Saint Innocent I

Pope Innocent I (Latin: Innocentius I) was the bishop of Rome from 401 to his death on 12 March 417. From the beginning of his papacy, he was seen as the general arbitrator of ecclesiastical disputes in both the East and the West. He confirmed the prerogatives of the Archbishop of Thessalonica, and issued a decretal on disciplinary matters referred to him by the Bishop of Rouen. He defended the exiled John Chrysostom and consulted with the bishops of Africa concerning the Pelagian controversy, confirming the decisions of the African synods. The Catholic priest-scholar Johann Peter Kirsch, 1500 years later, described Innocent as a very energetic and highly gifted individual "...who fulfilled admirably the duties of his office". According to his biographer in the Liber Pontificalis, Innocent was a native of Albano and the son of a man called Innocentius. On the other hand, in a letter to Demetrias his contemporary Jerome referred to him as the son of the previous pope, Anastasius I. It has, however, been suggested that Jerome was describing a link merely hierarchical rather than biological. According to Urbano Cerri, Pope Innocent was a native of Albania. From his appointment in 401, Innocent lost no opportunity to maintain the authority of the Roman apostolic See, seen as final arbiter for all ecclesiastical disputes. That such opportunities were numerous and varied is evident from his communications with Victricius of Rouen, Exuperius of Toulouse, Alexander of Antioch and others, as well as how he acted when John Chrysostom appealed to him against Theophilus of Alexandria. On the Pelagian controversy he took a decided view. He reinforced the decisions of the synod of the province of proconsular Africa, held in Carthage in 416. He accordingly confirmed the condemnation in 411 against Cælestius, who was of the Pelagian view. In the same year he wrote likewise to the fathers of the Numidian synod of Mileve who had appealed to him.