 |
|
| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
Date of birth unknown;consecrated 18 Jan., 336; d. 7 Oct., 336. After the death of Pope Sylvester, Mark was raised to the Roman episcopal chair as his successor. The"Liber Pontificalis" says that he was a Roman, and that hisfather's name was Priscus.Constantine the Great's letter, which summoned a conference ofbishops for the investigation of theDonatist dispute, is directed toPope Miltiades and one Mark (Eusebius,Church History X.5). This Mark was evidently a member of the Romanclergy, eitherpriest or firstdeacon, and is perhaps identical with thepope. The date of Mark's election (18 Jan., 336) is given in the Liberian Catalogue ofpopes (Duchesne,"Liber Pontificalis", I, 9), and is historically certain; so is the day of his death (7 Oct.), which is specified in the same way in the "Depositio episcoporum" of Philocalus's "Chronography", the first edition of which appeared also in 336. Concerning an interposition of thepope in theArian troubles, which were then so actively affecting theChurch in the East, nothing has been handed down. An alleged letter of his toSt. Athanasius is a laterforgery. Two constitutions are attributed to Mark by the author of the"Liber Pontificalis" (ed. Duchesne, I, 20). According to the one, he invested theBishop ofOstia with thepallium, andordained that thisbishop was toconsecrate theBishop of Rome. It iscertain that, towards the end of the fourth century, theBishop ofOstia did bestow the episcopalconsecration upon the newly-electedpope; Augustine expressly bears witness to this (Breviarium Collationis, III, 16). It is indeed possible that Mark had confirmed this privilege by a constitution, which does not preclude the fact that theBishop ofOstia before this time usuallyconsecrated the newpope. As for the bestowal of thepallium, the account cannot be established from sources of the fourth century, since the oldest memorials which show this badge, belong to the fifth and sixth centuries, and the oldest written mention of apope bestowing thepallium dates from the sixth century (cf. Grisar, "Das römische Pallium und die ältesten liturgischen Schärpen", in "Festschrift des deutschen Campo Santo in Rom", Freiburg im Br., 1897, 83-114).
The"Liber Pontificalis" remarks further of Marcus: "Et constitutum de omni ecclesia ordinavit"; but we do notknow which constitution this refers to. The building of twobasilicas is attributed to thispope by the author of the"Liber Pontificalis". One of these was built within the city in the region "juxta Pallacinis"; it is the present church of San Marco, which however received its present external shape by later alterations. It is mentioned in the fifth century as a Roman title church, so that its foundation may without difficulty be attributed to St. Mark. The other was outside the city; it was a cemetery church, which thepope got built over theCatacomb of Balbina, between the Via Appia and the Via Ardeatina (cf. de Rossi, "Roma sotterranea", III, 8-13; "Bullettino di arch. crist.", 1867, 1 sqq.; Wilpert, "Topographische Studien uber die christlichen Monumente der Appia und der Ardeatina", in "Rom. Quartalschrift", 1901, 32-49). Thepope obtained fromEmperor Constantine gifts of land andliturgical furniture for bothbasilicas. Mark was buried in theCatacomb of Balbina, where he had built the cemetery church. His grave is expressly mentioned there by the itineraries of the seventh century (de Rossi, "Roma sotterranea", I, 180-1). Thefeast of the deceasedpope was given on 7 Oct. in the old Roman calendar of feasts, which was inserted in the "Martyrologium Hieronymianum"; it is still kept on the samedate. In an ancientmanuscript a laudatory poem is preserved (unfortunately in a mutilated text), whichPope Damasus had composed on a Saint Marcus (de Rossi, "Inscriptiones christ. urbis Romae.", II, 108; Ihm, "Damasi epigrammata", Leipzig, 1895, 17, no. 11).De Rossi refers this to Pope Mark, but Duchesne (loc. cit., 204), is unable to accept this view. Since the contents of the poem are of an entirely general nature, without any particularly characteristic feature from the life of Pope Mark, the question is not of great importance.
Liber Pontif., ed. DUCHESNE, I, 202-4; URBAIN, Ein Martyrologium der christl. Gemeinde zu Rom am Anfang des V. Jahrh. (Leipzig, 1901), 198; LANGEN, Gesch. der rom. Kirche, I, 423.
APA citation.Kirsch, J.P.(1910).Pope St. Mark. InThe Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09674a.htm
MLA citation.Kirsch, Johann Peter."Pope St. Mark."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 9.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1910.<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09674a.htm>.
Transcription.This article was transcribed for New Advent by Mark A. Banach.Dedicated to my wife, Margaret D. Banach; and my children, Andrew and Ashley.
Ecclesiastical approbation.Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, Censor.Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmasterat newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.