Feast day: April 13

Pope St. Martin I

Pope, Martyr · d. 655

Patron of —

The pope who condemned an emperor-backed heresy about Christ's will, was kidnapped from Rome by imperial troops, tried in Constantinople, and exiled to die of hardship in Crimea.

Martin I became pope in 649, in the midst of a fierce theological controversy over whether Christ had one will or two — the dispute known as Monothelitism, which the emperors in Constantinople were promoting in the hope of religious unity. Almost immediately, Martin convened a great council at the Lateran in Rome that condemned the heresy and upheld the full humanity of Christ.

This open defiance of imperial policy enraged the emperor Constans II. The pope was seized in Rome — old and already ill — arrested by imperial troops, and dragged on a long and brutal sea voyage to Constantinople, where he was paraded, insulted, imprisoned, and condemned as a traitor.

Though some pressed him to save himself by compromising the faith, Martin refused. His life was spared, but he was exiled to the harsh and remote Crimea, where, neglected and half-starved, he suffered bitterly, complaining in his letters that even his own church seemed to have forgotten him.

He died in exile in 655, worn out by ill treatment. He is honoured as the last pope venerated as a martyr — a bishop of Rome who paid with his life for refusing to let the emperor dictate the faith of the Church.

He is the last pope venerated as a martyr — arrested for defending orthodox faith, dragged across the empire, and left to starve in exile.

Image: Enric (CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons.

Source: newadvent.org/cathen/09723c.htm