Alexander I (Bishop of Rome)

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Alexander I (* in Rome ; † May 3, 115 in Rome) was the sixth bishop of Rome , the successor of Evaristus and predecessor of Sixtus .

Life

According to the church father Eusebius , Alexander took over the office of bishop in the twelfth year of Trajan’s reign , i.e. in 109/110. After ten years in office, Alexander died in the third year of Emperor Hadrian's reign , ie after August 119. After the Liber Pontificalis he was the son of a Roman named Alexander from the Caput Tauri region . He was bishop of Rome for ten years, seven months and two days and died in the time of Emperor Trajan during the consulate of Aemilius Aelianus and Antistius Vetus in 116. The bishopric remained vacant for 35 days before Sixtus succeeded him. In the Catalogus Liberianus, in turn, Alexander is assigned eleven years, two months and one day; however, the specified consuls do not match this. According to this, Alexander was ordained bishop during the consulate of Cornelius Palma and Calvisius Tullus in 109 and is said to have died during the consulate of Aelianus and Vetus in 116. He is said to have converted the martyr Balbina and her father Quirinus , who also suffered martyrdom, to Christianity and baptized them.

Over the centuries Alexander has been equated with the martyr Alexander of the Via Nomentana , whose feast day, like that of the bishop, is celebrated on May 3rd (in Orthodox churches on March 16th). He is a canon saint , which means that his name is mentioned in prayer . However, neither Irenaeus nor Eusebius mention a martyrdom of Alexander.

St. Alexander is called against goiter and scrofula . Relics of the saint came to Freising in 834 , which is why the festival of relic translation is celebrated here on May 5th. Relics also found their way to Aschaffenburg , to the collegiate church of St. Peter and Alexander .

Entry in Schedel's world chronicle of 1493

Alexander has his own entry in Schedel's world chronicle of 1493. Sheet CXII about the sixth age says:

“ Alexander the babst was a roman from gepurt. the meeting. the customs of the parents and a descendant of the babst Euaristi and came up to the time of Adriani the kayser vnd bekeret with his art and holiness vil rathern to the creed and made certain laws to the handling of the churches. First of all, the nymant at the pene des pans is supposed to prevent a babastic legate. Item so no clerick should be sued before a legal judge. Item that allain a mass should be held by a vnnd on a day. So they shouldn't make the wafers apart from what has been whispered and what has not been whispered. Item that you should keep the weyh water in the churches and sleeping chambers to avoid the devil. [...] "

“Pope Alexander was born Roman. Young in years, but already wise, a successor to Pope Evaristus, who died during the reign of Emperor Hadrian, he converted many councilors to the Christian faith through his persuasiveness and piety and enacted a number of laws for his church servants. First, that no one should stop or obstruct a papal legate when threatened with banishment. Nor should any cleric be prosecuted by a secular court. Likewise, that a priest should only hold one mass a day. So wafers should not be made from leavened, but only from unleavened dough. Also that holy water should be kept in churches and bedrooms to deter the devils. [...] "

literature

Web links

Commons : Alexander I.  - Collection of Images

Remarks

  1. ^ Irenaeus of Lyons , The five books of St. Irenaeus against heresies. , 3, 3, 3.
  2. ↑ Eusebius of Caesarea , Church History , 4th Book, 1, 1 - 4, 1.
  3. ↑ File: Schedelsche_Weltchronik_d_112.jpg
predecessor Office successor
Evaristus Bishop of Rome
(the term Pope was first used after 384)
106–115 		Sixtus I.
personal data
SURNAME Alexander I.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop of Rome
DATE OF BIRTH 1st century
PLACE OF BIRTH Rome
DATE OF DEATH May 3, 115
Place of death Rome