Editing Pope Alexander I

{{For the|the Roman martyr|Alexander of Rome}}{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from c. 107 to c. 115}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Pope
| honorific-prefix = [[Pope Saint]]
| name = Alexander I
| title = [[Bishop of Rome]]
| alt = 
| birth_name = Alexander
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| image = Sanctus Alexander Papa Sancta Maria Antiqua.jpg
| caption = 8th-century fresco of Pope Alexander I from [[Santa Maria Antiqua]]
| term_start = {{circa}} 109
| term_end = {{circa}} 119
| predecessor = [[Pope Evaristus|Evaristus]]
| successor = [[Pope Sixtus I|Sixtus I]]
| birth_place = [[Rome]], [[Roman Italy|Italia]], [[Roman Empire]]
| death_date = {{circa}} 119
| death_place = [[Rome]], [[Roman Italy|Italia]], [[Roman Empire]]
| other = Alexander
| feast_day = {{Ubl | 16 March ([[Greek Christianity]]) | 3 May ([[Tridentine calendar]]) }}
| venerated = {{Ubl | [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] | [[Roman Catholic Church]]}}
}}
'''Pope Alexander I''' ({{langx|el|Αλέξανδρος}}, died {{Circa}} 115) was the [[bishop of Rome]] from about 108/109 to 116/119 (according to the 2012 ''[[Annuario Pontificio]]''). Some believe he suffered [[martyr]]dom under the [[Roman emperor]] [[Trajan]] or [[Hadrian]].

== Life and legend ==
According to the ''[[Liber Pontificalis]]'', it was Alexander I who inserted the narration of the [[Last Supper]] (the ''Qui pridie'') into the liturgy of the Mass. However, the article on Saint Alexander I in the 1907 ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]'', written by [[Thomas Joseph Shahan|Thomas Shahan]], judges this tradition to be inaccurate, a view shared by Roman Catholic and non-Roman Catholic experts alike.<ref name=CE>{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01285c.htm |title=Pope St. Alexander I|encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia |access-date=5 April 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160226174158/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01285c.htm |archive-date=26 February 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> It is viewed as a product of the agenda of ''Liber Pontificalis''—this section of the book was probably written in the late 5th century—to show an ancient pattern of the earliest bishops of Rome ruling the church by papal decree. The chronology of his pontificate is disputed, but he probably assumed office around 108/109 AD and died around 118/119 AD, after a tenure of 10 years.<ref>[[Eusebius]], ''[[Ecclesiastical History (Eusebius)|Ecclesiastical History]]'' [https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.iii.ix.i.html IV, 1]. "About the twelfth year of the reign of [[Trajan]]... At that time also Alexander, the fifth in the line of succession from Peter and Paul, received the episcopate at Rome." [https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.iii.ix.iv.html IV, 4]. "In the third year of the same reign [<nowiki/>[[Hadrian]]], Alexander, bishop of Rome, died after holding office ten years". The [[Caesarea Maritima|Caesarean]] calendar bean in 3 October, see {{Cite book |last=Burgess |first=Richard W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9R_CGC9wL9MC&pg=PA29 |title=Studies in Eusebian and Post-Eusebian Chronography |date=1999 |publisher=Franz Steiner Verlag |isbn=978-3-515-07530-5 |pages=29}}</ref><ref>[[Jerome]], ''[[Chronicon (Jerome)|Chronicon]]'', [https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/jerome_chronicle_03_part2.htm AD 108], 11th year of Trajan. "Alexander holds the fifth episcopate of the city of Rome for ten years." This may be a mistake, as the accession of Sixtus is dated to the 3rd year of Hadrian, AD 119.</ref><ref>[https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/chronography_of_354_13_bishops_of_rome.htm Liberian Catalogue]; "11 years, 2 months, 1 day. He was in the time of Trajan, from the consulate of [[Aulus Cornelius Palma Frontonianus|Palma]] and [[Publius Calvisius Tullus Ruso|Tullus]] [109] to that of [[Lucius Fundanius Lamia Aelianus|Velianus]] and [[Sextus Carminius Vetus|Vetus]] [116]." The catalogue is full of errors and contradictions; the years given do not even match the length given in the same entry.</ref> 

