lundi 4 mars 2013

Saint LUCIUS Ier, pape et martyr



Saint Lucius I

Pape (22 ème) de 253 à 254 (+ 254)

Il fut le successeur du pape saint Corneille. Exilé pour sa foi au Christ durant la persécution de l'empereur Valérien (253-260), il revint à Rome où les fidèles l'accueillirent avec enthousiasme selon ce qu'en écrit saint Cyprien. Il est inhumé au cimetière romain de saint-Calixte. 

À Rome, au cimetière de Calliste sur la voie Appienne, en 254, la mise au tombeau de saint Lucius, pape. Successeur de saint Corneille, il fut presque aussitôt envoyé en exil, sous l’empereur Gallus, mais ensuite, par une disposition divine, il revint indemne dans son Église, confesseur invincible de la foi. Saint Cyprien l’a célébré par de grandes louanges.

Martyrologe romain

SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/746/Saint-Lucius-I.html


Saint Lucius Ier, pape et martyr

Mort en 254, fête en 1602.

Bhx Cardinal Schuster, Liber Sacramentorum

La fête annuelle de cet illustre Pontife (+ 254) célébré par saint Cyprien pour sa douceur et son esprit de concorde, est notée dans le Catalogue Philocalien des Depositiones Episcoporum de 336. Aujourd’hui encore, dans la crypte papale de la nécropole romaine de Calixte, l’on voit son épigraphe sépulcrale primitive.

Cependant, après l’abandon des cimetières vers le VIIIe siècle, sa commémoration disparut complètement des Sacramentaires et des calendriers romains, et ce fut seulement sous Clément VIII qu’elle fut rétablie dans le Bréviaire. Saint Lucius ne mourut pas, à vrai dire, de mort violente, aussi anciennement son nom ne se trouvait pas dans les Natalitia Martyrum, mais seulement dans les Depositiones Episcoporum. En effet, il fut exilé de Rome presque aussitôt son ordination ; il revint ensuite à son Siège, mais mourut peu de semaines après. Saint Cyprien. qui loue grandement saint Lucius, mentionne une ou plusieurs de ses lettres sur la manière de traiter les lapsi [1]. On vénère son corps dans la basilique transtévérine de Sainte-Cécile.

La messe (avant 1942) est celle du Commun des Martyrs Pontifes, Sacerdótes Dei, puisque l’usage liturgique de ces derniers siècles est de considérer comme une peine équivalente au martyre les tribulations de l’exil et les afflictions que, en temps de terrible persécution, durent supporter ces antiques héros de la foi, même si le glaive du bourreau ne trancha pas leur tête. Le voisinage des tombes de sainte Cécile et du pape Lucius est digne de remarque. Ce Pontife fut d’abord enseveli dans la crypte papale de la voie Appienne, tout à côté par conséquent de l’hypogée des Cœcilii chrétiens, où, jusqu’au temps de Paschal Ier, avait reposé l’illustre vierge Cécile. Quand celle-ci fut transférée dans le Titre élevé sur l’emplacement de son habitation, on y porta aussi les corps des papes Urbain et Lucius, qui attendent dans son voisinage la résurrection finale. La Secrète et la Postcommunion sont empruntées à la messe Statuit.

[1] Ep., LXVIII, 5.

Dom Pius Parsch, le Guide dans l’année liturgique

Saint Lucius. — Le martyrologe : « A Rome, sur la voie Appienne, la naissance au ciel de saint Lucius, pape et martyr ; tout d’abord, durant la persécution de Valérien, il fut envoyé en exil pour la foi du Christ ; ensuite, par un effet de la volonté divine, il put revenir dans son Église ; après avoir vaillamment lutté contre les Novatiens, il fut décapité. (Des recherches récentes ont démontré qu’il mourut de mort naturelle). Saint Cyprien lui a décerné de magnifiques louanges » (à cause de sa douceur et de son esprit de conciliation). Il régna de 253 à 254. Son antique épitaphe est encore conservée. Ses reliques sont honorées dans l’église de Sainte-Cécile au-delà du Tibre.

