Anterus (Anterote), Pope, Saint

ANTERUS (Anterote), Pope, Saint. - His pontificate was very brief: from the end of November 235 to 3 January 236. He succeeded Pontian, who, exiled to Sardinia by the emperor Maximinus, abdicated in September 235. It is not certain that A. died a martyr for the faith. The Liber Pontificalis (ed. Duchesne, I, p. 147) makes him a martyr, connecting his death with that of a certain priest Maximus, who is said also to have been martyred. It must be noted, however, that the text of the Liber Pontificalis is in its various manuscripts much corrupted, so that its reconstruction remains doubtful.

The name of A. is not found in the Depositio Martyrum, and the Liberian Catalogue of the Popes, in speaking of his death, uses the term dormit, regularly employed for those Popes who did not give their lives for the faith. A. was buried in the cemetery of St. Callixtus, in the crypt of the Popes. He was the first to be laid there, because only later was the body of his predecessor Pontian brought from Sardinia to Rome. The slab that closed his tomb, cut into one of the walls of the crypt, was rediscovered by De Rossi. On it are carved the words: ΑΝΤΕΡΙΩ ΕΠΙ (σκοπος). The decretal attributed to him, which permits bishops to pass from one see to another, is apocryphal. Equally without value is the notice in the Liber Pontificalis that "hic gesta martyrum diligenter a notariis exquisivit et in ecclesia recondit". He is venerated in the Latin Church as a martyr on 3 January.

Pietro Goggi - A.

Pietro Frutaz