Saint Innocent I
(born, Albano, Campania?died March 12, 417, Rome; feast day July 28) was the
pope
from 401 to 417, who condemned
Pelagianism
, a heresy concerning the role of grace and
free will
.
Probably a Roman deacon, Innocent was possibly the son of St.
Anastasius I
, whom he succeeded in the papacy on Dec. 22, 401. In 404 Innocent ordered a synod to reinstate Patriarch
St. John Chrysostom
of Constantinople, who had been illegally deposed (403) by Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria. The synod never
convened
because Innocent’s envoys were imprisoned at Constantinople, but John was posthumously restored (407).
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Innocent’s papacy was endangered by the Visigothic chief
Alaric
, who besieged
Rome
(408?410) because the West Roman emperor
Flavius Honorius
refused to appease him. Honorius withdrew to Ravenna, where Innocent went to negotiate peace (410). Innocent returned to Rome in 412. His acknowledgment of Alexander as bishop of Antioch (414) restored communications between the sees and ended the Meletian schism, a complex 4th-century controversy about the nature of the Trinity. In January 417 Innocent condemned Pelagianism and excommunicated its proponent, Pelagius. In settling church disputes, Innocent invariably
invoked
Roman primacy.