samedi 10 décembre 2016

Saint MILTIADE (MELCHIADE, MILZIADE), Pape et martyr


Saint Melchiade (311-314)

Né en Afrique.

Ce fut pendant son pontificat que l’empereur Constentin publia sion édit ordonnant que la religion chrétienne puisse être pratiquée librement.

Saint Melchiades commença la construction de la basilique Saint-Jean.


10/12 St Melchiade, pape et martyr

Déposition de St Melchiade (Miltiade), au cimetière de Callixte, le 10 janvier 314 selon le martyrologe hiéronymien, le 10 décembre selon le Liber Pontificalis. On lui donne le titre de martyr, alors qu’il fut le pape de la paix constantinienne. Fête à partir du XIIème siècle.

Dom Guéranger, l’Année Liturgique

L’Église fait, en ce même jour, la Commémoration du saint Pape Melchiade. Cet illustre Pontife, que saint Augustin appelle le véritable enfant de la paix de Jésus-Christ, le digne Père du peuple chrétien, monta sur le Saint-Siège en 311, pendant que le feu de la persécution était encore dans toute son activité : c’est pourquoi il est honoré de la qualité de Martyr, comme plusieurs de ses prédécesseurs qui, n’ayant pas, il est vrai, répandu leur sang pour le nom de Jésus-Christ, ont cependant eu part à la gloire des Martyrs, à cause des grandes traverses et persécutions qu’ils eurent à souffrir avec toute l’Église de leur temps. Mais le Pontificat de saint Melchiade présente ceci de remarquable, qu’ayant eu ses racines dans la tempête, il s’est épanoui dans la paix. Dès l’année 312, Constantin rendit la liberté aux Églises ; et Melchiade eut la gloire de voir s’ouvrir l’ère de la prospérité temporelle des enfants de Dieu. Maintenant son nom brille au Cycle liturgique, et nous annonce la Paix qui bientôt va descendre du ciel. Daignez donc, ô Père du peuple chrétien, solliciter pour nous le Prince de la Paix, afin que, venant en nous, il détruise toute agitation, calme toute résistance, et règne en maître sur nos cœurs, sur nos esprits et sur nos sens. Demandez aussi la Paix pour la sainte Église Romaine, dont vous fûtes l’époux, et qui a gardé votre mémoire jusqu’aujourd’hui ; conduisez-la toujours du haut du ciel et écoutez les vœux qu’elle vous adresse.

Bhx Cardinal Schuster, Liber Sacramentorum

III id. ian. Miltiadis in Callisti, lit-on dans le Laterculus Philocalien au 10 janvier ; c’est donc en vertu d’une étrange équivoque que les tardifs liturgistes romains de la fin du moyen âge ont anticipé d’un mois la mémoire de saint Melchiade confondant les ides de décembre avec celles de janvier. La commémoration annuelle de ce célèbre Pontife — le premier qui, après trois siècles de persécution, recueillit le fruit du sang des martyrs dans la paix triomphale de Constantin — est entrée en effet dans le calendrier romain seulement vers le XIIIe siècle.

Indépendamment du Laterculus Philocalien, le pape Damase au IVe siècle avait désigné lui aussi aux fidèles la tombe de Melchiade, parmi celles des saints ensevelis dans la nécropole de Callixte sur la voie Appienne :

HIC • POSITVS • LONGA • QVI • VIXIT • IN • PAGE • SACERDOS

Aussi le titre de martyr attribué à Melchiade dans le Missel doit-il s’entendre en un sens très large, car il peut se rapporter, tout au plus, aux premières années de son ministère ecclésiastique, lorsque les édits impériaux de la dernière persécution étaient encore en vigueur. Sous Pascal Ier, les cimetières romains étant tombés dans l’abandon et dans l’oubli, le corps de saint Melchiade fut transporté dans la basilique de Sainte-Praxède sur l’Esquilin, comme en fait foi, aujourd’hui encore, le précieux catalogue marmoréen des Reliques ensevelies dans cette église par ce Pontife.

