Pope Eutychian

Saint Eutychian
Birth name	Eutychianus
Papacy began	January 4, 275
Papacy ended	December 7, 283
Predecessor	Felix I
Successor	Caius
Born	???
Died	December 7 283 Rome

Pope Saint Eutychian, also known as Eutychianus, was the bishop of Rome in the last quarter of the third century. Unlike some of his predecessors in the mid-third century, sources for Eutychian's life are very scarce. Liber Pontificalis gives him a reign of 8 years and 11 months, from 275 to 283. The Church History of Eusebius, written considerably earlier, however, says that he was Rome's bishop for only ten months. His reign is given in contemporary Catholic sources as lasting from January 4, 275 to December 7, 283.

Liber Pontificalis reports that Eutycian buried 324 martyrs with his own hands. Most historians doubt this tradition, however, as there are no credible reports of major persecutions during the time in question. Somewhat more plausible is the idea that he ordained certain ceremonial procedures for the burial of martyrs. However, whether his reign was ten or month or eight years, Euchtychian lived during a time remarkable for the peace which the Christian church enjoyed in its relations with the Roman state.

Eutychian is also said to have authorized the blessing of grapes and beans on the altar during the mass. This report, too, is looked upon with skepticism today, since the blessing of the produce of the fields is believed to belong to a later period.

During Eutychian's time disputes internal still plagued the church, including the continuing Novatianist controversy and various trinitarian and christological debates. The sources leave no record, however, of Eutychian's role in any of these.

Given the lack of persecution in his time, it is likely that Eutychianus did not die a martyr. The Liber Pontificalis claims this title for him, but the earlier fourth-century Roman calendar mentions him only as a Roman bishop, not in its list of martyrs.

Eutychian's remains were placed in the papal chapel in the Catacomb of Callixtus. When this famous crypt was rediscovered in 1849, fragments of his epitaph were found with his name in Greek letters. His feast is kept on December 8.

Roman Catholic Popes
Preceded by: Felix I	Bishop of Rome Pope 275–283	Succeeded by: Caius

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Chapman, John. Studies on the Early Papacy. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1971. ISBN 9780804611398
• Duffy, Eamon. Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002. ISBN 0300091656
• Fortescue, Adrian, and Scott M. P. Reid. The Early Papacy: To the Synod of Chalcedon in 451. Southampton: Saint Austin Press, 1997. ISBN 9781901157604
• Hinchliff, Peter Bingham. Cyprian of Carthage and the Unity of the Christian Church. London: G. Chapman, 1974. ISBN 9780225660357 OCLC 1193927
• Kelly, John N. D., and Michael J. Walsh. The Oxford Dictionary of Popes. Oxford [u.a.]: Oxford Univ. Press, 2005. ISBN 9780198614333
• Loomis, Louise Ropes. The Book of Popes (Liber Pontificalis). Merchantville, NJ: Evolution Publishing. ISBN 1889758868
• Maxwell-Stuart, P. G. and Toby A. Wilkinson. Chronicle of the Popes: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Papacy from St. Peter to the present, W W Norton & Co Inc, 1997. ISBN 9780500017982

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