CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Pope St. Felix I</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06029b.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="The successor of Pope St. Dionysius, Felix died in 274. He is sometimes confused with a Roman martyr of the same name"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="06029b.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/f.htm">F</a> > Pope St. Felix I</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Pope St. Felix I</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>Date of birth unknown; d. 274. Early in 269 he succeeded Saint Dionysius as head of the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Roman Church</a>. About this time there arrived at <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>, directed to Pope Dionysius, the report of the Synod of Antioch which in that very year had deposed the local <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a>, <a href="../cathen/11589a.htm">Paul of Samosata</a>, for his <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heretical</a> teachings concerning the <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> of the Trinity (see Antioch). A letter, probably sent by Felix to the East in response to the synodal report, containing an exposition of the <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> of the Trinity, was at a later date interpolated in the interest of his <a href="../cathen/13674a.htm">sect</a> by a follower of Apollinaris (see <a href="../cathen/01615b.htm">Apollinarianism</a>). This spurious document was submitted to the Council of Ephesus in 431 (<a href="../cathen/09609c.htm">Mansi</a>, "Coll. conc.", IV, 1188; cf. Harnack, "Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur", I, 659 sqq.; Bardenhewer, "Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur", II, 582 sq.). The fragment preserved in the Acts of the council lays special emphasis on the unity and identity of the <a href="../cathen/14142b.htm">Son of God</a> and the <a href="../cathen/14144a.htm">Son of Man</a> in Christ. The same fragment gives Pope Felix as a <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyr</a>; but this detail, which occurs again in the biography of the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a> in the <a href="../cathen/09224a.htm">"Liber Pontificalis"</a> (Ed. Duchesne, I, 58), is unsupported by any authentic earlier evidence and is manifestly due to a confusion of names. According to the notice in the <a href="../cathen/09224a.htm">"Liber Pontificalis"</a>, Felix erected a <a href="../cathen/02325a.htm">basilica</a> on the Via Aurelia; the same source also adds that he was buried there ("Hic fecit basilicam in Via Aurelia, ubi et sepultus est"). The latter detail is evidently an <a href="../cathen/05525a.htm">error</a>, for the fourth century Roman calendar of feasts says that Pope Felix was <a href="../cathen/03071a.htm">interred</a> in the <a href="../cathen/03417b.htm">Catacomb</a> of St. Callistus on the Via Appia ("III Kal. Januarii, Felicis in Callisti", it reads in the "Depositio episcoporum"). The statement of the <a href="../cathen/09224a.htm">"Liber Pontificalis"</a> concerning the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope's</a> <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrdom</a> results obviously from a confusion with a Roman <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyr</a> of the same name buried on the Via Aurelia, and over whose grave a church was built. In the Roman "Feriale" or calendar of feasts, referred to above, the name of Felix occurs in the list of Roman <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> (Depositio episcoporum), and not in that of the <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrs</a>. The notice in the <a href="../cathen/09224a.htm">"Liber Pontificalis"</a> ascribes to this <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a> a <a href="../cathen/04670a.htm">decree</a> that Masses should be celebrated on the <a href="../cathen/14773b.htm">tombs</a> of <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrs</a> ("Hic constituit supra memorias martyrum missas celebrare"). The author of this entry was evidently alluding to the custom of celebrating the <a href="../cathen/10006a.htm">Holy Sacrifice</a> privately, at the altars near or over the <a href="../cathen/14773b.htm">tombs</a> of the <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrs</a> in the <a href="../cathen/04558a.htm">crypts</a> of the <a href="../cathen/03417b.htm">catacombs</a> (<em>missa ad corpus</em>), while the solemn celebration of the Sacred Mysteries always took place in the <a href="../cathen/02325a.htm">basilicas</a> built over the <a href="../cathen/03417b.htm">catacombs</a>. This practice, still in force at the end of the fourth century (Prudentius, "Peristephanon", XI, vv. 171 sqq.), dates apparently from the period when the great cemeterial <a href="../cathen/02325a.htm">basilicas</a> were built in <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>, and owes its origin to the solemn commemoration services of <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrs</a>, held at their <a href="../cathen/14773b.htm">tombs</a> on the anniversary of their burial, as early as the third century. Felix probably issued no such <a href="../cathen/04670a.htm">decree</a>, but the compiler of the <a href="../cathen/09224a.htm">"Liber Pontificalis"</a> attributed it to him because he made no departure from the custom in force in his time. According to the above-mentioned detail of the "Depositio episcoporum", Felix was <a href="../cathen/03071a.htm">interred</a> in the <a href="../cathen/03417b.htm">catacomb</a> of St. Callistus, 30 December. In the present Roman Martyrology his name occurs 30 May, the date given in the <a href="../cathen/09224a.htm">"Liber Pontificalis"</a> as that of his death (<em>III Kal. Jun.</em>); it is probably an <a href="../cathen/05525a.htm">error</a> which could easily occur through a transcriber writing Jun. for Jan.</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="cenotes"><h2>Sources</h2><p class="cenotes">Liber Pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, I, introd. cxxv; text, 158, with the notes; De Rossi, Roma sotterranea, II, 98-104; Acta SS., May, VII, 236-37; Langen, Geschichte der römischen Kirche (Bonn, 1881), I, 365-69; Allard, Histoire des persécutions, III, 243 sqq.</p></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Kirsch, J.P.</span> <span id="apayear">(1909).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Pope St. Felix I.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06029b.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Kirsch, Johann Peter.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Pope St. Felix I."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 6.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1909.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06029b.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber"></span> <span id="dedication">Dedicated to the memory of Brother Declan Brown, LC.</span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> September 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.</strong></center></td></tr></table><p align="center"><a href="../utility/contactus.htm">CONTACT US</a> | <a href="https://cleanmedia.net/p/?psid=491-308-20180429T2217479770">ADVERTISE WITH NEW ADVENT</a></p></div> <ins class="CANBMDDisplayAD" data-bmd-ad-unit="30849120210203T1734389107AB67D35C03D4A318731A4F337F60B3E" style="display:block"></ins> <script src="https://secureaddisplay.com/au/bmd/"></script>  <ins class="CMAdExcludeArticles"></ins> </body> </html>