Lucius died in the beginning of March, 254. In the "Depositio episcoporum"   
   the   
   "Chronograph of 354" gives the date of his death as 5 March, the   
   "Martyrologium   
   Hieronymianum" as 4 March. The first date is probably right. Perhaps Lucius   
   died   
   on 4 March and was buried 5 March. According to the "Liber Pontificalis"   
   this   
   pope was beheaded in the time of Valerian, but this testimony cannot be   
   admitted. It is true that Cyprian in the letter to Stephen above mentioned   
   (ep.   
   lxviii, 5) gives him, as well as Cornelius, the honorary title of martyr:   
   "servandus est enim antecessorum nostrorum beatorum martyrum Cornelii et   
   Lucii   
   honor gloriosus" (for the glorious memory of our predecessors the blessed   
   martyrs Cornelius and Lucius is to be preserved); but probably this was on   
   account of Lucius's short banishment. Cornelius, who died in exile, was   
   honoured   
   as a martyr by the Romans after his death; but not Lucius. In the Roman   
   calendar   
   of feasts of the "Chronograph of 354" he is mentioned in the "Depositio   
   episcoporum", and not under the head of "Depositio martyrum". His memory   
   was,   
   nevertheless, particularly honoured, as is clear from the appearance of his   
   name   
   in the "Martyrologium Hieronymianum". Eusebius, it is true, maintains (Hist.   
   Eccl., VII, 10) that Valerian was favourable to the Christians in the early   
   part   
   of his reign. The emperor's first persecution edict appeared only in 257.   
      
   Lucius was buried in a compartment of the papal vault in the catacombs of   
   St.   
   Callistus. On the excavation of the vault, de Rossi found a large fragment   
   of   
   the original epitaph, which only gives the pope's name in Greek: LOUKIS. The   
   slab is broken off just behind the word, so that in all probability there   
   was   
   nothing else on it except the title EPISKOPOS (bishop). The relics of the   
   saint   
   were transferred by Pope Paul I (757-767) to the church of San Silvestro in   
   Capite, or by Pope Paschal I (817-824) to the Basilica of St. Praxedes   
   [Marucchi, "Basiliques et eglises de Rome", Rome, 1902, 399 (inscription in   
   San   
   Silvestro), 325 (inscription in S. Praxedes)]. The author of the "Liber   
   Pontificalis" has unauthorizedly ascribed to St. Lucius a decretal,   
   according to   
   which two priests and three deacons must always accompany the bishop to bear   
   witness to his virtuous life: "Hic praecepit, ut duo presbyteri et tres   
   diaconi   
   in omni loco episcopum non desererent propter testimonium ecclesiasticum."   
   Such   
   a measure might have been necessary under certain conditions at a later   
   period;   
   but in Lucius's time it was incredible. This alleged decree induced a later   
   forger to invent another apocryphal decretal, and attribute it to Lucius.   
   The   
   story in the "Liber Pontificalis" that Lucius, as he was being led to death,   
   gave the archdeacon Stephen power over the Church, is also a fabrication.   
   The   
   feast of St. Lucius is held on 4 March.   
      
   This Version taken from:   
      
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