Pope Saint Martin I – Saint Of The Day – 13 April
Pope Saint Martin I. Known as Martin the Confessor. Served as ambassador to Constantinopol and as bishop of Rome. The last martyred Pope.
Pope Martin I (590–655), the 74th Pope, was born in Umbria and died of starvation in Cherson (modern-day Ukraine). He was a bishop of Rome for six years, served as an ambassador to Constantinopol of his predecessor (Pope Theodore I) and after his predecessor’s death was elected as Pope.
He conducted a council which condemned the patriarch of Constantinople, the most influential Church leader in the eastern Christian world, for supporting the doctrine that Christ had only a divine will, but not also a human one.
This has put him in opposition to the emperor Constans II who was also a supporter of that doctrine. The emperor had arrested Pope Martin I, brought him to Constantinople and tortured him. To save the Pope, the accused patriarch repented. This saved Pope Martin I from the execution but he died because of the damage to his health.
He is considered a martyr and this makes him the last martyred Pope in the history of the catholic Church.
Iconology: Pope St Martin I holding money – Pope with geese around him – Pope in a prison cell – Possible confusion by artists with Martin of Tours
in Vatican, on St Peter’s Square one of the statues is of Pope St martin I. The statue created by a sculptor Lazzaro Morelli in c.1668-1670. The saint is shown holding his vestments, and the palm of martyrdom with his right hand. He lays the other hand on his chest.