SOURCE : http://www.introibo.fr/04-03-St-Lucius-Ier-pape-et-martyr

Papa Lucio I nella Cappella Sistina


S. Lucius Ier

4 mars

RÉSUMÉ :

Saint Lucius, prêtre romain, fut élu pour succéder à saint Corneille martyrisé sous Gallus. Exilé pour la Foi, il fut rappelé « avec le double honneur de confesseur et d’évêque ». Tellement que « il sembla avoir été proscrit non pas pour priver l’Église de son pasteur, mais seulement pour accroître son honneur et la joie des fidèles par son heureux retour » (S. Cyprien le félicitant).

C’est à saint Lucius que remonte le décret qui ordonne qu’au moins deux prêtres accompagnent toujours l’évêque en quelque lieu qu’il réside, afin « qu’il ait toujours des témoins de sa vie » (S. Damase). Saint Lucius eût la tête tranchée le 4 mars 253.

Saint Lucius Ier pape et martyr le 4 mars 253

Quelques auteurs disent que saint Lucius était natif de Lucques, et fils de Lucin, et d’autres, qu’il était Romain, et que son père s’appelait Porphyre. On pourrait concilier ces deux opinions, en disant qu’il est appelé Romain, à cause du long séjour qu’il a fait à Rome ; mais qu’il était de Lucques, et que son père s’appelait Porphyre Lucin. Ce qui favorise cette conjecture, c’est qu’anciennement le nom de Lucius était fort commun parmi les Lucquois.

Il fut ordonné Prêtre sous saint Corneille, son prédécesseur, et envoyé avec lui en exil à Civita-Vecchia ; mais il en fut délivré par la divine Providence, qui le destinait à monter sur le siège apostolique, vacant depuis trente-cinq jours, par le martyre de saint Corneille, sous les empereurs Gallus et Volusien.

Aussitôt que saint Cyprien, Évêque de Carthage, apprit son élection, il l’en félicita par lettres. Mais son repos ne dura pas longtemps ; car les mêmes empereurs, continuant leur persécution contre les Chrétiens, le renvoyèrent une seconde fois en exil. Néanmoins, la même Providence, qui l’en avait délivré la première fois, l’en délivra encore celle-ci pour le bien de Son peuple : et il en revint plein d’honneur et de gloire, pour avoir constamment supporté cette peine, et donné des témoignages éclatants de son zèle et de son ardeur pour la religion chrétienne.

Saint Cyprien et les autres Évêques d’Afrique lui écrivirent des lettres de congratulation, dont voici quelques fragments : « Comme nous nous sommes réjouis depuis peu avec vous, Très-Saint Père, lorsque la divine Bonté vous a confié l’administration de Son Église, avec le double honneur de confesseur et d’Évêque, ainsi nous remercions maintenant cette même Bonté de ce qu’Elle vous a ramené avec la même gloire du lieu de votre exil, afin que le pasteur fût rendu à son troupeau, le pilote à son navire et le recteur à son peuple ; de sorte qu’il ne semble pas que vous ayiez été relégué pour priver l’Église de son Évêque, mais seulement pour accroître votre honneur et notre joie, par votre heureux retour ». Ce saint Évêque lui dit ensuite, par un esprit de prophétie, que, si son martyre était différé, la gloire de sa confession n’en serait pas diminuée, puisque Dieu ne l’avait ramené à Rome que pour lui préparer un plus beau théâtre de sa constance et de sa passion.

Il conféra deux fois les Ordres au mois de décembre, et créa quatre Prêtres, quatre Diacres et sept Évêques pour divers lieux. Il ordonna qu’au moins deux Prêtres et trois Diacres accompagneraient toujours l’Évêque en quelque lieu qu’il allât, afin, comme écrit saint Damase, qu’il eût des témoins de sa vie. Il fit aussi quelques autres décrets, que Gratien a recueillis. Ils se trouvent au premier tome des Conciles, et tous, comme saint Cyprien l’écrivit au Pape saint Étienne Ier, successeur de saint Lucius, sont dignes de vénération et de respect.

Enfin, ce que ce grand Évêque de Carthage lui avait prédit arriva incontinent après ; car, l’empereur Volusien, continuant la persécution contre l’Église, ce très saint Pape eut la tête tranchée le 4 mars, l’an de Notre-Seigneur 253, le second de son pontificat, ainsi que le cardinal Baronius l’a remarqué, au deuxième tome de ses Annales, où il rétracte ce qu’il avait écrit sur le Martyrologe romain, que ce martyre arriva sous l’empereur Valérien. Tous les Martyrologes font mémoire de saint Lucius, et disent qu’il a été inhumé sur la voie Appienne.

