According to theLiber Pontificalis, it was Alexander I who inserted the narration of theLast Supper (theQui pridie) into the liturgy of the Mass. However, the article on Saint Alexander I in the 1907Catholic Encyclopedia, written byThomas Shahan, judges this tradition to be inaccurate, a view shared by Roman Catholic and non-Roman Catholic experts alike.[1] It is viewed as a product of the agenda ofLiber Pontificalis—this section of the book was probably written in the late 5th century—to show an ancient pattern of the earliest bishops of Rome ruling the church by papal decree. The chronology of his pontificate is disputed, but he probably assumed office around 108/109 AD and died around 118/119 AD, after a tenure of 10 years.[2][3][4]
The introduction of the customs of using blessed water mixed with salt for the purification of Christian homes from evil influences, as well as that of mixing water with the sacramental wine, are attributed toPope Alexander I. Some sources consider these attributions unlikely.[5] It is certainly possible, however, that Alexander played an important part in the early development of the Church of Rome's emerging liturgical and administrative traditions.
A later tradition holds that in the reign of theemperorHadrian, Alexander I converted the Roman governor Hermes by miraculous means, together with his entire household of 1,500 people.Quirinus of Neuss, who was Alexander's supposed jailer, and Quirinus' daughterBalbina of Rome were also among his converts.[6]
Alexander is said to have seen a vision of the infant Jesus.[7] His remains are said to have been transferred toFreising inBavaria, Germany in AD 834.[1]
Some editions of theRoman Missal identified Pope Alexander I with the Alexander that they give as commemorated, together with Eventius and Theodulus (who were supposed to be priests of his), on 3 May. See, for instance, theGeneral Roman Calendar of 1954. But nothing is known of these three saints other than their names, together with the fact that they were martyred and were buried at the seventh milestone of theVia Nomentana on 3 May of some year.[8] For this reason, thePope John XXIII's 1960 revision of the calendar returned to the presentation that was in the 1570Tridentine calendar of the three saints as simply "Saints Alexander, Eventius and Theodulus Martyrs" with no suggestion that any of them was a pope. TheRoman Martyrology lists them as Eventius, Alexander and Theodulus, the order in which their names are given in historical documents.[9]
^Jerome,Chronicon,AD 108, 11th year of Trajan. "Alexander holds the fifth episcopate of the city of Rome for ten years." This may be a mistake, as the accession of Sixtus is dated to the 3rd year of Hadrian, AD 119.
^Liberian Catalogue; "11 years, 2 months, 1 day. He was in the time of Trajan, from the consulate ofPalma andTullus [109] to that ofVelianus andVetus [116]." The catalogue is full of errors and contradictions; the years given do not even match the length given in the same entry.
Chapman, John.Studies on the Early Papacy. Port Washington, New York: Kennikat Press, 1971.ISBN978-1-901157-60-4.
Fortescue, Adrian, and Scott M. P. Reid.The Early Papacy: To the Synod of Chalcedon in 451. Southampton: Saint Austin Press, 1997.ISBN978-1-901157-60-4.
Jowett, George F.The Drama of the Lost Disciples. London: Covenant Pub. Co, 1968.OCLC7181392
Loomis, Louise Ropes.The Book of Popes (Liber Pontificalis). Merchantville, New Jersey: Evolution Publishing.ISBN1-889758-86-8
