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Home > Catholic Encyclopedia > F > Felix II


FELIX II

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Pope (more properly Antipope), 355-358; d. 22 Nov., 365.

In 355 Pope Liberius was banished to Beraea in Thrace by the Emperor Constantius
because he upheld tenaciously the Nicene definition of faith and refused to
condemn St. Athanasius of Alexandria. The Roman clergy pledged itself in solemn
conclave not to acknowledge any other Bishop of Rome while Liberius was alive.
("Marcellini et Fausti Libellus precum", no.1 : "Quae gesta sunt inter Liberium
et Felicem episcopos" in "Collectio Avellana", ed. Gunter; Hieronymus,
"Chronicon", ad an. Abr. 2365). The emperor, however, who was supplanting the
exiled Catholic bishops with the bishops of Arian tendencies, exerted himself to
install a new Bishop of Rome in place of the banished Liberius. He invited to
Milan Felix, archdeacon of the Roman Church; on the latter's arrival, Acacius of
Caesarea succeeded in inducing him to accept the office from which Liberius had
been forcibly expelled, and to be consecrated by Acacius and two other Arian
bishops. The majority of the Roman clergy acknowledged the validity of his
consecration but the laity would have nothing to do with him and remained true
to the banished but lawful pope.



When Constantius visited Rome in May, 357, the people demanded the recall of
their rightful bishop Liberius who, in fact, returned soon after signing the
third formula of Sirmium. The bishops, assembled in that city of Lower Pannonia,
wrote to Felix and the Roman clergy advising there to receive Liberius in all
charity and to put aside their dissensions; it was added that L.iberius and
Felix should together govern the Church of Rome. The people received their
legitimate pope with great enthusiasm, but a great commotion rose against Felix,
who was finally driven from the city. Soon after, he attempted, with the help of
his adherents to occupy the Basilica Julii (Santa Maria in Trastevere), but was
finally banished in perpetuity by unanimous vote of the Senate and the people.
He retired to the neighbouring Porto, where he lived quietly till his death.
Liberius permitted the members of the Roman clergy, including the adherents of
Felix, to retain their positions. Later legend confound the relative positions
of Felix and Liberius. In the apocryphal "Acta Felicis" and "Acta Liberii", as
well as in the "Liber pontificalis", Felix was portrayed as a saint and
confessor of the true Faith. This distortion of the true facts originated most
probably through confusion of this Felix with another Felix, a Roman martyr of
an earlier date.

According to the "Liber Pontificalis", which may be registering here a reliable
tradition, Felix built a church on the via Aurelia. It is well known that on
this road was buried a Roman martyr, Felix; hence it seems not improbable that
apropos of both there arose a confusion (see FELIX I) through which 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.




ABOUT THIS PAGE

APA citation. Kirsch, J.P. (1909). Felix II. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New
York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06030a.htm

MLA citation. Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Felix II." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol.
6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909.
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06030a.htm>.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Joseph P. Thomas.

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. September 1, 1909. Remy Lafort,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.

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