Editing Pope Liberius

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 352 to 366}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Pope
| honorific-prefix = [[List of popes|Pope]]
| name = Liberius
| title = [[Bishop of Rome]]
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| image = Matthias Grünewald - Establishment of the Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome (detail) - WGA10780.jpg
| caption = Liberius painted by [[Matthias Grünewald]], from his painting ''Establishment of the Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome''
| term_start = 17 May 352{{efn|The ''Liberian Catalogue'' lists the date of Liberius's consecration as 22 May. ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]'' gives 17 May, noting that the 22nd was not a Sunday.  The date could also be 21 June, a Sunday, which differs from 22 May by only one letter in the Roman calendar (XI Kal. Jun/Jul.)}}
| term_end = 24 September 366<ref name="b">{{Cite web |title=Liberius {{!}} pope {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Liberius |access-date=16 April 2023 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>
| predecessor = [[Pope Julius I|Julius I]]
| successor = [[Pope Damasus I|Damasus I]]
| birth_date = 310
| birth_place = [[Rome]], [[Roman Empire]]
| death_date = 24 September 366
| death_place = [[Rome]], [[Roman Italy|Italy]], [[Roman Empire]]
| venerated = [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2022/08/27/102408-saint-liberius-pope-of-rome |title=Saint Liberius, Pope of Rome |website=OCA.org |publisher= |access-date=10 July 2024 |quote=Saint Liberius the Confessor, Bishop of Rome, became Bishop of Rome in the year 352, after the death of Pope Julius. Saint Liberius was a fervent proponent of Orthodoxy against the Arian heresy and a defender of Saint Athanasius of Alexandria (May 2).}}</ref>|
}}

'''Pope Liberius''' (310&nbsp;– 24 September 366) was the [[bishop of Rome]] from 17 May 352 until his death on 24 September 366.<ref name="ce">{{Cite CE1913|wstitle=Pope Liberius}}</ref> According to the ''[[Catalogus Liberianus]]'', he was consecrated on 22 May as the successor to [[Pope Julius I|Julius I]]. He is not mentioned as a saint in the [[Roman Martyrology]], making him the earliest pontiff not to be venerated as a saint in the [[Catholic Church]] and, along with [[Pope Anastasius II|Anastasius II]], one of only two popes to be omitted from Catholic sainthood in the first 500 years of church history.

Liberius is mentioned in the Greek Menology, the Eastern equivalent to the martyrologies of the Western Church and a measure of sainthood prior to the institution of the formal Western processes of [[canonization]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Saint Liberius, Pope of Rome |url=https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2015/08/27/102408-saint-liberius-pope-of-rome |access-date=3 December 2023 |website=[[Orthodox Church in America]]}}</ref>

==Pontificate==
The first recorded act of Liberius was, after a synod had been held at [[Rome]], to write to [[Roman emperor|Emperor]] [[Constantius II]], then in quarters at [[Arles]] (353–354), asking that a council might be called at [[Aquileia]] with reference to the affairs of [[Athanasius of Alexandria]], but his messenger Vincentius of Capua was compelled by the emperor at a [[conciliabulum]] held in Arles to subscribe against his will to a condemnation of the orthodox patriarch of [[Alexandria]].<ref name="ce"/>

Constantius was sympathetic to the [[Arians]], and when he could not persuade Liberius to his point of view sent the pope to a prison in Beroea.<ref name=oca>{{cite web|title=St. Liberius the Pope of Rome|url=http://oca.org/saints/lives/2015/08/27/102408-st-liberius-the-pope-of-rome|website=oca.org|publisher=Orthodox Church in America|access-date=14 April 2015}}</ref> At the end of an exile of more than two years in [[Thrace]], after which it seems he may have temporarily relented, or been set up to appear to have relented&nbsp;– partially evidenced by three letters, quite possibly forgeries, ascribed to Liberius,<ref>[http://www.christianhistoryproject.org/the-fall-of-the-western-roman-empire/athanasius/ Byfiend, Ted, ed. Darkness Descends, pg. 35]</ref> the emperor recalled him under extreme pressure from the Roman population who refused to recognize his puppet, [[Felix II]].  As the Roman See was "officially" occupied by Felix, a year passed before Liberius was sent to Rome. It was the emperor's intention that Liberius should govern the Church jointly with Felix, but on the arrival of Liberius, Felix was expelled by the Roman people. Neither Liberius nor Felix took part in the [[Council of Rimini]] (359).<ref name="ce"/>