Saint Melchiade représente d’une certaine manière le Pontife de la paix et du triomphe de l’Église, lui qui érigea sa glorieuse chaire dans la domus Faustae, dans l’antique palais des Laterani et là, inaugura cette longue série de conciles qui seront, à travers les siècles, le flambeau éclairant, pour la famille catholique, le chemin du ciel. Aimons, nous aussi, la paix ; efforçons-nous d’être évangéliquement pacifiques, et Dieu, pour nous récompenser des renoncements que comporte cet effort, nous nourrira des fruits de sa paix.

Dom Pius Parsch, le Guide dans l’année liturgique

Jour de mort : le 10 décembre 314. Tombeau : primitivement dans le cimetière Saint-Callixte et, actuellement, dans l’église Saint Silvestre delle Monache à Rome. Son chef est dans la basilique de Saint-Sauveur à Rome. Sa vie : On lit dans le Martyrologe : « A Rome, saint Melchiade. Il eut beaucoup à souffrir pendant la persécution de Maximien ; lorsqu’enfin commença une ère de paix pour l’Église, il s’endormit dans le Seigneur. » C’était un Africain, et saint Augustin l’appelle « le véritable enfant de la paix de Jésus-Christ ». Il gouverna l’Église de Dieu dans les derniers temps des persécutions, de 311 à 314, et il eut le bonheur de voir commencer, pour l’Église, une période de paix. En 312, Constantin donnait la liberté à l’Église.

Pratique : Les soldats du Christ souffrent et travaillent pour la paix extérieure et intérieure, tant que la volonté de Dieu l’exige. La paix de l’Église est le fruit des sacrifices des fidèles et de leurs pasteurs. La paix de l’Église, après la mort de saint Melchiade amena rapidement une floraison magnifique de la liturgie avec un flot de bénédictions et de paix.

La Messe

die 10 decembris

Sancti Melchiadis

Papæ et Mart.

Commemoratio

Missa Si díligis me, de Communi Communi Summorum Pontificum.

Oratio.

Gregem tuum, Pastor ætérne, placátus inténde : et, per beátum Mechíadem Mártyrem tuum atque Summum Pontíficem, perpétua protectióne custódi ; quem totíus Ecclésiæ præstitísti esse pastórem. Per Dóminum nostrum.

Ante 1955 : Et fit Commemoratio Octavæ Comnceptionis immaculatæ.

Ante 1942
Missa Státuit, de Communi unius Martyris 1 loco.


le 10 décembre

Saint Melchiade

Pape et Martyr

Commémoraison

Messe Si díligis me, du Commun des Souverains Pontifes.

Collecte C1
Pasteur éternel de l’Eglise, regardez avec bienveillance votre troupeau, protégez-le et gardez-le toujours. Nous vous le demandons par le bienheureux Pape Melchiade, votre Martyr, que vous avez placé comme berger à la tête de l’Eglise.

Avant 1955 : Et on fait Mémoire de l’Octave de l’Immaculée Conception.

Avant 1942
Messe Státuit, du Commun d’un Martyr 1.


Pape Miltiade (saint)


32ème pape - Pape du 21 juillet 311 au 10 janvier 314

Fêté le 10 décembre

  Saint Miltiade ou Melchiade, pape et successeur de saint Eusèbe, fut élu le 21 juillet 311. Il était africain de naissance et fort considéré pour ses vertus et ses talents. Maxence était toujours en possession d'un plus grand pouvoir. Il avait, à la vérité, fait cesser les persécutions religieuses ; mais ses débauches, portées au plus haut degré de violence contre toutes les personnes du sexe, remplissaient Rome de terreur, et ses nombreuses victimes demandaient vengeance. Ces désordres durèrent jusqu'à ce qu'il fût vaincu en 312 par Constantin, qui entra triomphant dans Rome, y rétablit la paix, en érigeant, au milieu de la ville, le trophée de la croix, qui avait été l'instrument de sa victoire et de sa conversion au Christianisme. Miltiade présida en 313 le concile de Rome, contre le schisme des donatistes (Voyez Donat), où Cécilien, accusé par Donat des Cases-Noires, fut justifié et confirmé dans l'évêché de Carthage.

