Pope St. Victor I

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(189-198 or 199), date of birth unknown. The"Liber Pontificalis" makes him a native of Africa and gives his father the name of Felix. This authority, taking the "Liberian Catalogue" as its basis, gives the years 186-197 as the period of Victor'sepiscopate. TheArmenian text of the"Chronicle" of Eusebius (Leipzig, 1911, p. 223) places the beginning of Victor's pontificate in the seventh year of the reign of theEmperor Commodus (180-87) and gives it a duration of twelve years; in his "Church History" (V, xxxii, ed. Schwarts,Leipzig, 1902, p. 486)Eusebius transfers the beginning of the pontificate to the tenth year of the reign ofCommodus and makes it last ten years.

During the closing years of the reign ofCommodus (180-192) and the early years ofSeptimius Severus (from 193) theRoman Church enjoyed in general great external peace. The favourable opinion of theChristians held byCommodus is ascribed to the influence of awoman named Marcia. According to the testimony of Hippolytus ("Philosophumena", IX, 12) she had been brought up by thepresbyter Hyacinthus, was very favourably inclined towards theChristians, perhaps even aChristian herself (Hippolytus, loc. cit., calls herphilotheos God-loving). One day she summoned Pope Victor to the imperial palace and asked for a list of theRomanChristians who had been condemned to forced labour in the mines ofSardinia, so that she might obtain their freedom. Thepope handed her the list and Marcia, having received from theemperor the required pardon, sent thepresbyter Hyacinthus toSardinia with an order of release for theChristian confessors.Callistus, afterwardspope, who had been among those deported, did not return toRome, but remained at Antium, where he received a monthly pension from theRomanChristians.Irenaeus (Against Heresies IV.30.1) points out thatChristians were employed at this period as officials of the imperial Court. Among these officials was the imperial freedman Prosenes, whose gravestone and epitaph have been preserved (De Rossi, "Inscriptiones christ. urbis Romae", I, 9, no. 5).Septimius Severus, also, during the early years of his reign, regarded theChristians kindly, so that the influence ofChristian officials continued. Theemperor retained in his palace aChristian named Proculus who had once cured him. He protectedChristian men andwomen of rank against the excesses of theheathen rabble, and his sonCaracalla had aChristian wet nurse (Tertullian, "Ad Scapulam", IV).Christianity made great advances in the capital and also found adherents among thefamilies who were distinguished forwealth and noble descent (Eusebius,Church History V.21).

Internal dissensions during this era affected the Church atRome. The dispute over the celebration ofEaster (seeEASTER CONTROVERSY) grew more acute. TheChristians atRome, who had come from the province of Asia, were accustomed to observeEaster on the 14th day of Nisan, whatever day of the week that date might happen to fall on, just as they had done at home. This difference inevitably led to trouble when it appeared in theChristian community ofRome. Pope Victor decided, therefore, to bring about unity in the observance of theEaster festival and to persuade the Quartodecimans to join in the general practice of the Church. He wrote, therefore, to Bishop Polycrates of Ephesus and induced the latter to call together thebishops of the province of Asia in order to discuss the matter with them. This was done; but in the letter sent by Polycrates to Pope Victor he declared that he firmly held to the Quartoceciman custom observed by so many celebrated andholybishops of that region. Victor called a meeting of Italianbishops atRome, which is the earliestRomansynod known. He also wrote to the leadingbishops of the various districts, urging them to call together thebishops of their sections of the country and to take counsel with them on the question of theEaster festival. Letters came from all sides: from the synod in Palestine, at which Theophilus of Caesarea and Narcissus of Jerusalem presided; from the synod ofPontus over which Palmas as the oldest presided; from the communities in Gaul whosebishop of Irenaeus of Lyons; from thebishops of the Kingdom of Osrhoene; also from individualbishops, as Bakchylus of Corinth. These letters all unanimously reported thatEaster was observed onSunday. Victor, who acted throughout the entire matter as the head ofCatholicChristendom, now called upon thebishops of the province of Asia to abandon their custom and to accept the universally prevailing practice of always celebratingEaster onSunday. In case they would not do this he declared they would be excluded from the fellowship of the Church.