SOURCE : http://www.cassicia.com/FR/La-vie-de-saint-Lucius-Ier-pape-et-martyr-Fete-le-4-mars-No_517.htm


Portrait mosaic of pope St. Lucius I in the crypt of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere (Rome)


Pope Saint Lucius I

Also known as

Loukis

Memorial

5 March

formerly 4 March

Profile

Chosen 22nd pope. Noted for his ascetic lifestyle, even while on the throne. Forbade men and women not related by blood to live together. Decreed that clergy should not live with deaconesses even if given lodging for reasons of charityExiled briefly during the persecution of Emperor Gallus. Condemned the Novatian heresy.

Born

RomeItaly

Papal Ascension

25 June 253

Died

5 March 254 at RomeItaly of natural causes

buried at Saint Callistus catacomb

relics transferred to the church of Saint Cecilia in Trastevere, Rome in 821

some relics transferred to RoskildeDenmark c.1100

his head placed in a reliquary bust in the Saint Ansgar cathedral at Roskilde in 1910

Canonized

Pre-Congregation

Patronage

Copenhagen, Denmark

Additional Information

Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate

Catholic Encyclopedia

Lives and Times of the Popes, by Alexis-François Artaud de Montor

Lives of the Saints, by Father Alban Butler

New Catholic Dictionary

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Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints

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Martirologio Romano2001 edición

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Documenta Catholica Omnia

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Den katolske kirke

MLA Citation

“Pope Saint Lucius I“. CatholicSaints.Info. 28 September 2022. Web. 4 March 2023. http://catholicsaints.info/pope-saint-lucius-i/

SOURCE : http://catholicsaints.info/pope-saint-lucius-i/

Pope St. Lucius I

Reigned 253-254; died at Rome, 5 March, 254. After the death of St. Cornelius, who died in exile in the summer of 253, Lucius was chosen to fill his place, and consecrated Bishop of Rome. Nothing is known of the early life of this pope before his elevation. According to the "Liber Pontificalis", he was Roman born, and his father's name was Porphyrius. Where the author obtained this information is not known. The persecution of the Church under the Emperor Gallus, during which Cornelius had been banished, still went on. Lucius also was sent into exile soon after his consecration, but in a short time, presumably when Valerian was made emperor, he was allowed to return to his flock. The Felician Catalogue, whose information is found in the "Liber Pontificalis", informs us of the banishment and the miraculous return of Lucius: "Hic exul fuit et postea nutu Dei incolumis ad ecclesiam reversus est." St. Cyprian, who wrote a (lost) letter of congratulation to Lucius on his elevation to the Roman Seeand on his banishment, sent a second letter of congratulation to him and his companions in exile, as well as to the whole Roman Church (ep. lxi, ed. Hartel, II, 695 sqq.).

The letter begins:

Beloved Brother, only a short time ago we offered you our congratulations, when in exalting you to govern His Church God graciously bestowed upon you the twofold glory of confessor and bishop. Again we congratulate you, your companions, and the whole congregation, in that, owing to the kind and mighty protection of our Lord, He has led you back with praise and glory to His own, so that the flock can again receive its shepherd, the ship her pilot, and the people a director to govern them and to show openly that it was God's disposition that He permitted your banishment, not that the bishop who had been expelled should be deprived of his Church, but rather that he might return to his Church with greater authority.

Cyprian continues, alluding to the three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace, that the return from exile did not lessen the glory of the confession, and that the persecution, which was directed only against the confessors of the true Churchproved which was the Church of Christ. In conclusion he describes the joy of Christian Rome on the return of its shepherd. When Cyprian asserts that the Lord by means of persecution sought "to bring the heretics to shame and to silence them," and thus to prove where the Church was, who was her one bishop chosen by God's dispensation, who were her presbyters bound up with the bishop in the glory of the priesthood, who were the real people of Christ, united to His flock by a peculiar love, who were those who were oppressed by their enemies, and at the same time who those were whom the Devil protects as his own, he obviously means the Novatians. The schism of Novatian, through which he was brought forward as antipope, in opposition to Cornelius, still continued in Rome under Lucius.

