Liberius of Rome

Saint Liberius of Rome was bishop of Rome from 352 to 366, in the years when Emperor Constantius II supported the Arian party. He went into exile because he would not condemn Saint Athanasius the Great. The Orthodox calendar commemorates him as a confessor on 27 August.

Against the emperor

He was a Roman and succeeded Julius I. Constantius demanded that all the bishops of the West sign the condemnation of Athanasius. Around 353 Liberius held a synod that defended Athanasius. His envoys, pressed at the synod of Arles, yielded. At the synod of Milan (355) the bishops who resisted, Eusebius of Vercelli, Lucifer of Cagliari and Dionysius of Milan, were exiled. Liberius refused too, was brought before the emperor and sent into exile at Beroea in Thrace (the Greek synaxarion says Thessalonica).

Return

The Roman people, who had not accepted Felix, set up by the emperor in his place, demanded the return of Liberius, and he came back in 358, received with joy. The sources are divided about any weakness of his in exile: the lives of the Orthodox Church in America say he signed the acts of the semi-⁠Arian council of Sirmium and repented deeply afterwards, while other historians hold that he never signed. After the death of Constantius in 361 Liberius stood firm for the faith of Nicaea. In his last year he received a delegation of Eastern bishops and admitted the more moderate of the former Arians to communion.

Repose

He reposed in the Lord on 24 September 366 (some sources give 365). The Roman Martyrology does not list him as a saint, but the East honours him. The basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore is also called the Liberian Basilica.