ERACLIO, ANTIPAPA (?). – He is mentioned in the Damasian poem in honour of Pope Eusebius. E. was at the head of the laxist party, which demanded the return of the lapsi to the Church, after the persecution of Diocletian, without the requisite penance. The issue degenerated into struggles involving massacres, deaths, and injuries, so much so that Maxentius was compelled to exile the two principal protagonists of the conflict: Pope Eusebius and E.
It seems that E. should be numbered among the antipopes (v.).
BIBL.: G. B. De Rossi, La Roma settoriana cristiana, II, Roma 1867, pp. 201-208; J. Carmi, I lapsi e la deportazione in Sicilia di papa Eusebio, ivi 1886; E. Caspari, Geschichte des Papstums, Tubinga 1930 (v. indice); A. Ferrua, Epistamonia Damasiana, Città del Vaticano 1942, pp. 129-34. Agostino Amore