Pope St. Victor I
Born: ~110-130
Died: 199
FEast: July 28th
Patron of:
Northern Africa, Easter celebrations
Bio
Born in Africa of Berber/ Amazigh origin (likely in the area that is now known as the countries of Algeria, Libya, Morocco, or Tunisia), Victor lived in a Roman province and his father was named Felix. Nothing else is known about his early life until he became Pope from the years 189-199, during the reign of Emperor Commodus. This emperor was kinder to Christians than others, due to the sway of a woman of the court named Marcia who may have been Christian, and a Christian named Proculus who had once cured the emperor. Proculus and Marcia used their court positions to protect other Christians who were in the court from abuses of power and money that were against their beliefs. This in turn inspired other wealthy families to adopt Christianity.
As Bishop of Rome, Victor tried to assert the authority of his position in several ways, one being a proclamation that set the time in which Easter would always be celebrated (and the fact that it would be on a Sunday), and that if the Church in the East refused to cooperate, he would excommunicate them. This was the first recorded act by the Bishop of Rome in an attempt to control the policies of the Eastern Patriarchs. While he did begin the process, it was never followed through. In what is known as the first Roman Synod, he called bishops together to determine the Easter Festival. He was also unafraid to endorse the excommunication of a man and his followers who were preaching that Jesus had been fully human alone until his baptism. His goal in these sometimes extreme actions was unity of the Church, which was rapidly growing and spreading out, with many new ideas. Because they were at least temporarily protected from external persecution thanks to the Christians on the royal court, he used this time to address internal strife.
Victor was also the first to write documents for the Church in Latin rather than Greek, making Latin the official language of the Church.
Pastorally, he worked to free Christians who had been sent to work in mines in Sardinia as punishment, communicated with the court and officials of the emperor (the first Pope to do so), and was the first known pope from Africa.
wHAT wOULD they CARE ABOUT TODAY?
Easterseals
Prayer
Everyone likes to be liked - you remind us there are far more important things. When we are tempted to be “people pleasers”, help us remember to put our integrity, goals, and justice first. Without your strong leadership style, we may not have all the integral foundations our church has today. Remind us that authenticity leads to sainthood.
Amen.
Art Reflection
I think of Victor as no-nonsense, which can be hard in a world of people-pleasers, but that leadership style is probably exactly what was needed at that point in Church history to keep the foundation strong and unified. The colors I chose come from Berber/ Amazigh design and clothing, since that is the ethnic background he came from. He wears a suit, tie, and vest because of his serious nature, and has a pin in the shape of a white lily, a common symbol of Easter. the Two small symbols on his pocket square are a Papal Cross and an Amazigh letter “Z” which is where their name is derived from.