In the matter of confession and the restoration of the "Lapsi" (fallen) Lucius adhered to the principles ofCornelius and Cyprian. According to the testimony of the latter, contained in a letter to Pope Stephen (ep. lxviii, 5, ed. Hartel, II, 748), Lucius, like Cornelius, had expressed his opinions in writing: "Illi enim pleni spiritu Domini et in glorioso martyrio constituti dandam esse lapsis pacem censuerunt et poenitentia acta fructum communicationis et pacis negandum non esse litteris suis signaverunt." (For they, filled with the spirit of the Lordand confirmed in glorious martyrdom, judged that pardon ought to be given to the Lapsi, and signified in their letters that, when these had done penance, they were not to be denied the enjoyment of communion and reconciliation.) Lucius died in the beginning of March, 254. In the "Depositio episcoporum" the "Chronograph of 354" gives the date of his death as 5 March, the "Martyrologium Hieronymianum" as 4 March. The first date is probably right. Perhaps Lucius died on 4 March and was buried 5 March. According to the "Liber Pontificalis" thispope was beheaded in the time of Valerian, but this testimony cannot be admitted. It is true that Cyprian in the letter to Stephen above mentioned (ep. lxviii, 5) gives him, as well as Cornelius, the honorary title of martyr: "servandus est enim antecessorum nostrorum beatorum martyrum Cornelii et Lucii honor gloriosus" (for theglorious memory of our predecessors the blessed martyrs Cornelius and Lucius is to be preserved); but probably this was on account of Lucius's short banishment. Cornelius, who died in exile, was honoured as a martyr by the Romans after his death; but not Lucius. In the Roman calendar of feasts of the "Chronograph of 354" he is mentioned in the "Depositio episcoporum", and not under the head of "Depositio martyrum". His memory was, nevertheless, particularly honoured, as is clear from the appearance of his name in the "Martyrologium Hieronymianum". Eusebius, it is true, maintains (Church History VII.10) that Valerian was favourable to the Christians in the early part of his reign. The emperor's first persecution edict appeared only in 257.

Lucius was buried in a compartment of the papal vault in the catacombs of St. Callistus. On the excavation of the vault, de Rossi found a large fragment of the original epitaph, which only gives the pope's name in Greek: LOUKIS. The slab is broken off just behind the word, so that in all probability there was nothing else on it except the title EPISKOPOS (bishop). The relics of the saint were transferred by Pope Paul I (757-767) to the church ofSan Silvestro in Capite, or by Pope Paschal I (817-824) to the Basilica of St. Praxedes [Marucchi, "Basiliques et eglisesde Rome", Rome, 1902, 399 (inscription in San Silvestro), 325 (inscription in S. Praxedes)]. The author of the "Liber Pontificalis" has unauthorizedly ascribed to St. Lucius a decretal, according to which two priests and three deacons must always accompany the bishop to bear witness to his virtuous life: "Hic praecepit, ut duo presbyteri et tres diaconi in omni loco episcopum non desererent propter testimonium ecclesiasticum." Such a measure might have been necessary under certain conditions at a later period; but in Lucius's time it was incredible. This alleged decree induced a later forger to invent another apocryphal decretal, and attribute it to Lucius. The story in the "Liber Pontificalis" that Lucius, as he was being led to death, gave the archdeacon Stephen power over the Church, is also a fabrication. The feast of St. Lucius is held on 4 March.

Sources

Liber Pontificalis, ed. DUCHESNE, I, XCVII, 153; ALLARD, Histoire des persécutions, III (Paris, 1887), 27 sq.; DE ROSSI, Roma sotterranea, II (Rome, 1867), 62-70; JAFFE, Regesta Rom. Pont., 2nd ed., I, 19-20; WILPERT, Die Papstgraber und die Caciliengruft (Freiburg im Br., 1909), 19.

Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope St. Lucius I." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 4 Mar. 2017 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09411a.htm>.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Herman F. Holbrook. "Prayer was made without ceasing of the Church unto God for Peter."

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.

Copyright © 2020 by Kevin Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09411a.htm

March 4

St. Lucius, Pope and Martyr

From Ens. l. 7. c. 2. and St. Cyprian’s letters. See Tillem. t. 4. p. 118. Pagi, Ceillier, t. 3. p. 118. and Pearson, Annal. Cyprian, p. 31. 33.

