Lucius I

Saint Lucius I was bishop of Rome from 253 to 254. He shepherded the Church for only a few months, but he passed through exile for the faith and is honoured as a confessor.

He was a Roman by birth, the son of Porphyrianus. He was elected probably on 25 June 253, during the persecution which had sent his predecessor, Cornelius, into exile. Soon after his consecration he too was banished, but he gained permission to return. Saint Cyprian of Carthage praises him in several letters for condemning the Novatianists, who refused to receive back into communion Christians who had lapsed in persecution and then repented.

He reposed in the Lord on 5 March 254. His tombstone is still preserved in the catacomb of Callixtus, and his relics were later brought to the church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere. The Book of the Popes calls him a martyr, but the persecution of Valerian began only after his death, so he did not die as a martyr.

Western Orthodox calendars commemorate him on 4 March, and the Roman Martyrology on 5 March. As a bishop of Rome before the separation of the Churches, he is a saint of the undivided Church.