Died: 310 A.D.
Pronounced: yoo-SEE-bee-uss
Give me the scoop on Eusebius.
Not to be confused with Eusebius of Caesarea, who wrote about all things Church history around the same time, Pope St. Eusebius had to deal with more fallout from the recent persecutions. What’s worse, they’d become so contentious that Eusebius himself was exiled to Sicily by the Roman emperor, Maxentius.
Eusebius is remembered as a martyr, though not necessarily due to directly losing his life for the faith, but instead for the intense suffering he experienced both in Rome and in exile until his death. He was buried in the Cemetery of St. Callixtus in Rome, and his feast day is September 26.
What was he known for?
This pope had the esteemed pleasure of dealing with another antipope, a man named Heraclius, who broke away as a result of the great turmoil facing the church after the Diocletian Persecution. Heraclius and his merry band of apostates were at odds with the good pope most likely because Eusebius held firm to his predecessors’ decision to not let those who had renounced their faith off scot-free when it came to reconciling to the Church.
Pope Damasus I, on the epitaph he prepared for Eusebius half a century later, outlined just how intense the conflict was, using the words “seditcio, bellum, discordia, lites” or “sedition, war, discord, strife.” Sounds like a fun time.
Fun Fact…
St. Eusebius was the second pope in a row whose theme song was “Only Here for a Little While.” He only reigned for about four months – from April 18 to August 17 – before dying in office.
What else was going on in the world at the time?
The tree “Twister”, one of the oldest limber pines – or Rocky Mountain white pines – still in existence was thought to have begun growing near present-day Salt Lake City, Utah.
Coming tomorrow….Pope Miltiades
SOURCES (and further reading)
– John, E. (1964). The Popes: A concise biographical history. New York: Hawthorn Books.
– Pope St. Eusebius – http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05615b.htm
– Pope Eusebius – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Eusebius
– Pinus flexilis – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinus_flexilis