Pope St. Martin I
Posted on April 13, 2020 by admin No comments
Born: 21 June 598 Near Todi, Umbria, Eastern Roman Empire
Died: 16 September 655 (aged 57) Cherson, Eastern Roman Empire
Papacy began: 21 July 649
Papacy ended: 16 September 655
Pope Martin I (Latin: Martinus I; between 590 and 600 – 16 September 655), also known as Martin the Confessor, was the bishop of Rome from 21 July 649 to his death. He served as Pope Theodore I’s ambassador to Constantinople and was elected to succeed him as pope. He was the only pope during the Eastern Roman domination of the papacy whose election was not approved by an imperial mandate from Constantinople. For his resolute opposition to Monothelitism, Pope Martin I was arrested by Emperor Constans II, carried off to Constantinople, and ultimately banished to Cherson. He is considered a saint and martyr by the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Early life
Martin was born near Todi, Umbria, in the place now named after him (Pian di San Martino). According to his biographer Theodore, Martin was of noble birth, of commanding intelligence, and of great charity to the poor. Piazza states that he belonged to the order of St. Basil.
In 641, Pope John IV sent the abbot Martin into Dalmatia and Istria with large sums of money to alleviate the distress of the inhabitants, and redeem captives seized during the invasion of the Slavs. As the ruined churches could not be rebuilt, the relics of some of the more important Dalmatian saints were brought to Rome, where John then erected an oratory in their honour. Martin acted as apocrisiarius or legate at Constantinople in the early years of the pontificate of Theodore I (642–49), and was a deacon at the time of his election in 649.
Papacy (649–653)
When Martin I was elected pope, Constantinople was the capital of the Roman Empire and the patriarch of Constantinople was the most influential Church leader in the eastern Christian world. Martin had himself consecrated without waiting for the imperial ratification of the election. One of his first official acts was to summon the Lateran Council of 649 to deal with the Monothelites, whom the Church considered heretical. The Council met in the Church of St. John Lateran. It was attended by 105 bishops (chiefly from Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia, with a few from Africa and other quarters), held five sessions or secretarii from 5 October to 31 October 649, and in twenty canons condemned Monothelitism, its authors, and the writings by which Monothelitism had been promulgated. In this condemnation were included not only the Ecthesis (the exposition of faith of Patriarch Sergius I of Constantinople, for which Emperor Heraclius had stood sponsor), but also the Type issued by the reigning emperor, Constans II.
Martin was very energetic in publishing the decrees of the Lateran Council of 649 in an encyclical, and Constans replied by enjoining his exarch in Italy to arrest the pope should he persist and to send him as a prisoner to Constantinople. He was also accused by Constans of unauthorised contact and collaboration with the Muslims of the Rashidun Caliphate-allegations which he was unable to convince the infuriated imperial authorities to drop.
The arrest orders were impossible to carry out for some time, but at last Martin was arrested in the Lateran on 17 June 653 along with Maximus the Confessor. He was hurried out of Rome and conveyed first to Naxos, Greece, and subsequently to Constantinople, where he arrived on 17 September 653. He was saved from execution by the pleas of Patriarch Paul II of Constantinople, who was himself gravely ill. Martin hoped that a new pope would not be elected while he lived but the imperial government forced the Romans to find a successor. Eugene I was elected on 10 August 654, and Martin apparently acquiesced. After suffering an exhausting imprisonment and many alleged public indignities, Martin was banished to Cherson, where he arrived on 15 May 655. He died there on 16 September.