Pope Lucius I

Who was Pope Lucius I?

Pope Lucius I was the head of the Catholic Church from 25 June 253 to his death in 254.

St. Lucius was born in Rome at an unknown date; nothing is known about his family except his father's name, Porphyrianus. He was elected probably on 25 June 253 and died on 5 March 254. His election took place during the persecution which caused the banishment of his predecessor Pope Cornelius, and he also was banished soon after his consecration, but succeeded in gaining permission to return.

He is praised in several letters of St. Cyprian for condemning the Novationists for their refusal to readmit to communion Christians who repented for having lapsed under persecution.

His feast day is 5 March, on which date he is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology in the following terms: "In the cemetery of Callistus on the Via Appia, Rome, burial of Saint Lucius, Pope, successor of Saint Cornelius. For his faith in Christ he suffered exile and acted as an outstanding confessor of the faith, with moderation and prudence, in the difficult times that were his."

His feast did not appear in the Tridentine Calendar of Pope Saint Pius V. In 1602, it was inserted under the date of 4 March, into the calendar of saints for use wherever the Roman Rite is celebrated. With the insertion in 1621 on the same date of the feast of Saint Casimir, the celebration of Pope Lucius was reduced to a commemoration with Saint Casimir's Mass. It remained so until 1969, when Pope Lucius's feast was moved in the Roman Martyrology to the day of his death and omitted from the General Calendar, partly because of the baselessness of the title of "martyr" with which he had previously been honoured.