Pope Mark

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church in 336}}

{{about|the pope of Rome|Pope Mark I of Alexandria|Mark the Evangelist}}

{{distinguish|Mark Pope}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}{{Infobox Christian leader

|type=Pope

|honorific-prefix=Pope Saint

|name=Mark

|image=Saint-Marc-à-Loubaud église statue (1).jpg

|caption=Statue of Pope Saint Mark in the church of Saint-Marc-à-Loubaud, France.

|title = Bishop of Rome

|church = Catholic Church

|term_start=18 January 336

|term_end=7 October 336

|predecessor=Sylvester I

|successor=Julius I

|birth_date=

|birth_place=Rome, Italy, Roman Empire

|death_date={{death date|336|10|7|df=y}}

|death_place=Rome, Italy, Roman Empire

|feast_day=7 October

|tomb = Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence

}}

Pope Mark ({{langx|la|Marcus}}) was the bishop of Rome from 18 January to his death on 7 October 336.

File:Cosimo merlini il vecchio, reliquiario dei ss. marco papa, amato abate e concordia martire, 1622, argento su legno 06.JPG of Pope Mark in the Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence.]]

Little is known of Mark's early life. According to the Liber Pontificalis, he was a Roman, and his father's name was Priscus. Mark succeeded Sylvester I as pope on 18 January 336.[http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/lots/lots313.htm Butler, Alban. "St. Mark, Pope", Lives of the Saints, Benziger Bros., 1894]

Some evidence suggests that the early lists of bishops and martyrs known as the Depositio episcoporum and Depositio martyrum were begun during his pontificate. According to the Liber Pontificalis, Pope Mark issued a constitution investing the bishop of Ostia with a pallium and confirming his power to consecrate newly elected popes. Likewise according to the Liber Pontificalis, Pope Mark is credited with the foundation of the Basilica of San Marco, a basilica in Rome, and a cemetery church over the Catacomb of Balbina, just outside the city on lands obtained as a donation from Emperor Constantine.{{Cite web |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09674a.htm |title=Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope St. Mark." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 16 Mar. 2015 |access-date=16 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160520112621/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09674a.htm |archive-date=20 May 2016 |url-status=dead }}

Mark died of natural causes on 7 October and was buried in the catacomb of Balbina. In 1048, his remains were removed to the town of Velletri, and in 1145 were relocated to the Basilica of San Marco in Rome, where they are kept in an urn under the altar. His feast day is celebrated on 7 October. He is particularly venerated at the Abbadia San Salvatore at Monte Amiata.