This severe procedure did not please all thebishops.Irenaeus of Lyons and others wrote toPope Victor; they blamed his severity, urged him to maintain peace and unity with thebishops ofAsia, and to entertain affectionate feelings toward them.Irenaeus reminded him that his predecessors had indeed always maintained the Sunday observance ofEaster, as was right, but had not broken off friendly relations and communion withbishops because they followed another custom (Eusebius,Church History V.23-25). We have no information concerning the further course of the matter under Victor I so far as it regards thebishops ofAsia. All that is known is that in the course of the third century the Roman practice in the observance ofEaster became gradually universal. InRome itself, where Pope Victor naturally enforced the observance ofEaster on Sunday by allChristians in the capital, an Oriental named Blastus, with a few followers, opposed thepope and brought about aschism, which, however, did not grow in importance (Eusebius, loc. cit., B, xx). Pope Victor also had difficulties with a Romanpriest named Florinus, who probably came fromAsia Minor. As an official of the imperial court, Florinus had become acquainted inAsia Minor withSt. Polycarp, and later was apresbyter of theRoman Church. He fell into theGnostic heresy and defended thefalse learning of Valentine. St. Irenæus wrote two treatises against him: "On the Monarchy [of God] and that God is not the Author of Evil", and "On the Ogdoad".Irenaeus also called Victor's attention to the dangerous writings of Florinus, who was probably degraded from hispriestly functions by thepope and expelled from theChurch (Eusebius,Church History V.25.20).

During the pontificate of Victor a richChristian, Theodotus the Leather-seller, came from Constantinople toRome and taughtfalse doctrines concerningChrist, Whom he declared to be merely a man endowed by theHoly Ghost, atbaptism, withsupernatural power. Thepope condemned thisheresy and excluded Theodotus from theChurch. The latter, however, would not submit, but, together with his adherents, formed aschismatic party, which maintained itself for a time atRome. Victor may also have come into contact with theMontanists.Tertullian reports ("Ad Praceam", 1) that a Romanbishop, whose name he does not give, had declared his acceptance of the prophecies of Montanus, but had been persuaded byPraxeas to withdraw. Duchesne ("Histoire ancienne de l'église", I, 278) and others thinkTertullian means Pope Eleutherius, but many investigators consider it more probable that he meant Pope Victor, because the latter had had much to do with the inhabitants ofAsia Minor, and because, between 190 and 200, Praceas had gone fromRome toCarthage, where he was opposed byTertullian. The question cannot be decided positively.

Jerome calls Pope Victor the first Latin writer in theChurch (Chronicon, ad an. Abr. 2209); he mentions small treatises (mediocria de religione volumina, loc. cit.; cf. "De viris illustribus", XXXIV: "Victor, thirteenthbishop of the Roman city, the writer of certainopuscula on thepaschal question and others, ruled theChurch ten years under Severus"). Besides the letters touching theEaster controversy none of St. Victor's works is known. Harnack tried to prove that he was the author of the treatise against the dice-throwers ("De alcatoribus"),erroneously ascribed toSt. Cyprian (see "Texte und Untersuchungen," V, Leipzig, 1899), though the opinion is now universally rejected (cf. Harnack, "Geschichte der altchristl. Literatur", II, pt. II, 370). It was during Victor's administration, perhaps, that the canon of Scripture used atRome, and which has been partially preserved in theMuratorian Fragment, was drawn up. In the note concerning him in the"Liber Pontificalis" (ed. Duchesne, I, 137) theEaster controversy is also mentioned; in addition, the introduction ofsequentes among theclergy is also attributed to him. It is not certain what this means, whether it applies to theacolytes, or to the assistants who appeared later atRome for suchclergy as were much occupied with the administration of their cures. In any case the note is one of those which the author arbitrarily inserted into the biographies of the variouspopes, and has, accordingly, no historical value. The same istrue of the ordinance respecting the administration ofbaptism in cases of necessity ascribed to Pope Victor by the same author.

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