      Miltiade mourut le 10 janvier 314, après deux ans et demie de pontificat. Saint Augustin en fait les plus grands éloges. Miltiade eut pour successeur saint Sylvestre Ier.  (Biographie universelle ancienne et moderne - Tome 28 - Page 321)


Pope St. Miltiades

The year of his birth is not known; he was elected pope in either 310 or 311; died 10 or 11 January, 314. After the banishment of Pope Eusebius, the Roman See was vacant for some time, probably because of the complications which has arisen on account of the apostates (lapsi), and which were not cleared up by the banishment of Eusebius and Heraclius. On 2 July, 310 or 311, Miltiadea (the name is also written Melchiades), a native of Africa, was elevated to the papacy. There is some uncertainty as to the exact year, as the "Liberian Catalogue of the Popes" (Duchesne, "Liber Pontificalis", I, 9) gives 2 July, 311, as the date of the consecration of the new pope (ex die VI non. iul. a cons. Maximiliano VIII solo, quod fuit mense septembri Volusiano et Rufino); but in contradiction to this the death of the pope is said to have occurred on 2 January, 314, and the duration of the pontificate is given as three years, six months and eight days; possibly owing to the mistake of a copyist, we ought to read "ann. II" instead of "ann. III"; and therefore the year of his elevation to the papacy was most probably 311. About this time (311 or 310), an edict of toleration signed by the Emperors Galerius, Licinius, and Constantine, put an end to the great persecution of the Christians, and they were permitted to live as such, and also to reconstruct their places of religious worship (Eusebius, Church History VIII.17; Lactantius, How the Persecutors Died 34). Only in those countries of the Orient which were under the sway of Maximinus Daia did the Christians continue to be persecuted. The emperor now gave Pope Miltiades in Rome the right to receive back, through the prefect of the city, all ecclesiastical buildings and possessions which had been confiscated during the persecutions. The two Roman deacons, Strato and Cassianus, were ordered by the pope to discuss this matter with the prefect, and to take over the church properties (Augustinus, "Breviculus collationis cum Donatistis", iii, 34); it thus became possible to reorganize thoroughly the ecclesiastical administration and the religious life of the Christians in Rome.

Miltiades caused the remains of his predecessor, Eusebius, to be brought back from Sicily to Rome, and had them interred in a crypt in the Catacombs of St. Callistus. In the following year the pope witnessed the final triumph of the Cross, through the defeat of Maxentius, and the entry into Rome of the Emperor Constantine (now converted to Christianity), after the victory at the Milvian Bridge (27 October, 312). Later the emperor presented the Roman Church with the Lateran Palace, which then became the residence of the pope, and consequently also the seat of the seat of the central administration of the Roman Church. The basilica which adjoined the palace or was afterwards built there became the principal church of Rome. In 313 the Donatists came to Constantine with a request to nominate bishops from Gaul as judges in the controversy of the African episcopate regarding the consecration in Carthage of the two bishops, Cæcilian and Majorinus. Constantine wrote about this to Miltiades, and also to Marcus, requesting the pope with three bishops from Gaul to give a hearing in Rome, to Cæcilian and his opponent, and to decide the case. On 2 October, 313, there assembled in the Lateran Palace, under the presidency of Miltiades, a synod of eighteen bishops from Gaul and Italy, which, after thoroughly considering the Donatist controversy for three days, decided in favor of Cæcilian, whose election and consecration as Bishop of Carthage was declared to be legitimate. In the biography of Miltiades, in the "Liber Pontificalis", it is stated that at the time Manichæans were found in Rome; this was quite possible as Manichæism began to be spread in the West in the fourth century. The same source attributes to this pope a decree which absolutely forbade the Christians to fast on Sundays or on Thursdays, "because these days were observed by the heathen as a holy fast". This reason is remarkable; it comes most likely from the author of the "Liber Pontificalis" who with this alleged decree traces back a Roman custom of his own time to an ordinance of Miltiades. The "Liber Pontificalis" is probably no less arbitrary in crediting this pope with a decree to the effect that the Oblation consecrated at the Solemn Mass of the pope (by which is meant the Eucharistic Bread) should be taken to the different churches in Rome. Such a custom actually existed in Rome (Duchesne, "Christian Worship," London, 1903, 185); but there is nothing definite to show that it was introduced by Miltiades, as the "Liber Pontificalis" asserts.

