Catholic Fire

On April 13, the Church commemorates Pope Saint Martin I. We know little of Saint Martin’s early life.  We do know that he was born in Umbria, Italy of a noble family. In his youth, he served as a lector and deacon. When Martin I became pope in 649, Constantinople was the capital of the Byzantine Empire and the patriarch of Constantinople was the most powerful Church leader in the eastern Christian world. The struggles that existed within the Church, at that time, were magnified by the close collaboration of emperor and patriarch. Just prior to Martin’s papacy, a heresy known as Monothelitism , was creating chaos and misunderstanding in the Church. This doctrine held that Christ had only one nature—the divine nature—and that Christ had only one will.  Thus, it denied that Christ was like us in all things but sin and therefore rejected our redemption. In an edict entitled the Typos, Emperor Constans II essentially accepted the heretical doctrine by forbidding discussi...

April 13 is the feast day of Pope Saint Martin I. We know little of Saint Martin’s early life.  We do know that he was born in Umbria, Italy of a noble family. In his youth, he served as a lector and deacon. When Martin I became pope in 649, Constantinople was the capital of the Byzantine Empire and the patriarch of Constantinople was the most powerful Church leader in the eastern Christian world. The struggles that existed within the Church, at that time, were magnified by the close collaboration of emperor and patriarch. Just prior to Martin’s papacy, a heresy known as Monothelitism, was creating chaos and misunderstanding in the Church. This doctrine held that Christ had only one nature—the divine nature—and that Christ had only one will.  Thus, it denied that Christ was like us in all things but sin and therefore rejected our redemption. In an edict entitled the Typos, Emperor Constans II essentially accepted the heretical doctrine by forbidding discussion of the ...