Eutychian, Pope, St.

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EUTYCHIAN, POPE, ST.

Pontificate: Jan. 4, 275, to Dec. 7, 283. Beyond the dates of his pontificate, no reliable reports on Eutychian are extant, and no documents ascribed to him are authentic. Despite the fact that no persecution marked his reign, the Liber pontificalis, which stated that he was a Tuscan, the son of Marinus, reported that he buried 342 martyrs and ordered that martyrs should be interred in dalmatics. Not a martyr himself, Eutychian was buried in the cemetery of Callistus where his Greek epitaph has been discovered. He is credited, probably erroneously, with establishing the custom whereby first fruits were blessed on the altar.

Bibliography: eusebius, Eccesiastical History. g. schwaiger, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (Freiberg 195765) 3:1214. j. n. d. kelly, Oxford Dictionary of Popes (New York 1986), 23.

[e. g. weltin]