A.D. 253

ST. LUCIUS was a Roman by birth, and one of the clergy of that church under SS. Fabian and Cornelius. This latter being crowned with martyrdom, in 252, St. Lucius succeeded him in the pontificate. The emperor Gallus having renewed the persecution of his predecessor Decius, at least in Rome, this holy pope was no sooner placed in the chair of St. Peter, but was banished with several others, though to what place is uncertain. “Thus,” says St. Dionysius of Alexandria, “did Gallus deprive himself of the succour of heaven, by expelling those who every day prayed to God for his peace and prosperity.” St. Cyprian wrote to St. Lucius to congratulate him both on his promotion, and for the grace of suffering banishment for Christ. Our saint had been but a short time in exile, when he was recalled with his companions to the incredible joy of the people, who went out of Rome in crowds to meet him. St. Cyprian wrote to him a second letter of congratulation on this occasion. 1 He says, “He had not lost the dignity of martyrdom because he had the will, as the three children in the furnace, though preserved by God from death: this glory added a new dignity to his priesthood, that a bishop assisted at God’s altar, who exhorted his flock to martyrdom by his own example as well as by his words. By giving such graces to his pastors, God showed where his true church was: for he denied the like glory of suffering to the Novatian heretics. The enemy of Christ only attacks the soldiers of Christ: heretics he knows to be already his own, and passes them by. He seeks to throw down those who stand against him.” He adds in his own name and that of his colleagues: “We do not cease in our sacrifices and prayers (in sacrificiis et orationibus nostris) to God the Father, and to Christ his son, our Lord, giving thanks and praying together, that he who perfects all may consummate in you the glorious crown of your confession, who perhaps has only recalled you that your glory might not be hidden; for the victim, which owes his brethren an example of virtue and faith, ought to be sacrificed in their presence.” 2

St. Cyprian, in his letter to Pope Stephen, avails himself of the authority of St. Lucius against the Novatian heretics, as having decreed against them, that those who were fallen were not to be denied reconciliation and communion, but to be absolved when they had done penance for their sin. Eusebius says, he did not sit in the pontifical chair above eight months; and he seems, from the chronology of St. Cyprian’s letters, to have sat only five or six, and to have died on the 4th of March, in 253, under Gallus, though we know not in what manner. The most ancient calendars mention him on the 5th of March, others, with the Roman, on the 4th, which seems to have been the day of his death, as the 5th that of his burial. His body was found in the Catacombs, and laid in the church of St. Cecily in Rome, where it is now exposed to public veneration by the order of Clement VIII.

Note 1. Ep. 58. Pamelio.—61. Fello. p. 272. [back]

Note 2. Ep. 67. Pamelio.—68. Fello. in Ed. Oxon. [back]

Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73).  Volume III: March. The Lives of the Saints.  1866.

The Lives and Times of the Popes – Saint Lucius I – A.D. 252

Article

It is probable that Saint Lucius I, a Roman priest, one of the companions in exile of Saint Cornelius, was elected at Civita Vecchia. He received the pontificate A.D. 252. He ordered that the ministers of the altars should never be chosen except from among men of the purest virtue, and that none of them should ever go unaccompanied into a house occupied by a woman, and that no priest should reside with a woman unless she should be of his nearest kindred. The penalty of the priest for breach of that regulation was deposition; for the woman, exclusion from the Church.

Lucius, who, like Saint Evaristus, was anxious for the greatness and dignity of the pontificate and the episcopacy, ordered that two priests and three deacons should constantly accompany the pontiff and the bishops as witnesses of their whole course of life. At the commencement of his pontificate, Lucius was sent into exile, but was soon afterwards recalled. This recall was caused, not by repentance, but merely by a caprice of cruelty, as the Eternal City was soon convinced. We are informed of this return by a letter of Saint Cyprian congratulating him. Lucius received that letter with a transport of joy. The motive of the congratulation was worthy of both saints. The African doubted not that God had granted the termination of an exile in an obscure place to bring back upon a more brilliant theatre one who was destined to perish before the people of Rome. Felicitations of this kind are to be found only in the epistles of Christians.

Saint Lucius received the crown of martyrdom on the 5th March, A.D. 253.

In two ordinations this pope created seven bishops, four priests, and four deacons. He governed the Church a little more than five months. He was interred in the cemetery of Saint Calixtus.

