St. John I.Pope, Martyr

CURRICULUM VITAE

He came from Tuscany and was the son of Constantius. He became archpriest at St. John Lateran and was elected pope on 13 August 523. In Rome, he restored the church of St. Felix and Adauctus on the Ostia road. He introduced the Christian calendar, dating historical events according to the year of Christ’s birth. The initial year was calculated by the monk Dionysius the Younger, and later calculations revealed that he was probably mistaken by 4-7 years and that the birth of the Lord occurred earlier.

John, I am the first pope to travel to Constantinople. He was forced to do so by the aging Ostrogothic king Theodoric, who ruled over Italy and who wanted the emperor in Constantinople to abandon all anti-Arian actions and even to return those who had become Catholics from Arians. The pope refused the Arians’ demands but was willing to continue negotiations. The king had the pope put on a ship with some bishops, including Ekklesius of Ravenna and the pope’s noble entourage from Rome.

In Constantinople, the people and the clergy welcomed the pope, and Emperor Justin I knelt before him, accepting him as Peter’s successor. The pope presented Theodoric’s demands, except for those concerning the Arians. On Easter 525, he celebrated a glorious Latin mass and crowned the emperor. The pope received significant priority everywhere, even over the patriarch. When the pope returned to Italy after Easter, as soon as he set foot in Ravenna, King Theodoric had him imprisoned and subjected to various tortures, including starvation. The pope was probably already sick from the journey, and mental and physical suffering overcame him so that he died in prison in Ravenna the following year.

He was buried outside the walls of Ravenna. At his funeral, according to the chronicles of Maximian, a man possessed by an evil spirit was healed. After the death of Theodoric, who became an enemy of Rome and all Catholics, the remains of Pope John I were transferred to St. Peter’s Basilica and buried in its portico. The inscription on the tomb read: “High Priest of the Lord, you fall as a sacrifice of Christ. This is the way in which the popes obtain the promises of God.”