Head of the Catholic Church from 401 to 417
Pope Innocent I
(
Latin
:
Innocentius I
) was the
bishop of Rome
from 401 to his death on 12 March 417. From the beginning of his papacy, he was seen as the general arbitrator of ecclesiastical disputes in both the East and the West. He confirmed the prerogatives of the Archbishop of
Thessalonica
, and issued a
decretal
on disciplinary matters referred to him by the Bishop of
Rouen
. He defended the exiled
John Chrysostom
and consulted with the bishops of
Africa
concerning the
Pelagian
controversy, confirming the decisions of the African synods.
The Catholic priest-scholar
Johann Peter Kirsch
, 1500 years later, described Innocent as a very energetic and highly gifted individual "...who fulfilled admirably the duties of his office".
[2]
Family background
[
edit
]
According to his biographer in the
Liber Pontificalis
, Innocent was a native of
Albano Laziale
and the son of a man called Innocentius.
[2]
On the other hand, in a letter to
Demetriashis
contemporary
Jerome
referred to him as the son of the previous pope,
Anastasius I
. It has, however, been suggested that Jerome was describing a link merely hierarchical rather than biological.
[3]
According to Urbano Cerri, Pope Innocent was a native of
Albania
.
[4]
Pontificate
[
edit
]
Innocent lost no opportunity to maintain and extend the authority of the
Roman apostolic See
, seen as final arbiter for all ecclesiastical disputes. That such opportunities were numerous and varied is evident from his communications with
Victricius of Rouen
,
Exuperius of Toulouse
, Alexander of Antioch and others, as well as how he acted when
John Chrysostom
appealed to him against
Theophilus of Alexandria
. On the
Pelagian
controversy he took a decided view. He reinforced the decisions of the synod of the province of proconsular
Africa
, held in
Carthage
in 416. He accordingly confirmed the condemnation in 411 against Cælestius, who was of the Pelagian view. In the same year he wrote likewise to the fathers of the
Numidian
synod of Mileve who had appealed to him. Soon after this, five African bishops, among them St. Augustine, wrote a personal letter to Innocent explaining their own position on Pelagianism.
[2]
In addition he acted as metropolitan over the bishops of Italia Suburbicaria.
[5]
[6]
The historian Zosimus, in his
Historia Nova
, suggests that during the
sack of Rome in 410
by
Alaric I
, Innocent I was willing to permit private pagan practices as a temporary measure. However, Zosimus also suggests that this attempt by pagans to restore public worship failed due to lack of public interest, suggesting that Rome in the previous century had been successfully and permanently won over to Christianity.
[5]
Among Innocent I's letters is one to Jerome and another to
John II, Bishop of Jerusalem
, regarding annoyances to which the former had been subjected by the Pelagians at
Bethlehem
.
He died on 12 March 417. Accordingly, his feast day is now celebrated on 12 March, though from the thirteenth to the twentieth century he was commemorated on 28 July.
[7]
His successor was
Zosimus
.
In 405, Pope Innocent sent a list of the sacred books to a Gallic bishop,
Exsuperius of Toulouse
,
[8]
identical with
that of Trent
(which took place more than 1000 years later),
[9]
[10]
[11]
except for some uncertainty in the manuscript tradition about whether the letters ascribed to Paul were 14 or only 13, in the latter case possibly implying omission of the
Epistle to the Hebrews
.
[8]
Previously in 367,
Athanasius of Alexandria
had circulated the 39th
Easter Letter
mentioning the list of Scripture, both Old and New Testament, which he referred to as "canonized".
Relics
[
edit
]
In 846,
Pope Sergius II
gave approval for the
relics
of St. Innocent to be moved by
Duke Liudolf of Saxony
, along with those of his father and predecessor
Anastasius
, to the crypt of the former collegiate church of
Gandersheim
, now
Gandersheim Abbey
, where most rest until this day.
[12]
Relics were also brought to
The Church of Our Lady St Mary of Glastonbury
upon its consecration.
[13]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Saint Innocent I | pope"
.
- ^
a
b
c
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain
:
Kirsch, Johann Peter (1910).
"Pope Innocent I"
. In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).
Catholic Encyclopedia
. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company
. Retrieved
15 September
2017
.
- ^
Dunn, Geoffrey (2007).
"Anastasius I and Innocent I: Reconsidering the Evidence of Jerome"
.
Vigiliae Christianae
.
61
(1): 30?41.
doi
:
10.1163/004260307x164476
.
ISSN
0042-6032
.
- ^
Cerri, Urbano; Steel, Richard (1715).
An account of the state of the Roman-Catholick religion throughout the world. Transl. To which is added, A discourse concerning the state of religion in England. Transl. With a large dedication to the present pope, by sir Richard Steele [really B. Hoadly.]
. Oxford University. p.
2
.
albania.
- ^
a
b
Kirsch, Johann Peter (1910).
"Pope Innocent I"
. In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).
Catholic Encyclopedia
. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company
. Retrieved
15 September
2017
.
- ^
Dunn, Geoffrey (March 2013),
"Innocent I's Letter to the Bishops of Apulia"
(PDF)
,
Journal of Early Christian Studies
,
21
(1), Johns Hopkins University Press: 27?41,
doi
:
10.1353/earl.2013.0000
,
ISSN
1086-3184
,
S2CID
170672101
- ^
Calendarium Romanum
(Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 132;
Martyrologium Romanum
(Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2001
ISBN
978-88-209-7210-3
)
- ^
a
b
"Text and translation of the list"
.
- ^
Matthew J. Ramage,
Dark Passages of the Bible
(CUA Press 2013
ISBN
978-0-81322156-4
), p. 67
- ^
Lee Martin McDonald,
Formation of the Bible
(Hendrickson Publishers 2012
ISBN
978-1-59856838-7
), p. 149
- ^
John L. Mckenzie,
The Dictionary of the Bible
(Simon and Schuster 1995
ISBN
978-0-68481913-6
), p. 119
- ^
Birgit Heilmann,
Aus Heiltum wird Geschichte. Der Gandersheimer Reliquienschatz in nachreformatorischer Zeit
. Thomas Labusiak and Hedwig Rockelein, Regensburg, 2009 (Studien zum Frauenstift Gandersheim und seinen Eigenklostern, vol. 1).
- ^
"Opening of the present church ? Glastonbury Shrine"
.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
|
1st?4th centuries
| |
---|
5th?8th centuries
| |
---|
9th?12th centuries
| |
---|
13th?16th centuries
| |
---|
17th?21st centuries
| |
---|
History of the papacy
| |
---|
|
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
Artists
| |
---|
People
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|