[Loch-Ruadh] Today in History January 11

PBW PBW_RN at ev1.net
Wed Jan 11 07:20:24 PST 2006


----- Original message----- 
From: Kathy Varner 
To: Shire of Loch Ruadh, Kingdom of Ansteorra, SCA,Inc. 
Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2006 8:35 AM
Subject: Re: [Loch-Ruadh] Today in History January 11


0314 St Militiades ends his reign as Catholic Pope

So he didn't die, he just ascended in sainthood?





I have no idea why but I thought this an interesting question also so I hunted the answer while checking my e-mail this morning. It is: The year of his birth is not known; he was elected pope in either 310 or 311; died 10 or 11 January, 314 (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10318a.htm)  

I also discovered something I found interesting: 

Three of the earliest Popes of the Roman Catholic Church were black. Saint Gelasius I, Pope from 492-496, was one of the three black Popes. The others were Saints Victor I and Militiades. St. Gelasius was born in Rome of African parents and was a member of the Roman clergy from his youth. He laid down several rules for the clergy. One of them was that the revenues of the church must be divided into four parts: one for the bishops, one for the clergy, one for the poor and one to support the churches and divine services. Many Catholics believed that Holy Communion should not include the drinking of wine, because wine is sinful. St. Gelasius compromised on that controversy by allowing the Eucharist to be administered with or without wine. 
    Saint Militiades, Pope from 311-314, was sometimes called Melchiades. His name is also spelled Melziadus. St. Militiades was born in Africa. Because of an anti-pope campaign between 310-311, no attempt was made by the church to elect another pope until Roman Emperor Gelevius of the East issued an edict of Toleration in 311. Gelevius was cruelly persecuting the Eastern Christians, until he was stricken with a disease. 

    He, a pagan, asked the prayers of the Christians and thus stopped the persecutions. It was after issuing his decree of Toleration that St. Militiades, a black from Africa, was elected thirty-seventh Pope. With the persecutions ended under Emperor Constantine, St. Pope Militiades guided the church towards peace. He decreed that no Christian should fast on the Lord's day on the fifth day of the week, since the pagans fasted on those days. Though he had not been baptized, Constantine favored Christianity. His wife gave the Pope the Lateran Palace in Rome, making Militiades the first Pope to have an official residence. St. Militiades appears to have been the Pope who started construction of the Lateran Basilica. He was also the last Pope to be buried in a catacomb. 

    The last Pope of the second Century was Saint Victor I, Pope from 189-199. St. Victor was born in Africa and had a Latin name as most Africans did at that time. He was a man of dominating personality. St. Victor ordered all churches to celebrate Easter on the Sunday following the fourteenth day of the vernal equinox. All the churches obeyed except those in Asia Minor. St. Victor threatened to excommunicate all of them. St. Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyon, pleaded with the Pope to be less harsh for the sake of church unity. St. Victor relented. Afterwards, the practice of celebrating Easter on Sunday spread throughout the East. 

    Trivia: Insense, vestments and the Pope's hats are African in origin. Like Christ, all drawings and paintings are apocryphal (not authentic). The existing ones are all modeled to resemble St. Peter, founder of the Catholic Church.

information from: https://newcommunity.org/clarion/dec99/articles/p15-1.html

Magdalia/Pook
(who is now going to go to bed... nighty night)

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