Lucius

Saint Lucius, hierarch, was bishop of Hadrianopolis in Thrace in the fourth century, probably successor of Eutropius. When Eutropius was exiled to Gaul, Lucius was named bishop in his place. The Arians, however, expelled him from the see under Constantius II, and he went to Rome to plead his cause before Pope Julius I, around 340 or 341, at a time when other bishops, such as Paul I of Constantinople or Athanasius of Alexandria, went there with the same pleas. The pope, having ascertained his orthodoxy, gave him a letter asking that he be restored to his see and rebuking his persecutors. It seems that the ecclesiastical authorities of the East did not respect the papal authority. Constantius himself restored him to his place, after agreements with Constans, emperor of the West, probably before the council of Serdica in 347. At the death of Constans, in 350, his firmness led the Arians to depose him again, to bind his neck and hands with irons and send him into exile. He died in exile on an uncertain date. He was regarded as a martyr, and the Church of Rome commemorates him on 11 February (new style).