HERACLIUS, ANTIPOPE (?) — He is mentioned in the Damasian poem in honor of Pope Eusebius. E. was at the head of the laxist party that demanded the return of the lapsi to the Church, after the persecution of Diocletian, without the due penance. The question degenerated into struggles with massacres, deaths, and injuries, so much so that Maxentius saw himself forced to exile the two main exponents of the conflict: Pope Eusebius and E.
It seems that E. is to be counted among the ancient popes (v.).
BIBL.: G. B. De Rossi, La Roma letteraria cristiana, II, Rome 1867, pp. 201-208; I. Carini, I lapsi e la deportazione in Sicilia di papa Eusebio, 1; 1886; E. Caspar, Geschichte des Papstums, Tübingen 1930 (v. index); A. Ferrara, Epigrammata Damasciana, Vatican City 1942, pp. 129-34. Agostino Amore