FESTUS, Roman Senator. - Consul in 472, he went over to Theodoric after the battle of the Adda in 490. At the beginning of 497, at the head of a mission, he went to Constantinople to ask the Emperor for the recognition of Theodoric, promising to work so that the Pope would subscribe to the Henotikon (v.). Owing to the death of Anastasius, which occurred in the meantime, he was unable to keep his promise; but he worked, with the help of the senators of his party and with money, to set up the antipope Lawrence (v.) against the legitimate Symmachus.

In 501 F. presented to Theodoric a series of accusations against Symmachus, asking for a visitor and the convocation of a synod, while he persecuted his followers, causing tumults and disorders. For a certain time he succeeded in having Lawrence recognized, but in 506 Theodoric ordered him to restore to the legitimate Pontiff the churches and goods held by the schismatics. F. then withdrew from active political life and died in a villa of his, where he had also received his protégé Lawrence.

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: Teodoro il Lettore, Hist. eccl., II, 16; PG 86, 1, 189-93; Lib. Pont., I, p. 260 ff.; L. Duchesne, L'Eglise au VIe siècle, Paris 1925, pp. 112-26; O. Bertolini, Roma di fronte a Bisanzio e ai Longobardi, Bologna 1941, pp. 37-40, 69-77. Agostino Amore

@incollection{ec5_festo_senatore_romano, author = {Amore, Agostino}, title = {Festo, senatore romano}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {V}, pages = {1215}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/festo-senatore-romano} }

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Festus, Roman Senator

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