Pope Saint Julius I, Defender Of Orthodoxy
Pope Saint Anterus
Photo By: "Anterus" by Unknown - http://cckswong.tripod.com/pope1_50.htm ("Pope's Photo Gallery"). Licensed un
Pope Pontian was arrested by the soldiers of Emperor Maximinus the Thracian in the early fall of 235. He was sent to his death in the mines of Sardinia along with Hippolytus, the writer and theologian, who had been his nemesis. Shortly before leaving, Pontian chose to keep the Church orderly by abdicating his position as the bishop of Rome on September 28 of that year. As was common, the people and clerics of Rome elected another bishop soon after. Anterus took over the bishopric of Rome on November 21, 235.
Anterus, our nineteenth pope, was born around 170AD in Petilia Policastro, Calabria, by tradition. This is a town on the eastern sea coast of southern Italy, in the modern province of Crotone. That area was settled by Greeks, hence, Anterus was considered to be Greek. The Liber Pontificalis says that his father's name was Romulus, but he may have been a freed slave and Romulus was actually his owner.
The new pope did not last very long. He died on January 3, 236, making his reign only a few weeks. It is difficult to believe that he had any long lasting effect on the Church. However, he did nominate one bishop to the town of Fendi.
An Epistle of Pope Anterus is a long work with some pious passages. But certain mistakes and contradictions, including a date of April, prove it is a forgery and not to be considered his.
Some older sources claim that Anterus was killed because he wanted stricter regulations in the writing of acts of martyrs, which he wished to archive. Others say that he probably died of natural causes. Anterus has the distinction of being the first pope to be buried in the cemetary of Callixtus, having been buried before Pontian's body came back from Sardinia and buried in the same place.
We know with certainty that he was buried there because, in 1854, his burial spot, with a damaged epitaph, was found by Giovanni Battista de Rossi, an archealogist. Only the Greek word for "bishop" was legible. His body had already been transferred to the Church of St Sylvester. The labeled ashes were found in that church in 1595 where Pope Clement VIII was reconstructing the ruined church.
Pope Saint Anterus, pray for us.
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About the Author
Debra Booton McCoy is a cradle Catholic and is a native of central New York. She works in the health care field and spends her spare time writing and enjoying her family, two grown children, and husband Bob. Growing up through the Vatican II era, she remembers the traditional teaching of the Church and was witness to the changes. For many years Debra was a Catholic on the sidelines, going to Mass every week, but not living the Faith. When she decided to homeschool her son, she found that she had to teach herself what she had forgotten or never learned. That is when she realized her role.
Debra is a published author, having written a column for a women’s monthly newspaper in the mid-1990s. Debra started a Catholic publishing company in 2013, Lanternarius Press. With that, she published her first book in 2014, an edited version of a French book from the 1800s, “A Catholic Mother Speaks to Her Children” by Marie, Countess de Flavigny. This is an advice book for children. She has also edited and published an advice book for young men, "Conferences for Boys" by Fr. Reynauld Kuenhel. For those who like stories of popes, Debra is writing a series, using many of the articles on this site. The first book is History of the Popes, 34AD - 499AD.
You can visit her website at http://lanternariuspress.net or visit Lanternarius Press on Facebook.
