Pope Saint Martin I

Life story

Martin was born between about 590 and 600 near Todi in Umbria, then part of the Eastern Roman Empire. He had served as papal envoy (apocrisiarius) in Constantinople under Pope Theodore I and was elected pope as a deacon, around July 649.

From 5 to 31 October 649 he held a council at the Lateran with about 105 bishops. It condemned Monothelitism and the emperor's decree known as the Typos, and issued twenty canons. The council was never granted ecumenical status.

Emperor Constans II ordered his arrest and accused him of contact with the Rashidun Caliphate; the accusation is the emperor's, not an established fact. Martin was arrested in the Lateran on 17 June 653 and reached Constantinople on 17 September 653; the pleas of Patriarch Paul II saved him from execution.

He was banished to Cherson, arriving on 15 May 655, and died there on 16 September 655. The Catholic Church keeps his feast on 13 April since the 1969 calendar revision (earlier 12 November), and the Byzantine churches on 14 April. His reign ended no later than 10 August 654, when Eugene I was elected.

Works and witness

• Papal envoy in Constantinople before becoming pope
• Held the Lateran Council in October 649, condemning Monothelitism and the Typos
• Arrested on 17 June 653 and taken to Constantinople
• Died in exile at Cherson on 16 September 655

Saints from the same country

Saint Agnes, Saint Lawrence, Saint Cecilia, Saint Sebastian

References

• Catholic Encyclopedia, "Pope St. Martin I" (newadvent.org/cathen/09723c.htm)

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.