After his death, on 10 or 11 January (the Liberian Catalogue" give it as III id. jan.; the "Depositio Episcoporum" as IIII id. jan.), 314, Miltiades was laid to rest in the Catacomb of St. Callistus and he was venerated as a saint. De Rossi regards as highly probably his [this] location of this pope's burial-chamber (Roma Sotterranea, II, 188 sq.). His feast was celebrated in the fourth century, on 10 January, according to the "Martyrologium Hieronymianum". In the present "Roman Martyrology" it occurs on 10 December.

Sources

Liber Pontificalis, ed Duchesne, I, 168-196; Urbain Ein Martyrologium der christl. Gemeinde zu Rom (Leipzig, 1901), 118-119; Langen, Geschichte der römischen Kirche, I, 328 sqq.; Allard, Histoire des persécutions, V, 200, 203; Duchesne, Histoire ancienne de l'Église, II, 96, 97, 110-112.

Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope St. Miltiades." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 10. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 10 Dec. 2016 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10318a.htm>.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by M. Anne McCay.

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.


December 10

St. Melchiades, Pope

From Eus. l. 9, c. 9. St. Optat. l. 1. St. Aug. See Tillemont

A.D. 314

MELCHIADES, or MILTIADES, succeeded Eusebius in the see of Rome, being chosen on the 2d of July, 311, in the reign of Maxentius. Constantine vanquished that tyrant on the 28th of October in 312, and soon after issued edicts, by which he allowed Christians the free exercise of their religion, and the liberty of building churches. To pacify the minds of the pagans, who were uneasy at this innovation, when he arrived at Milan in the beginning of the year 313, he, by a second edict, ensured to all religions except heresies, liberty of conscience. Among the first laws which he enacted in favour of Christians, he passed one to exempt the clergy from the burden of civil offices. He obliged all his soldiers to repeat on Sundays a prayer addressed to the one only God; and no idolater could scruple at such a practice. He abolished the pagan festivals and mysteries in which lewdness had a share. Unnatural impurity being almost unrestrained among the heathens, the Romans, when luxury and debauchery were arrived at the highest pitch among them, began to shun marriage, that they might be more at liberty to follow their passions. Whereupon Augustus was obliged by laws to encourage and to command all men to marry, inflicting heavy penalties on the disobedient. 1 The abuses being restrained by the Christian religion more effectually than they could have been by human laws, Constantine, in favour of celibacy, repealed the Poppæan law. This emperor also made a law to punish adultery with death. 2 The good pope rejoiced exceedingly at the prosperity of God’s house, and, by his zealous labours, very much extended its pale; but he had the affliction to see it torn by an intestine division, in the Donatist schism, which blazed with great fury in Africa. Mensurius, bishop of Carthage, being falsely accused of having delivered up the sacred scriptures to be burnt in the time of the persecution, Donatus, bishop of Cassa-nigra in Numidia, most unreasonably separated himself from his communion, and continued his schism when Cecilian had succeeded Mensurius in the see of Carthage, and was joined by many jealous enemies of that good prelate, especially by the powerful lady Lucilla, who was personally piqued against Cecilian whilst he was deacon of that church. The chismatics appealed to Constantine, who was then in Gaul, and entreated him to commission three Gaulish bishops, whom they specified, to judge their cause against Cecilian. The emperor granted them these judges they demanded, but ordered the aforesaid bishops to repair to Rome, by letter, entreating Pope Melchiades to examine into the controversy, together with these Gaulish bishops, and to decide it according to justice and equity. The emperor left to the bishops the decision of this affair, because it regarded a bishop. 3 Pope Melchiades opened a council in the Lateran palace on the 2d of October, 313, at which both Cecilian and Donatus of Cassa-nigra were present; and the former was pronounced by the pope and his council innocent of the whole charge that was brought against him. Donatus of Cassa-nigra was the only person who was condemned on that occasion; the other bishops who had adhered to him were allowed to keep their sees upon their renouncing the schism. St. Austin, speaking of the moderation which the pope used, calls him an excellent man, a true son of peace, and a true father of Christians. Yet the Donatists, after his death, had recourse to their usual arms of slander to asperse his character, and pretended that this pope had delivered the scriptures into the hands of the persecutors; which St. Austin calls a groundless and malicious calumny. St. Melchiades died on the 10th of January, 314, having sat two years, six months, and eight days, and was buried on the Appian road, in the cemetery of Calixtus; is named in the Roman Martyrology, and in those of Bede, Ado, Usuard, &c. In some calendars he is styled a martyr, doubtless on account of his sufferings in preceding persecutions.

