medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Martin I (in Byzantine-rite churches, Martin of Rome) was an Umbrian from Todi who became a lector and then a deacon at Rome. He served as papal apocrisarius in Constantinople under pope Theodore I (642-49). Like that pontiff he was a dedicated opponent of the imperially promoted doctrine of monothelitism. On 5. July 649 Martin became bishop of Rome without prior imperial approval. He swiftly convened a synod of Western bishops and of exiled theologians from the East that condemned both monothelite teaching and the edict of emperor Constans II that attempted to silence opposition to the doctrine. Martin sent a letter to Constans informing him of these actions and asking him to repudiate the heresy that, in Martin's diplomatic way of putting things, Constans had adopted on the bad advice of various patriarchs.
Constans' response was to appoint a court officer, Olympius, as his new exarch in Italy with instructions to seize Martin and to bring him to Constantinople. But Olympius, probably with Martin's assistance, decided instead to rebel and to overthrow Constans. The failure of Olympius' plan proved fatal for Martin, who in 653, though now severely ill, was forcibly removed from the Lateran basilica by a new exarch and taken to Constantinople. There he was tried and convicted not for his doctrinal stand but rather as one of Olympius' co-conspirators. After a public flogging, Martin languished for three months in prison and was then sent to the Crimea, where, on 16. September 655, he died of cold, starvation, and other abuse.
Martin is considered a martyr. Formerly in the Roman Calendar under 12. November (the supposed date of the translation of his relics to Rome's San Martino ai Monti), in that calendar he is now celebrated on 13. April with an optional Memorial. Byzantine-rite churches have celebrated him on this day since at least the tenth century.
Some period-pertinent images of pope St. Martin I / St. Martin of Rome:
a) as depicted (in exile at Cherson) in the late tenth- or very early eleventh-century so-called Menologion of Basil II (Cittą del Vaticano, BAV, cod. Vat. gr. 1613, p. 40):
http://tinyurl.com/gomxvlb
b) as depicted in three fifteenth-century breviaries (click on the thumbnails for higher resolution):
http://tinyurl.com/y7859op
c) as depicted (about to be seized by imperial soldiers) in a mid-fifteenth-century copy of Giovanni Colonna's _Mare historiarum_ (betw. 1447 and 1455; Paris, BnF, ms. Latin 4915, fol. 304r):
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b6000905v/f677.item.zoom
Best,
John Dillon
PS: Your correspondent, who will be traveling over the next five days, regrets that during this period he will be unable to post further FEAST notices.
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