The return of the Pope from exile was met with joy from the Roman people but it was also met with criticism. The writer Philostorgius says that the Pope Liberius was restored to papacy only after he signed the Second Creed of Sirmium, and although Sozomen claimed that this story was a lie, [[Hilary of Poitiers]] reacted by writing concerning the pope: "I know not whether it was with greater impiety that you exiled him than that you restored him" (Contra Const., II).<ref name=newadvent>{{Cite web |title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Pope Liberius |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09217a.htm |access-date=16 April 2023 |website=www.newadvent.org}}</ref> Some of those writers who accept the forged letters and testimonies of Arians, Semi-arians and Luciferians, concede Pope Liberius repented later for having signed the Arian Creed at Sirmium, but that he ever signed is highly doubtful on the basis of a critical examination of the original sources.<ref>{{Cite web |title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Pope Liberius |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09217a.htm |access-date=22 April 2024 |website=www.newadvent.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Saint Liberius, Pope of Rome |url=https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2019/08/27/102408-saint-liberius-pope-of-rome |access-date=20 April 2023 |website=www.oca.org}}</ref>

After the death of the Emperor Constantius in 361, Liberius annulled the decrees of that assembly but, with the concurrence of bishops Athanasius and [[Hilary of Poitiers]], retained the bishops who had signed and then withdrew their adherence. In 366, Liberius gave a favourable reception to a deputation of the Eastern episcopate, and admitted into his communion the more moderate of the old Arian party. He died on 24 September 366.<ref name="ce"/>

Some historians have postulated that Liberius [[papal resignation|resigned the papacy]] in 365, in order to make sense of the pontificate of Felix II, who has since been regarded as an [[antipope]].<ref name=CEAbdication>{{Cite CE1913|wstitle=Abdication}}</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File:Masolino - Founding of Santa Maria Maggiore - WGA14244.jpg|thumb|''Founding of Santa Maria Maggiore'' ([[Masolino da Panicale]], 1428/29), depicts Pope Liberius performing the groundbreaking]]
[[Pope Pius IX]] noted in his 1863 encyclical ''[[Quartus supra]]'' that Liberius was falsely accused by the Arians and he had refused to condemn [[Athanasius of Alexandria]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/encyc/p9quartu.htm|title=Quartus Supra (On The Church In Armenia)|author=Pope Pius IX|date=6 January 1873|publisher=Eternal Word Television Network|access-date=2 June 2015|archive-date=11 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121211022510/http://www.ewtn.com/library/encyc/p9quartu.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> However, [[Athanasius]] said that Pope Liberius condemned him after the Emperor [[Constantius II]] threatened to kill the Pope.{{efn|Quote of Athanasius: "Liberius, having been exiled, gave in after two years, and, in fear of the death with which he was threatened, signed" (Hist. Ar., xli)<ref>{{Cite web |title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Pope Liberius |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09217a.htm |access-date=17 April 2023 |website=www.newadvent.org}}</ref>}} In his 1920 encyclical ''Principi Apostolorum Petro'', [[Pope Benedict XV]] noted that Pope Liberius went fearlessly into exile in defence of the orthodox faith.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xv/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xv_enc_05101920_principi-apostolorum-petro_en.html|author=Pope Benedict XV|title=Principi Apostolorum Petro, Encyclical Of Pope Benedict XV On St. Ephrem The Syrian To The Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, And Other Ordinaries In Peace And Communion With The Apostolic See.|publisher=Libreria Editrice Vaticana|date=5 October 1920 |access-date= 2 June 2015}}</ref>

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Liberius is a saint whose feast is celebrated on 27 August.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.goarch.org/chapel/dateceleb_view?m=8&d=27&y=2012 |title= On Monday, August 27, 2012 we celebrate |work= Online Chapel |publisher= Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America |access-date= 14 August 2012 }}</ref> In [[Coptic Christianity]], the Departure of St Liberius the Bishop of Rome is commemorated on 4 [[Pi Kogi Enavot]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.copticchurch.net/synaxarium/13_4.html#1|title = Nasie 4 : Lives of Saints : Synaxarium - CopticChurch.net}}</ref>

The [[Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore]] in Rome is sometimes referred to as the Liberian Basilica.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cmswr.org/basilica-of-saint-mary-major-2/|title=Basilica of Saint Mary Major|website=Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://press.vatican.va/various/basiliche/sm_maggiore/en/storia/introduzione.htm|title=The Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore|website=press.vatican.va}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{Portal|Biography|Christianity|History}}
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==Sources==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Liberius|volume=16}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Liberius}}
{{CE1913 poster|Pope Liberius}}
* [http://www.fourthcentury.com/jaffe-kaltenbrunner-st-liberius-352-366/ Translation of Jaffe-Kaltenbrunner's Register of the Roman Pontiff.]
* [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf203.iv.viii.ii.xiii.html/ Theodoret of Cyrus' record of his confrontation with the Emperor over Athanasius from his Ecclesiastical History.]

{{S-start}}
{{s-rel|grt}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Pope Julius I|Julius I]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Bishop of Rome]]|years=352–366}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Pope Damasus I|Damasus I]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Popes}}
{{Catholicism}}
{{History of the Catholic Church}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liberius}}
[[Category:310 births]]
[[Category:366 deaths]]
[[Category:4th-century Romans]]
[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:4th-century popes]]