This holy pope saw a door opened by the peace of the church to the conversion of many, and he rejoiced at the triumph of the cross of Christ. But with worldly prosperity a worldly spirit too often broke into the sanctuary itself; insomuch that the zealous pastor had sometimes reason to complain, with Isaiah, “Thou hast multiplied the nation, and hast not increased my joy.” 4 Under the pressures of severe persecution, the true spirit of our holy religion was maintained in many among its professors during the first ages; yet, amidst the most holy examples, and under the influence of the strongest motives and helps, avarice and ambition insinuated themselves into the hearts of some, who, by the abuse of the greatest graces, became of all others the most abandoned to wickedness; witness Judas the apostate in the college of the apostles; also several amongst the disciples of the primitive saints, as Simon Magus, Paul of Samosata, and others. But with temporal honours and affluence, the love of the world, though most severely condemned by Christ, as the capital enemy to his grace and holy love, and the source of all vicious passions, crept into the hearts of many, to the utter extinction of the Christian spirit in their souls. This, indeed, reigns, and always will reign, in a great number of chosen souls, whose lives are often hidden from the world, but in whom God will always provide for his honour faithful servants on earth, who will praise him in spirit and truth. But so deplorable are the overflowings of sensuality, avarice, and ambition, and such the lukewarmness and spiritual insensibility which have taken root in the hearts of many Christians, that the torrent of evil example and a worldly spirit ought to fill every one with alarms, and oblige every one to hold fast, and be infinitely upon his guard that he be not carried away by it. It is not the crowd that we are to follow, but the gospel: and though temporal goods and prosperity are a blessing, they ought extremely to rouse our attention, excite our watchfulness, and inspire us with fear, being fraught with snares, and by the abuse which is frequently made of them, the ruin of virtue.

Note 1. See his Lex Julia, and Lex Poppæa. [back]

Note 2. See Gothofred, ad Cod. Theod. l. xi. tit. 36. [back]

Note 3. S. Aug. ep. 105, p. 299, et ep. 43, p. 94, et in Brevic. Collat. die 3, c. 12, et 17. Eus. l. 10, c. 5. S. Optat. l. 1, p. 44. [back

Note 4. Isa. ix. 3. [back]

Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73).  Volume XII: December. The Lives of the Saints.  1866.



San Milziade (o Melchiade) Papa


m. 314

(Papa dal 02/07/311 al 11/01/314)

Africano (Papa dal in alcuni testi è detto anche Melchiade), fu testimone della battaglia di Ponte Milvio, con la vittoria di Costantino su Massenzio. Era l'anno 312.


