Antipope Felix II

Antipope Felix (died 22 November 365) was a Roman archdeacon in the 4th century who was installed irregularly in 355 as an antipope and reigned until 365 after Emperor Constantius II banished the then current pope, Liberius. Constantius, following the refusal of the laity to accept Felix, attempted to have them co-rule, but Felix was forced to retire. He was resented in his lifetime but has enjoyed a more popular memory since.[4]

Antipope

Felix II
Papacy began355
Papacy ended365
PredecessorNovatian
SuccessorUrsicinus
Opposed toPope Liberius
Personal details
Bornabout 287
Rome
Died22 November 365 (aged 78)
Porto, Rome, Roman Empire
DenominationArian Christianity[1][lower-alpha 1]
Sainthood
Feast day29 July
Venerated inCatholicism

Felix was a Roman antipope who was forced to retire to Porto, where he died in 365 AD. Later, confusion between Felix and a Roman martyr with the same name led to his inclusion in lists of popes as Felix II. This caused succeeding popes with the same name to be given the wrong numerals, and even the antipope Felix V was affected. The true story of Felix's papacy was lost, and he was regarded as a saint and confessor in local Roman history. The Catholic Encyclopedia suggested that this confusion arose because the Liber Pontificalis recorded that Felix had built a church on the Via Aurelia where the Roman martyr was buried. However, it is now believed that the Roman martyr Felix was buried in a cemetery on the Via Portuensis. Despite this, the Roman Martyrology continued to refer to the antipope Felix as a martyr until recent editions corrected the mistake. The feast day of the Roman martyr Felix is 29 July.

Biography

In May AD 357 the Roman laity, which had remained faithful to Liberius, demanded that Constantius, who was on a visit to Rome, should recall Liberius. Constantius planned to have Felix and Liberius rule jointly, but when Liberius returned Felix was forced to retire to Porto (near Rome) where, after making an unsuccessful attempt to establish himself again in Rome, he died on 22 November AD 365.[5][6]

This Felix was later confused with a Roman martyr named Felix, with the result that he was included in lists of the popes as Felix II and that the succeeding popes of the same name (Pope Felix III and Pope Felix IV) were given wrong numerals, as was Antipope Felix V.[7]

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1909) called this confusion a "distortion of the true facts" and suggested that it arose because the Liber Pontificalis (which at this point may be registering a reliable tradition) says that this Felix built a church on the Via Aurelia, which is where the Roman martyr of an earlier date was buried.[8] However, a more recent source says that of the martyr Felix nothing is known except his name, that he was a martyr, and that he was buried in the cemetery on the Via Portuensis that bears his name.[9]

The Catholic Encyclopedia remarked that "the real story of the antipope was lost and he obtained in local Roman history the status of a saint and a confessor. As such, he appears in the Roman Martyrology on 29 July." At that time (1909) the Roman Martyrology had the following text:

At Rome, on the Aurelian Way, St. Felix II, pope and martyr. Being expelled from his See by the Arian emperor Constantius for defending the Catholic faith, and being put to the sword privately at Cera in Tuscany, he died gloriously. His body was taken away from that place by clerics and buried on the Aurelian Way. It was afterwards brought to the Church of the Saints Cosmas and Damian where, under the Sovereign Pontiff Gregory XIII, it was found beneath the altar with the relics of the holy martyrs Mark, Marcellian, and Tranquillinus and, with the latter, was put back in the same place on 31 July. In the same altar were also found the bodies of the holy martyrs Abundius, a priest, and Abundantius, a deacon, which were shortly after solemnly transferred to the church of the Society of Jesus, on the eve of their feast.

This entry was based on what the Catholic Encyclopedia called later legends that confound the relative positions of Felix and Liberius. More recent editions of the Roman Martyrology[10] have instead:

At Rome, at the third milestone on the Via Portuensis, in the cemetery dedicated to his name, Saint Felix, martyr.

The feast day of the Roman martyr Felix is 29 July.[10] The antipope Felix died, as stated above, on a 22 November, and his death was not a martyr's,[11] occurring when the Peace of Constantine had been in force for half a century.

As well as the Roman Martyrology, the Roman Missal identified the Saint Felix of 29 July with the antipope. This identification, still found in the 1920 typical edition,[12] does not appear in the 1962 typical edition.[13] To judge by the Marietti printing of 1952, which omits the numeral "II" and the word "Papae", the correction had already been made by then. One Catholic writer excuses this by saying that the antipope "himself did refuse to accept Arianism, and so his feast has been kept in the past on [29 July]".[4]

See also

References
  1. "Liberius | pope | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  2. "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Felix II". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  3. "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Acacius (Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine)". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  4. Charles A. Coulombe, Vicars of Christ (ISBN 0-8065-2370-0), p. 73
  5. Encyclopædia Britannica: Felix (II)
  6. The Papal Schism between Liberius and Felix, 1–4
  7. Annuario Pontificio 2012 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2012 ISBN 978-88-209-8722-0), p. 9*
  8. Catholic Encyclopedia: Felix II
  9. Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 132
  10. Martyrologium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2001 ISBN 88-209-7210-7)
  11. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Felix" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 10 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 239.
  12. "1920 typical edition of the Roman Missal, with feasts updated to the late 1920s". Archived from the original on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 1 August 2008.
  13. 1962 typical edition of the Roman Missal
  1. Consecrated by 3 Arian bishops and suggested by Acacius of Caesarea to the Emperor Constantius II[2][3]
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