JULIUS I, Pope, Saint. - Elected on 6 February 337, died on 12 April 352. According to the Liber Pontificalis he was Roman, the son of a certain Rusticus. During his pontificate he worked hard for Nicene orthodoxy, and in particular for the defense of St. Athanasius. As soon as his appointment became known in the East, the Eusebians sent him the presbyter Macarius and the deacons Martyrius and Hesychius with letters against St. Athanasius, already exiled at Trier, and against Marcellus of Ancyra and Asclepiades of Gaza, deposed in 335. St. Athanasius, who in the meantime had returned to Alexandria by the edict of Constans, sent his legates to Rome to defend himself. The presbyter Macarius, fearing to be unmasked, fled by night; the legates of Athanasius made known to the Pope in a public conference the truth about the state of affairs; the two Arian deacons then asked for the convocation of a council. G. accepted and invited the Eastern bishops to Rome for June 340. St. Athanasius came, bringing with him the letters of a Synod held at Alexandria in 339; there came
Marcellus and Asclepiades and other ecclesiastics, driven from their sees, to ask for justice. The Eusebians, on the other hand, to whom G. had written a letter by means of the Roman presbyters Elpidius and Philoxenus, put forward excuses for not coming, writing an arrogant, vain, harsh letter full of calumnies, and they also detained the papal legates. G., after waiting in vain, nonetheless held the Council, in which 50 bishops took part; the Pope's conduct with regard to the Eusebians was approved; the case of St. Athanasius was examined and he was declared innocent and restored to communion; the other bishops too were reinstated.
To the Eusebians G. replied with a letter that is a masterpiece of dignity and nobility, in which he refuted their excuses and accusations; in it the truth is defended with apostolic firmness, exposing their animosity; he reproached them for having violated the canons and refuted all the pretexts adduced for not coming to the Council; he then set forth the innocence of St. Athanasius and the duplicity of their conduct against him, and concluded with a warm exhortation to charity and peace. This letter of G. could not overcome the shamelessness of the Eusebians who, supported by Constantius II, assembled at Antioch in 341 and even elected a certain Gregory to the see of Alexandria. The question was taken up again at the Council of Sardica (343), to which G. sent the legates Archidamus and Philoxenus, but once again the Eusebians refused to make amends for their misdeeds and assembled separately at Philippopolis.
When St. Athanasius was able to return to Alexandria after his second exile, driven out by Constantius (349), G. received him at Rome with great signs of esteem and affection and gave him letters of congratulation for the Church of Alexandria. Shortly afterwards he also received the retraction of Ursacius and Valens, fierce adversaries of St. Athanasius.
To G. is attributed the construction of a church near the Forum of Trajan (SS. Apostoli) and in Trastevere (S. Maria); as well as that of S. Valentino on the cemetery of the same name on the Via Flaminia. He was buried in the cemetery of Calepodius on the Via Aurelia, where he had also built another church.
Bibliography7 works
Agostino Amore