01 Works, RELIGIOUS ART - Today, December 10, is Pope Miltiades' Day, With Footnotes - 143

Saint Pope Miltiades

Museum: St. Demetrios Church, Pomona

Pope Miltiades (d. 10 January 314), also known as Melchiades the African , also called Melchiades was the bishop of Rome from July 2, 311 to January 10, 314. His papacy marked the end of the church's period of persecution under the Roman emperors and the advent of the Christian emperor, Constantine I.

Miltiades appears to have been an African by birth, but of his personal history before becoming pope, little else is recorded. He was elected after a vacancy in the Roman episcopacy following the banishment of his predecessor, Pope Eusebius, to Sicily. Miltiades became pope after a period of violent factional strife within the Roman church, which had caused Emperor Maxentius to banish both Eusebius and the leader of the opposing Christian party, Heraclius, in order to bring an end to public disorders that had spread throughout Rome over the question of admitting former apostate Christians back into the church. Around the time that Miltiades' papacy began, Galerius and his co-emperors issued an decree of toleration giving the Christians the legal right to practice their faith.

During Miltiades' pontificate, the Edict of Milan was passed by the tetrarchs Constantine and Licinius in 313, declaring that they would be neutral with regard to religious worship and would restore church property confiscated by the state during the recent persecutions.

Constantine presented the pope with the Lateran Palace, which became the papal residence and seat of Christian governance. At Constantine's request, Miltiades presided over the first Lateran synod dealing with the early stages of the Donatist controversy.

Although Miltiades was once thought to have been a martyr, the Roman Catholic calender has amended this tradition. He is now commemorated as a saint on December 10. More on  Pope Saint Miltiades

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