EUTYCHIAN, POPE, saint. – The anonymous author of the *Liber Pontificalis* describes him as a Tuscan, son of a certain Marinus. It is not possible to establish the exact chronological limits of his pontificate (275–83?), which must, however, be placed during the forty-year period preceding Diocletian’s persecution, that is, in a time of peace; hence the report that he buried a great number of martyrs is to be regarded as suspect.
A decree is attributed to him by which he ordained that only beans and grapes should be placed on the altar to be blessed; but this notice seems to be connected with the Manichaean heresy, which derived legumes and wine from the principle of evil and abstained from them even at Mass. The documents relating to the pontificate of Eutychian, if any existed, must have perished in Diocletian’s persecution. He was buried in the cemetery of Callistus, where De Rossi discovered his epitaph, though his martyrdom is not proven. His feast is celebrated on December 8.