Editing Pope Felix I (section)

==Death and veneration==
The acts of the [[First Council of Ephesus|Council of Ephesus]] give Pope Felix as a martyr; but this detail, which occurs again in the biography of the pope in the ''Liber Pontificalis'', is unsupported by any authentic earlier evidence and is manifestly due to a confusion of names. It is obviously a confusion with a Roman martyr of the same name buried on the [[Via Aurelia]], and over whose grave a church was built. The ''Liber Pontificalis'' states that Felix erected a basilica on the Via Aurelia, and also that he was buried there.<ref>"Hic fecit basilicam in Via Aurelia, ubi et sepultus est"</ref> The latter detail is evidently an error, for the fourth-century Roman calendar of feasts says that Pope Felix was interred in the [[Catacomb of Callixtus]] on the [[Via Appia]].<ref>"III Kal. Januarii, Felicis in Callisti", it reads in the ''Depositio episcoporum''.</ref> In the Roman "Feriale" or calendar of feasts, the name of Felix occurs in the list of Roman bishops (''[[Depositio episcoporum]]''), and not in that of the martyrs.<ref name=EncCath/>

As above, Felix was interred in the catacomb of Callixtus on 30 December,<ref name=EncCath/> "III Kal. Jan." (third day to the calends of January) in the Roman dating system. Saint Felix I is mentioned as Pope and Martyr, with a simple feast, on 30 May. This date, given in the ''Liber Pontificalis'' as that of his death (III Kal. Jun.), is probably an error which could easily occur through a transcriber writing "Jun." for "Jan."<ref name=EncCath/> This error persisted in the [[General Roman Calendar]] until 1969 (see [[General Roman Calendar of 1960]]), by which time the mention of Saint Felix I was reduced to a [[commemoration (liturgy)|commemoration]] in the weekday Mass by decision of [[Pope Pius XII]] (see [[General Roman Calendar of Pope Pius XII]]). Thereafter, the feast of Saint Felix I, no longer mentioned in the General Roman Calendar, is celebrated on his true day of death, 30 December, and without the qualification of "martyr".<ref>Martyrologium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2001 {{ISBN|88-209-7210-7}})</ref>

According to more recent studies, the oldest liturgical books indicate that the saint honoured on 30 May was a little-known martyr buried on the [[Via Aurelia]], who was mistakenly identified with Pope Felix I,<ref>Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 1969), p. 125</ref> an error similar to the identification in the liturgical books of the martyr saint celebrated on 30 July with the [[antipope Felix II]], corrected in the mid-1950s.