Martirologio Romano: A Roma nel cimitero di Callisto sulla via Appia, san Milziade, papa: originario dell’Africa, sperimentò la pace resa alla Chiesa dall’imperatore Costantino e, sebbene fortemente osteggiato dai Donatisti, si adoperò saggiamente per la riconciliazione.

La revisione liturgica ne ha limitato la memoria ai soli calendari particolari, perché certamente non fu Martire. Ma dato che nessun altro Santo lo ha sostituito in questo giorno, possiamo ancora ricordare quel Papa sotto il quale la Croce, fino allora segno di infamia, divenne simbolo di gloria e auspicio di vittoria, sui labari imperiali di Costantino.

Non si tratta, come si può pensare, del Papa San Silvestro, sotto H cui lungo pontificato fu coronato quello che si chiama " il trionfo del Cristianesimo ", e l'Imperatore Costantino, prossimo alla morte, ricevette il Battesimo. Lo straordinario passaggio dall'età delle persecuzioni a quella della protezione, dall'atmosfera di sospetto a quella di rispetto verso i Cristiani, avvenne sotto il Papa oggi festeggiato, San Milziade, o Melchiade.

Della sua vita non si sa quasi nulla, prima del pontificato. Era di origine africana, e dovette trovarsi a Roma sul finire della sanguinosa persecuzione di Diocleziano. Fu poi testimone dell'ambigua condotta nei confronti dei cristiani, dell'Imperatore Massenzio, il quale, per sedare le discordie della Chiesa romana, esiliò tanto il Papa Eusebio, quanto un antipapa, Eraclio, esponente di un gruppo di apostati mal pentiti.

Eusebio morii poco dopo, nel 310. Il nuovo Papa, che fu Milziade, venne eletto però solo un anno più tardi. In quell'anno era accaduto infatti un avvenimento importante. Galerio aveva emesso un Editto di tolleranza religiosa, che venne poi sottoscritto dagli " Augusti " Licinio e Costantino. Massenzio non aveva firmato quell'Editto, ma seguì lo stesso, nei confronti dei cristiani, la politica di benevolenza dei suoi avversari. Non volle pregiudicarsi il favore dei sudditi, riell'imminenza della contesa politica.

Il neo-eletto Milziade, si valse di questa mutata politica per riorganizzare energicamente la Chiesa. Per prima cosa riottenne i beni dei cristiani di Roma confiscati durante le persecuzioni. Poi inviò i suoi Diaconi a riprendere possesso dei luoghi di culto, cioè degli antichi tituli.

Dopo la battaglia di Ponte Milvio, sconfitto Massenzio, Costantino entrò in Roma innalzando il segno della Croce. Il Papa, allora, sfruttò ancora meglio in favore dei fedeli, le ottime disposizioni dell'Imperatore vittorioso. Costantino infatti non si limitò a restituire i beni della Chiesa: stabilì che l'erario contribuisse ai bisogni del culto. Non si contentò di reintegrare i cristiani nelle modeste dimore dove avvenivano le riunioni sacre: volle che fossero costruite nuove e grandiose basiliche. La prima ad essere iniziata fu quella detta Lateranense, che è restata la Cattedrale di Roma; e nel Laterano, in un palazzo di proprietà del fisco imperiale, Costantino ospitò il Santo Vescovo di Roma.
Il pontificato di San Milziade o Melchiade fu breve. Col 314, le opere da lui fervidamente iniziate vennero proseguite da San Silvestro. Ma tre anni di governo della Chiesa bastarono a fargli meritare l'elogio di Sant'Agostino: " Vero figlio della pace e vero padre per i cristiani ".

Stranamente però, questo " figlio della pace ", primo Papa dell'età costantiniana del " trionfo del Cristianesimo ", ricevette il titolo onorifico di Martire, forse per essere stato sepolto nelle Catacombe. 


Fonte:
Archivio Parrocchia