Pope Simplicius

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 468 to 483}}

{{Infobox Christian leader

|type=Pope

|honorific-prefix=Pope Saint

|name=Simplicius

|title = Bishop of Rome

|church = Catholic Church

|image =

|term_start=25 February 468

|term_end=2 or 10 March 483

|predecessor=Hilarius

|successor=Felix III

|birth_date=

|birth_place=Tivoli, Western Roman Empire

|death_date=2 or 10 March 483

|death_place= Rome, Kingdom of Odoacer

|feast_day=10 March

|venerated=Orthodox, Catholic

}}

Pope Simplicius (died 2 or 10 March 483) was the bishop of Rome from 468 to his on 10 March 483. He combated the Eutychian heresy, ended the practice of consecrating bishops only in December, and sought to offset the effects of Germanic invasions.

Election

Simplicius was born in Tivoli, Italy, the son of a citizen named Castinus.J. P. Kirsch, "Simplicius, Pope St." {{cite book|title=Catholic Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rFc_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA3|volume=XIV|year=1912|publisher=Appleton|location=New York|pages=2–3}} After a vacancy of 10 days following the death of Pope Hilarius, Simplicius was consecrated on 25 February 468.Thiel, p. 174 §1. Jaffḗ, Regesta pontificum Romanorum, p. 77. The date is calculated, from his date of death and the length of his reign, fifteen years and seven days.

Pontificate

Simplicius defended the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon against the Eutychian heresy. When the Eutychians rose up in Antioch and installed Petrus Mongus, Simplicius made repeated complaints for action to Basiliscus and Leo I, emperors of the Eastern Roman Empire, for the restoration of the Catholic bishop; he did the same when Petrus Fullo usurped the seat of the patriarch of Alexandria. He rehabilitated Patriarch Timotheos Solofaciolus.Thiel, p. 174 §2. Loomis, pp. 97-99; 106 note 2. In 478, Simplicius held a synod in Rome, which pronounced anathemas against eastern heretical bishops Peter Fullo, John of Apamea, and Paul of Ephesus.{{cite book|author=Karl Joseph von Hefele|editor=W. R. Clark|title=A History of the Councils of the Church, from the Original Documents|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=09NEAAAAYAAJ|volume=IV.|year=1895|publisher=T. & T. Clark|location=Edinburgh|pages=26–29}} In a letter which Thiel (pp. 189-192) dated to October 477, Pope Simplicius wrote to the Patriarch Acacius about what he thought should be done about the heretic bishops. Simplicius worked to maintain the authority of Rome in the West. He named Zeno, Bishop of Hispalis (Seville) as Papal Vicar in Spain.Thiel, pp. 213-214.

In 482, Bishop Gregory of Modena was consecrated a bishop against his will by Archbishop Joannes I of Ravenna. This brought the archbishop a sharp rebuke from Pope Simplicius.Thiel, pp. 201-202. Kehr, Paul Fridolin (1906), Italia Pontificia [https://archive.org/details/italiapontificia05cath Vol. V: Aemilia, sive Provincia Ravennas] (Berlin: Weidmann), pp. (in Latin). p. 301 no. 1. Lanzoni, Francesco (1927). [https://archive.org/stream/MN5017ucmf_0#page/n281/mode/2up Le diocesi d'Italia dalle origini al principio del secolo VII (an. 604)] (Faenza: F. Lega), p. 793, no. 4. {{in lang|it}}

According to the Carolingian liturgist Amalarius of Metz, Pope Simplicius was the first pope to carry out consecrations at any other time than in December before Christmas. He began to confer holy orders in February as well.Thiel, p. 175. Edmond Martḕne pointed out that this was the beginning of the custom of the Quattuor Temporum.

Simplicius is credited with the construction of a church named Santa Bibiana, in memory of the virgin and martyr St. Bibiana. He also dedicated the Church of San Stefano Rotondo on the Celian Hill, the church of S. Andrea near S. Maria Maggiore, and a church dedicated to Saint Lawrence in the Campo Verano.Duchesne, p. 249-250. Loomis, p. 106. He labored to help the people of Italy against the marauding raids of barbarian invaders. He saw the Heruliian mercenaries revolt, depose Romulus Augustulus, the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, and proclaim Odoacer king of Italy in 476.[http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/lots/lots077.htm Butler, Alban.Lives of the Saints, Benziger Bros. 1894] {{page number needed|date=October 2018}} Odoacer made few changes in the administration in Rome, leaving the city firmly in the hands of its bishop, Simplicius.

Death and aftermath

He was buried in the Basilica of St. Peter on 2 March 483. Rome was without a pope for six days.Duchesne, Liber Pontificalis, p. 249. "Hic sepultus est in basilica beati Petri apostoli, vi non. martias. Et cessavit episcopatus dies vi." Thiel, p. 174 §1. Jaffé, Regesta pontificum Romanorum I, p. 80. Loomis, p. 107. Since 1971,Pennacchio, Maria Cristina (2000). [http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/santo-simplicio_%28Enciclopedia-dei-Papi%29/ "Simplicio, santo"]: "La sua memoria liturgica, indicata dal Martyrologium Romanum al 2 marzo, dal 1971 viene celebrata il 10 marzo." St. Simplicius's feast day is celebrated on 10 March in the General Roman Calendar of the Catholic Church.Martyrologium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2001 {{ISBN|88-209-7210-7}}) {{page number needed|date=September 2018}} The date of 10 March is also a calculated one; it begins with a calculated date for the death of Pope Hilarius (29 February), and then adds the ten days of the Sede Vacante reported in the Liber Pontificalis. See Duchesne, pp. 247-248.

References

Sources

{{cite book|first1=Louis|last1= Duchesne|title=Le Liber pontificalis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZjqKP3tC4VEC|volume=Tome premier|year=1886|publisher=E. Thorin|location=Paris|language=Latin|pages=249–251}}
{{cite book|last1=Jaffe|first1=Philippus|last2=Loewenfeld|first2=S.|title=Regesta pontificum romanorum ab condita ecclesia ad annum post Christum natum MCXCVIII|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VbVaAAAAYAAJ|edition=secunda|volume=Tomus primus|year=1885|publisher=Veit|location=Leipzig|language=Latin|pages=77–80}}
{{cite book|editor=Loomis, Louise Ropes|title=The Book of the Popes (Liber Pontificalis) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q3CxAAAAMAAJ|series=Records of Civilization: Sources and Studies|volume=I. To the pontificate of Gregory I|year=1916|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=New York|pages=105–107}}
[http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/01_01_0468-0483-_Simplicius,_Sanctus.html Opera Omnia], edited by J.-P. Migne, Patrologia Latina, with analytical indexes. This link also holds the "Vita Operaque" section of the Liber Pontificalis.
Pennacchio, Maria Cristina (2000). [http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/santo-simplicio_%28Enciclopedia-dei-Papi%29/ "Simplicio, santo"]. Enciclopedia dei Papi (2000). {{in lang|it}}
"S. Simplicii papae Epistolae et decreta," in: {{cite book|last=Thiel|first=Andreas |title=Epistolae Romanorum pontificum genuinae et quae ad eos scriptae sunt, a s. Hilario usque ad Pelagium II.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3cIUAAAAQAAJ|volume=I.|year=1868|publisher=Peter|location=Brunsbergae|language=Latin|pages=174–220}}