The introduction of the customs of using blessed water mixed with salt for the purification of Christian homes from evil influences, as well as that of mixing water with the sacramental wine, are attributed to [[Pope]] Alexander I. Some sources consider these attributions unlikely.<ref name="EB">{{cite encyclopedia| url = http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/14049/Saint-Alexander-I#| title = Saint Alexander I|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> It is certainly possible, however, that Alexander played an important part in the early development of the Church of Rome's emerging liturgical and administrative traditions.

A later tradition holds that in the reign of the [[emperor]] [[Hadrian]], Alexander I converted the Roman governor Hermes by miraculous means, together with his entire household of 1,500 people. [[Quirinus of Neuss]], who was Alexander's supposed jailer, and Quirinus' daughter [[Balbina of Rome]] were also among his converts.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/92135|author=Borrelli, Antonio|title=San Quirino su santiebeati.it|website=Santiebeati.it}}</ref>

Alexander is said to have seen a vision of the infant Jesus.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=xKo9zwDYj1EC&pg=PA20 ''Visions of Jesus: Direct Encounters from the New Testament to Today''] By Phillip H. Wiebe. Oxford University Press. p. 20.</ref> His remains are said to have been transferred to [[Freising]] in [[Bavaria]], Germany in AD 834.<ref name=CE/>

== Supposed identification with a martyr ==
Some editions of the [[Roman Missal]] identified Pope Alexander I with the Alexander that they give as commemorated, together with Eventius and Theodulus (who were supposed to be priests of his), on 3 May. See, for instance, the [[General Roman Calendar of 1954]]. But nothing is known of these three saints other than their names, together with the fact that they were martyred and were buried at the seventh milestone of the [[Via Nomentana]] on 3 May of some year.<ref>''Calendarium Romanum'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 1969), p. 122</ref> For this reason, the [[General Roman Calendar of 1960|Pope John XXIII's 1960 revision]] of the calendar returned to the presentation that was in the 1570 [[Tridentine calendar]] of the three saints as simply "Saints Alexander, Eventius and Theodulus Martyrs" with no suggestion that any of them was a pope. The [[Roman Martyrology]] lists them as Eventius, Alexander and Theodulus, the order in which their names are given in historical documents.<ref>''Martyrologium Romanum'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2004), p. 268</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Christianity|History}}
*[[List of Catholic saints]]
*[[List of popes]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Benedict XIV. ''The Roman Martyrology''. Gardners Books, 2007. {{ISBN|978-0-548-13374-3}}.
* Chapman, John. ''Studies on the Early Papacy''. Port Washington, New York: Kennikat Press, 1971. {{ISBN|978-1-901157-60-4}}.
* Fortescue, Adrian, and Scott M. P. Reid. ''The Early Papacy: To the Synod of Chalcedon in 451''. Southampton: Saint Austin Press, 1997. {{ISBN|978-1-901157-60-4}}.
* Jowett, George F. ''The Drama of the Lost Disciples''. London: Covenant Pub. Co, 1968. {{OCLC|7181392}}
* Loomis, Louise Ropes. ''The Book of Popes'' (''Liber Pontificalis''). Merchantville, New Jersey: Evolution Publishing. {{ISBN|1-889758-86-8}}
* [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/14049/Saint-Alexander-I# ''Encyclopædia Britannica'': "Saint Alexander I"]

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{{s-bef|before=[[Pope Evaristus|Evaristus]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Bishop of Rome]] <br/>[[List of popes|Pope]]|years=106–115}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Pope Sixtus I|Sixtus I]]}}
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{{Popes}}
{{Catholic saints}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander 01}}
[[Category:115 deaths]]
[[Category:2nd-century Romans]]
[[Category:Italian popes]]
[[Category:2nd-century popes]]
[[Category:Papal saints]]
[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]