X-Nico

3 unusual facts about Liber Pontificalis


Pope Eleuterus

The Liber Pontificalis ascribes to Pope Eleutherius a decree that no kind of food should be despised by Christians (Et hoc iterum firmavit ut nulla esca a Christianis repudiaretur, maxime fidelibus, quod Deus creavit, quæ tamen rationalis et humana est).

Pope Linus

The Liberian Catalogue and the Liber Pontificalis date Linus's episcopate to 56–67, during the reign of Nero, but Jerome dates it to 67–78, and Eusebius puts the end of his episcopate at the second year of the reign of Titus (80).

Roman Pontifical

The service book should not be confused with the collection of papal annals called Liber Pontificalis, probably first compiled in the 5th or 6th century.


Pope Alexander I

According to the Liber Pontificalis, it was Alexander I who inserted the narration of the Last Supper (the Qui pridie) into the Catholic celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Pope John XI

According to Liutprand of Cremona (Antapodosis, ii. c. 48) and the "Liber Pontificalis," he was the natural son of Pope Sergius III (904–911), ("Johannes, natione Romanus ex patre Sergio papa," "Liber Pont." ed. Duchesne, II, 243).


see also

Pope John I

The Liber Pontificalis credits John with making repairs to the cemetery of the martyrs Nereus and Achilleus on the Via Ardeatina, that of Saints Felix and Adauctus, and the cemetery of Priscilla.