Pope St. Miltiades
The year of his birth is not known; he was
elected pope in either 310 or 311; died 10 or 11 January, 314.
After the banishment of
Pope
Eusebius, the Roman See was vacant for some time, probably
because of the complications which has arisen on account of the
apostates (lapsi), and which were not cleared up by the
banishment of
Eusebius
and Heraclius. On 2 July, 310 or 311, Miltiadea (the name is
also written Melchiades), a native of Africa, was elevated to
the papacy. There is some uncertainty as to the exact year, as
the "Liberian Catalogue of the Popes" (Duchesne, "Liber
Pontificalis", I, 9) gives 2 July, 311, as the date of the
consecration of the new pope (ex die VI non. iul. a cons.
Maximiliano VIII solo, quod fuit mense septembri Volusiano et
Rufino); but in contradiction to this the death of the pope is
said to have occurred on 2 January, 314, and the duration of the
pontificate is given as three years, six months and eight days;
possibly owing to the mistake of a copyist, we ought to read
"ann. II" instead of "ann. III"; and therefore the year of his
elevation to the papacy was most probably 311. About this time
(311 or 310), an edict of toleration signed by the Emperors
Galerius, Licinius, and Constantine, put an end to the great
persecution of the
Christians,
and they were permitted to live as such, and also to reconstruct
their places of religious worship (Eusebius, "Hist. Eccl.",
VIII, xvii; Lactantius, "De mortibus persecutorum", xxxiv). Only
in those countries of the Orient which were under the sway of
Maximinus Daia did the
Christians
continue to be persecuted. The emperor now gave Pope Miltiades
in Rome the right to receive back, through the prefect of the
city, all ecclesiastical buildings and possessions which had
been confiscated during the persecutions. The two Roman deacons,
Strato and Cassianus, were ordered by the pope to discuss this
matter with the prefect, and to take over the church properties
(Augustinus, "Breviculus collationis cum Donatistis", iii, 34);
it thus became possible to reorganize thoroughly the
ecclesiastical administration and the religious life of the
Christians
in Rome.
Miltiades caused the remains of his
predecessor,
Eusebius,
to be brought back from Sicily to Rome, and had them interred in
a crypt in the Catacombs of St. Callistus. In the following year
the pope witnessed the final triumph of the Cross, through the
defeat of Maxentius, and the entry into Rome of the Emperor
Constantine (now converted to
Christianity), after the victory at the Milvian Bridge (27
October, 312). Later the emperor presented the Roman Church with
the Lateran Palace, which then became the residence of the pope,
and consequently also the seat of the seat of the central
administration of the Roman Church. The basilica which adjoined
the palace or was afterwards built there became the principal
church of Rome. In 313 the Donatists (q.v.) came to Constantine
with a request to nominate bishops from Gaul as judges in the
controversy of the African episcopate regarding the consecration
in Carthage of the two bishops, Cæcilian and Majorinus.
Constantine wrote about this to Miltiades, and also to Marcus,
requesting the pope with three bishops from Gaul to give a
hearing in Rome, to Cæcilian and his opponent, and to decide the
case. On 2 October, 313, there assembled in the Lateran Palace,
under the presidency of Miltiades, a synod of eighteen bishops
from Gaul and Italy, which, after thoroughly considring the
Donatist controversy for three days, decided in favor of
Cæcilian, whose election and consecration as Bishop of Carthage
was declared to be legitimate. In the biography of Miltiades, in
the "Liber Pontificalis", it is stated that at the time
Manichæans were found in Rome; this was quite possible as
Manichæism began to be spread in the West in the fourth century.
The same source attributes to this pope a decree which
absolutely forbade the
Christians
to fast on Sundays or on Thursdays, "because these days were
observed by the heathen as a holy fast". This reason is
remarkable; it comes most likely from the author of the "Liber
Pontificalis" who with this alleged decree traces back a Roman
custom of his own time to an ordinance of Miltiades. The "Liber
Pontificalis" is probably no less arbitrary in crediting this
pope with a decree to the effect that the Oblation consecrated
at the Solemn Mass of the pope (by which is meant the
Eucharistic Bread) should be taken to the different churches in
Rome. Such a custom actually existed in Rome (Duchesne,
"Christian Worship," London, 1903, 185); but there is nothing
definite to show that it was introduced byMiltiades, as the "Liber
Pontificalis" asserts.
After his death, on 10 or 11 January (the
Liberian Catalogue" give it as III id. jan.; the "Depositio
Episcoporum" as IIII id. jan.), 314, Miltiades was laid to rest
in the Catacomb of St. Callistus and he was venerated as a
saint. De Rossi regards as highly probably his [this] location
of this pope's burial-chamber (Roma Sotterranea, II, 188 sq.).
His feast was celebrated in the fourth century, on 10 January,
according to the "Martyrologium Hieronymianum". In the present
"Roman Martyrology" it occurs on 10 December.
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