Editing Pope Pius I

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from c. 140 to c. 154}}
{{redirect|Pius of Rome|the Roman emperor|Antoninus Pius}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Pope
| honorific-prefix = [[Pope Saint]]
| name = Pius I
| title = [[Bishop of Rome]]
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| image = Pope Pius I.jpg
| birth_name = Pius
| term_start = c. 140
| term_end = c. 154
| predecessor = [[Pope Hyginus|Hyginus]]
| successor = [[Pope Anicetus|Anicetus]]
| birth_date = c. late 1st century
| birth_place = [[Aquileia]], [[Roman Italy|Italy]], [[Roman Empire]]
| death_date = c. 154
| death_place = [[Rome]], [[Roman Italy|Italy]], [[Roman Empire]]
| parents = Rufinus
| feast_day = 11 July
| other = Pius
| caption = 15th century portrayal of Pope Pius I<br>by [[Pietro Perugino]]
}}
'''Pius I''' ({{langx|it|Pio I}}, [[Greek language|Greek]]: Πίος) was the [[bishop of Rome]] from {{circa}} 140 to his death {{circa}} 154,<ref name="newadvent.org">{{Catholic Encyclopedia|prescript=|wstitle=Pope St. Pius I }}</ref> according to the ''[[Annuario Pontificio]]''. His dates are listed as 142 or 146 to 157 or 161, respectively.<ref>{{cite book |title=Annuario Pontificio per L'anno 2012. |date=2012 |location=Vatican City |isbn=978-88-209-8722-0|page=8}}</ref> He is considered to have opposed both the [[Valentinians]] and [[Gnostics]] during his papacy. He is considered a [[saint]] by the [[Catholic Church]] with a feast day on 11 July, but it is unclear if he died as a [[martyr]].

==Early life==
Pius is believed to have been born at [[Aquileia]], in [[Northern Italy]], during the late 1st century.<ref name=lives>{{cite book |title=Lives of the Saints, For Every Day of the Year |editor-first=Hugo |editor-last=Hoever |location=New York |publisher=Catholic Book Publishing |date=1955 |page=263}}</ref> His father was an [[Italians|Italian]]<ref>{{cite book|title=Lives of the Popes: Antiquity, Volume 1|author=Platina |authorlink=Bartolomeo Platina |editor-first=Anthony F. |editor-last=D'Elia|date=2008|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0674028197|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wsF_w8-myUUC&pg=PA79 |page=79}}</ref> called Rufinus, and according to the ''[[Liber Pontificalis]]'' was also a native of Aquileia.<ref>Ed. Duchesne, I, 132.</ref> According to the 2nd-century [[Muratorian fragment|Muratorian Canon]]<ref>{{cite book |editor-first=Erwin |editor-last=Preuschen |title=Analecta, Volume1 |location=Tübingen |publisher=J. C. B. Mohr |date=1910 |oclc=5805331}}</ref> and the ''[[Liberian Catalogue]]'',<ref>Ed. Duchesne, "Liber Pontificalis, I, 5."</ref> Pius was the brother of [[Hermas (freedman)|Hermas]], author of the text known as ''[[The Shepherd of Hermas]]''. Its author identifies himself as a former slave, a fact which has led to speculation that both Hermas and Pius were [[Ancient Roman freedmen|freedmen]]. However Hermas' statement that he was a slave may just mean that he belonged to a low-ranking plebeian family.<ref>{{cite book|title=New Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 11|author=Catholic University of America|date=1967|publisher=New York : McGraw-Hill|page=393}}</ref>

==Pontificate==
According to [[Catholic tradition]], Pius I governed the church in the middle of the 2nd century during the reigns of the Emperors [[Antoninus Pius]] and [[Marcus Aurelius]].<ref name=lives/> He is held to be the ninth successor of [[Saint Peter]],<ref name="newadvent.org"/> and to have decreed that [[Easter]] should only be kept on a Sunday. Although he is said to have ordered the publication of the ''Liber Pontificalis'',<ref name="lives"/> in fact compilation of that document was not started before the beginning of the 6th century.<ref>{{cite book |title=Dictionnaire historique de la papauté |first=Philippe |last=Levillain |publisher=Fayard |date=1994 |pages=1042–1043}}</ref> Pius is also said to have built one of the oldest churches in Rome, [[Santa Pudenziana]].

[[Justin Martyr]] taught [[Catechism|Christian doctrine]] in Rome during the pontificate of Pius I but the account of Justin's  martyrdom does not name Pius. Given the brevity of the account this is hardly remarkable.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0133.htm |title=The Martyrdom of Justin |website=New Advent}}</ref> The [[heresy|heretics]] [[Valentinus (Gnostic)|Valentinus]], [[Cerdo (gnostic)|Cerdo]]n, and [[Marcion of Sinope|Marcion]] visited Rome in Pius' time, and he is believed to have [[Excommunication|excommunicated]] both groups.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Delaney |first1=John J. |title=Dictionary of Saints |date=2005 |publisher=Image/Doubleday |location=New York |isbn=0-385-51520-0 |edition=2nd}}</ref>
Catholic apologists see this as an argument for the primacy of the [[Holy See|Roman See]] during the 2nd century.<ref name="lives"/> 

There is some conjecture that Pius was a [[Christian martyrs|martyr]] in Rome, a conjecture that entered earlier editions of the ''[[Roman Breviary]]''. The study that had produced the [[Mysterii Paschalis|1969 revision]] of the [[General Roman Calendar]] stated that there were no grounds for his being considered a martyr,<ref>{{cite book |title=Calendarium Romanum |publisher=Libreria Editrice Vaticana |date=1969 |page=129}}</ref> and he is not presented as such in the current ''[[Roman Martyrology]]''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Martyrologium Romanum |publisher=Typis Vaticanis |date=2004 |isbn=88-209-7210-7}}</ref>

==Feast day==
Pius I's [[feast day]] is 11 July. In the [[Tridentine calendar]] it was given the [[ranking of liturgical days in the Roman Rite|rank]] of "Simple" and celebrated as the feast of a martyr. The rank of the feast was reduced to a [[Commemoration (liturgy)|Commemoration]] in the 1955 [[General Roman Calendar of Pope Pius XII]] and the [[General Roman Calendar of 1960]].
[[File:St. Pius (Köln-Zollstock) (02).jpg|thumb|Church dedicated to St Pius in [[Zollstock]], Germany, with statue of the saint.]]

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Christianity|History}}
*[[List of Catholic saints]]
*[[List of popes]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{commons category|Pius I}}

{{S-start}}
{{s-rel|grt}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Pope Hyginus|Hyginus]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Bishop of Rome]]|years=140–154}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Pope Anicetus|Anicetus]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Popes}}
{{Catholic saints}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pius 01}}
[[Category:1st-century births]]
[[Category:154 deaths]]
[[Category:2nd-century archbishops]]
[[Category:2nd-century Christian martyrs]]
[[Category:2nd-century Romans]]
[[Category:Christian slaves and freedmen]]
[[Category:Italian popes]]
[[Category:Papal saints]]
[[Category:People from Aquileia]]
[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:2nd-century popes]]
[[Category:Imperial Roman slaves and freedmen]]
[[Category:Burials at St. Peter's Basilica]]
[[Category:Christian anti-Gnosticism]]