MLA Citation

Alexis-François Artaud de Montor. “Saint Lucius I – A.D. 252”. The Lives and Times of the Popes1911. CatholicSaints.Info. 2 August 2022. Web. 4 March 2023. <https://catholicsaints.info/the-lives-and-times-of-the-popes-saint-lucius-i-a-d-252/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/the-lives-and-times-of-the-popes-saint-lucius-i-a-d-252/


Cromolitografia in L. Tripepi, Ritratti e biografie dei romani pontefici: da S. Pietro a Leone 13, Roma, Vaglimigli Davide, 1879. Municipal Library of Trento


San Lucio I Papa


m. 254

(Papa dal 25/06/253 al 05/03/254)

Romano. Non appena eletto venne arrestato e mandato in esilio, dal quale, "per volere di Dio, restò incolume", come si legge nei documenti ufficiali.

Etimologia: Lucio = luminoso, splendente, dal latino

Martirologio Romano: A Roma sulla via Appia nel cimitero di Callisto, deposizione di san Lucio, papa, che, successore di san Cornelio, subì l’esilio per la fede in Cristo e, insigne testimone della fede, affrontò le difficoltà del suo tempo con moderazione e prudenza.

Assurse al soglio pontificale il 25 giugno del 253, pochi giorni dopo la morte del suo predecessore Cornelio.

Non è dato sapere come ma nonostante il suo brevissimo pontificato riuscì ad emanare il decreto per il quale: "... ogni presbitero doveva essere accompagnato da due preti e tre diaconi... a testimonianza del comportamento di tutti".

Il suo papato, dopo la morte dell'imperatore Treboniano Gallo e l'evento di Valeriano, fu da considerarsi abbastanza tranquillo sul fronte delle persecuzioni. 

Dopo un breve esilio a Lucio fu concesso di ritornare a Roma. Morì di morte naturale e fu sepolto nella cripta di san Callisto o forse di santa Cecilia.Dapprima dichiarato santo per il suo martirio, Lucio fu successivamente cancellato dal Calendario Universale della Chiesa.

Autore: Franco Prevato

LUCIO I, santo

di Francesco Scorza Barcellona - Enciclopedia dei Papi (2000)

Lucio I, santo

L'episcopato di L. durò poco meno di otto mesi, secondo quanto afferma Eusebio di Cesarea: dall'estate del 253 al 5 marzo dell'anno successivo, data della sua morte documentata dal Catalogo Liberiano e dalla Depositio episcoporum del Cronografo del 354: erroneamente il Catalogo Liberiano e il Liber pontificalis, nr. 23, gli attribuiscono un pontificato di oltre tre anni.

Da una lettera indirizzatagli da Cipriano di Cartagine si ricava che L. era stato esiliato, verosimilmente dall'imperatore Gallo, come già il suo predecessore Cornelio, ma che in seguito poté rientrare a Roma, probabilmente dopo l'accesso al potere di Valeriano: Cipriano vi si congratula per il suo ritorno dall'esilio, accenna a un'altra lettera che gli avrebbe scritto in occasione della sua elezione (Epistularium 61, 1, 1), e allude alla presenza di seguaci di Novaziano a Roma quando afferma che nella persecuzione il Signore mostra quale sia la sua Chiesa, l'unico vescovo da lui scelto e i suoi sacerdoti uniti al loro vescovo, in quanto il diavolo perseguita solo gli accampamenti e i seguaci di Cristo, mentre non degna di uno sguardo quelli che sono già stati abbattuti e sono diventati suoi (ibid. 61, 3, 1-2). L'esilio di L. è attestato anche nel Catalogo Liberiano e quindi dal Liber pontificalis.

In un'altra lettera Cipriano accomuna Cornelio e L., definiti "beati martyres", per la loro decisione di dover concedere la pace a quanti avevano ceduto durante la persecuzione (Epistularium 68, 5, 1), accennando a loro lettere in cui si affermava che non si dovesse negare la comunione a chi avesse fatto penitenza. La lettera di L. a Cipriano è andata perduta: presumibilmente anche L., come il suo predecessore Cornelio, vi doveva assumere una posizione contraria al rigorismo di Novaziano e dei suoi seguaci. Nonostante il fatto che Cipriano attribuisca il titolo di martire a L. come a Cornelio, L. non morì martire, in quanto nei primi anni del suo impero Valeriano si dimostrò favorevole ai cristiani, come afferma il contemporaneo Dionigi di Alessandria in una sua lettera a Ermammone (citata in Eusebio di Cesarea, Historia ecclesiastica VII, 10, 3). Del resto la più antica tradizione della Chiesa romana, consegnata nella Depositio episcoporum, distingue nettamente L. dai papi martiri elencati nella Depositio martyrum.

Il Liber pontificalis, nr. 23, riprende la tradizione del martirio di L. che sarebbe avvenuto per ordine di Valeriano; più precisamente, ma solo nella seconda redazione, vi si racconta che, mentre era diretto al luogo del martirio, L. avrebbe affidato il governo della Chiesa al suo arcidiacono Stefano. Un'analoga scena si legge nello stesso Liber pontificalis, nr. 24, in una aggiunta del ms. Vat. lat. 3764 (sec. XI), a proposito di papa Stefano e del suo arcidiacono Sisto, ed è propria della tradizione agiografica relativa a Sisto II e all'arcidiacono Lorenzo: verosimilmente si tratta di un luogo comune originatosi forse nella leggenda di papa Sisto e dell'arcidiacono Lorenzo, poi variamente applicato a L. e Stefano, immediati predecessori di Sisto II. Il Liber pontificalis aggiunge altri dettagli non tutti verificabili: L. sarebbe stato romano, figlio di Porfirio (una variante è "Tuscus, de civitate Luca, ex patre Lucino", in luogo di "Romanus ex patre Porphyrio"), avrebbe emanato la disposizione che il papa non fosse mai abbandonato da due presbiteri e tre diaconi "propter testimonium ecclesiasticum", espressione che probabilmente esprime la necessità di affidare la reputazione del vescovo a testimoni autorevoli e vigili; L. avrebbe inoltre ordinato quattro presbiteri, quattro diaconi e sette vescovi e la sua morte sarebbe stata seguita da trentacinque giorni di sede vacante. La sepoltura di L. sarebbe avvenuta il 28 agosto nel cimitero di Callisto, ove, effettivamente, nella cripta dei papi è stato ritrovato un frammento di iscrizione con il nome "ΛΟϒΚΙC", che potrebbe a lui riferirsi. Si ritiene che la data della sepoltura distinta da quella della morte sia falsa, nonostante i tentativi di de Rossi di ammetterle entrambe considerando l'eventualità di una sepoltura provvisoria e di un'altra definitiva.

Risale alla seconda metà del sec. XI una Passio sancti Lucii papae (Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina [...], nr. 5022), opera di Guaiferio di Montecassino, attivo nell'abbazia tra il 1084 e il 1086. Questa Passio, che ci è giunta mutila della parte finale, è quasi del tutto priva di riferimenti biografici su L., tutta intesa ad esaltare in lui la figura del papa.

A Roma le reliquie di L. furono collocate nel IX secolo nella basilica di S. Cecilia insieme a quelle che si ritennero essere della vergine romana e dei suoi compagni di martirio, e dove furono oggetto di ricognizioni in età moderna. Una tradizione medievale, attestata da un racconto di traslazione nelle lezioni dell'Ufficio per l'apposita festa del 25 agosto, vuole che la reliquia del suo capo si conservi a Roskilde, in Danimarca, della cui chiesa cattedrale è attestata la titolatura a s. Lucio sin dal sec. XIII: il racconto di traslazione non ha però riferimenti cronologici.

Non è certo, ma non è stato escluso, che la commemorazione di L. al 4 marzo figurasse già nel Martyrologium Hieronymianum. Questa data, presente nel Liber pontificalis nella sua prima redazione (la seconda, più correttamente, riporta quella del 5 marzo attestata dalla Depositio episcoporum), è passata ai martirologi medievali, a partire da quello dell'Anonimo Lionese, e da questi al Martyrologium Romanum. Nel Calendarium Romanum del 1969 la commemorazione di L. è stata espunta perché stando alla fonte più attendibile, in questo caso la Depositio episcoporum, non risulta che a L. spetti il titolo di martire.

FONTI E BIBLIOGRAFIA

Cipriano, Epistularium 61, 1, 1; 61, 3, 1-2; 68, 5, 1, a cura di G.F. Diercks, Turnholti 1994-96 (Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina, 3B-C), pp. 380, 382-83, 468. Eusebio di Cesarea, Historia ecclesiastica VII, 2; 10, 3, a cura di E. Schwartz, Leipzig 1908 (Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller. Eusebius Werke, II, 2), pp. 636-38, 650.

Id., Chronicon, ad a. 254, a cura di R. Helm, Berlin 1956 (Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller. Eusebius Werke, VII), p. 219.

Le Liber pontificalis, a cura di L. Duchesne, I, Paris 1886, pp. XCVI-XCVIII, CCXLVIII, 66-9, 153.

Catalogo Liberiano, ibid., pp. 6-7.

H. Delehaye, Commentarius perpetuus in Martyrologium Hieronymianum [...], in Acta Sanctorum Novembris [...], II, pars posterior, Bruxellis 1931, pp. 125-26.

H. Quentin, Les Martyrologes historiques du Moyen Âge, Paris 1908, pp. 209-10.

Martyrologium Romanum [...] scholiis historicis instructum, in Propylaeum ad Acta Sanctorum Decembris, Bruxellis 1940, p. 84.

Calendarium Romanum ex decreto sacrosancti oecumenici concilii Vaticani II instauratum auctoritate Pauli PP. VI promulgatum, In Civitate Vaticana 1969, p. 118.

Édition pratique des Martyrologes de Bède, de l'Anonyme Lyonnais et de Florus, a cura di J. Dubois-G. Renaud, Paris 1976, p. 44.

Fonti agiografiche:

cfr. Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina [...], II, Bruxellis 1900-01, nrr. 5022-23.

ibid., Novum Supplementum, a cura di H. Fros, ivi 1986, p. 547.

La Passio sancti Lucii papae (Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina [...], nr. 5022), già pubblicata in Acta Sanctorum [...], Martii, I, Antverpiae 1668, pp. 304-09, poi in P.L., CXLVII, coll. 1301-10, è ora edita a cura di O. Limone, L'opera agiografica di Guaiferio di Montecassino, in Monastica. Scritti raccolti in memoria del XV centenario della nascita di S. Benedetto (480-1980), III, Montecassino 1983, pp. 77-130 (in partic. pp. 106-30).

Il racconto della traslazione della reliquia a Roskilde (Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina [...], nr. 5023) è in J. Langebek, Scriptores Rerum Danicarum, III, Hafniae 1774, pp. 615-17.

Regesta Pontificum Romanorum, a cura di Ph. Jaffé-G. Wattenbach-S. Loewenfeld-F. Kaltenbrunner-P. Ewald, I, Lipsiae 1885, pp. 19-20.

La falsa decretale attribuita a L. è in P. Hinschius, Decretales pseudo-Isidorianae et Capitula Angilramni [...], ivi 1863, pp. 175-80.

Studi:

Ecclesiastica Historia [...] per aliquot studiosos et pios viros in urbe Magdeburgica, Centuria III, Caput X, Basileae 1562, coll. 282-83.

C. BaronioAnnales ecclesiastici, II, Romae 1590, pp. 475-76, 489-90.

Acta Sanctorum [...], Martii, I, Antverpiae 1668, pp. 301-08.

[L.-S.] Lenain de Tillemont, Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire ecclésiastique des six premiers siècles, t. IV, Venise 1732, pp. 118, 620-21.

G.B. de Rossi, Roma sotterranea cristiana, II, Roma 1867, pp. 62-70.

P. Franchi de' Cavalieri, La persecuzione di Gallo a Roma, in Id., Note agiografiche, VI, ivi 1920, pp. 206-08.

P. Lampe, Die stadtrömischen Christen in den beiden ersten Jahrhunderten, Tübingen 1992, pp. 310-11.

 A Dictionary of Christian Biography, III, London 1882, s.v., p. 752.

Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, IX, 1, Paris 1926, s.v., coll. 1056-57.

Vies des Saints et des Bienheureux, III, ivi 1941, s.v., pp. 69-72; E.C., VII, s.v., coll. 1632-33.

A. Amore-Cl. Mocchegiani Carpano, Lucio, in B.S., VIII, coll. 286-87.

New Catholic Encyclopaedia, VIII, Washington 1967, s.v., p. 1059.

Lexikon der christlichen Ikonographie, VII, Rom 1974, s.v., col. 421.

Catholicisme, VII, Paris 1975, s.v., coll. 1254-55.

Biographisch-bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon, V, Herzberg 1993, s.v., coll. 301-03.

Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, VI, Freiburg 1997³, s.v., coll. 1085-86.

Il grande libro dei Santi. Dizionario enciclopedico, II, Cinisello Balsamo 1998, s.v., pp. 1236-37.

SOURCE : https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/santo-lucio-i_(Enciclopedia-dei-Papi)