Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 9.djvu/727

 MARK 674 BCABK

perhaps only an inference from his relation to Barna- identical with the pope. The date of Mark's electioD bas the Levite (Acts, iv, 36). Papias (in Euscbius, (18 Jan., 336) is given in the Liberian Catalogue of "Hist, eccl.", Ill, xxxix, in P. G., XX, 300) says, on popes (Duchesne, "Liber Pontificalis ", I, 9). and is the authority of *' the elder", that Mark neither heard nistorically certam; so is the day of his death (7 Oct.), the Lord nor followed Him (o(^e yi^p ^kovv€ rov mtplov which is specified in the same way in the " Depositio o6t€ T€LpriKokoO$nc€v a^{;), and the same statement is episcoporum" of Philocalus's " Chronography ", the made in the Dialogue of Adamantius (fourth centurv, first emtion of which appeared also in 336. Concern- Leipzig, 1901 » p. 8), by Eusebius C* Demonst. E vang. , ing an interposition of the pope in the Arian troubles, III, V, in P. G., XjCII, 215), by St. Jerome ("In which were then £io actively aftecting the Church in the Matth.'' in P. L., XXVI, 18). b)r St. Auffustine (" De East, nothing has been handed down. An alleged let- Consens. Evang." in P. L., XXXlV, 1043), and is sug- ter of his to St. Athanasius is a later forgery. Two gested by the Muratorian Fragment. Later tradition, constitutions are attributed to Mark by the author of however, makes Mark one of the seventy-two disci- the "Liber Pontificalis" (ed. Duchesne, I, 20). Ao- ples, and St. Epiphanius ("Hsr.", li, 6, in P. G., XLI, cording to the one, he invested the Bishop of Ostia 899) says he was one of those who withdrew from with the pallium (q. v.). and ordained that this bishop Christ (John, vi, 67). The later tradition can have no was to consecrate the Bishop of Rome. It is certain weight against the earlier evidence, but the statement that, towards the end of the fourth century, the that Mark neither heard the Lord nor followed Him Bishop of Ostia did bestow the episcopal consecration need not be prised too strictly, nor force us to believe upon the newly-elected pope; Augustine expressly tiiat he never saw Christ. Miuiy indeed are of opinion bears witness to this (Breviarium CoUationis, III, 16). that the young man who fled naked from Gethse- It is indeed possible that Mark had confirmed this mane (Mark, xiv, 51) was Mark himself. Early in the privilege by a constitution, which does not preclude third century Hippolytus (" Philosophumena'', VII, the fact that the Bishop of Ostia before this tune usu- XXX, in P. G-., VI, 3334) refers to Mark as h KoKofioddKrv- ally consecrated the new pope. As for the bestowal Xof, i. e. " stump-fingered'' or "mutilated in the fin- of the paUium, the account cannot be established from Ker(s) '', and later authorities allude to the same de- sources of the fourth century, since the oldest memo- feet. Various explanations of the epithet have been rials which show this badge, belong to the fifth and suggested: that M!ark, after he embraced Christianity, sixth centuries, and the oldest written mention of a cut off his thiunb to unfit himself for the Jewish priest- pojpe bestowing the pallium dates from the sixth cen- hood; that his fingers were naturally stumpy; that tury (cf. Grisar, "Das rdmische Pallium und die Sites- some defect in his toes is alluded to; that the epithet is ten liturgischen Sch^rpen *\ in " Festschrift des deu- to be regarded as metaphorical, and means " deserter" tschen Campo Santo in Rom ", Freiburg im Br., 1897, (cf. Acts, xiii, 13). 83-114).

The date of St. Mark's death is uncertain. St. The " Liber Pontificalis" remarks further of Marcus:

Jerome (*' De Vir. Illustr.", viii, in P. L., XXIII, 622) " Et oonstitutum de onmi ecclesia ordinavit '* ; but we

assigns it to the eighth year of Nero (62-63) (AforfuiM do not know which constitution this refers to. The

. est octavo Neronia anno et sepuUua Alexandria), but building of two basilicas is attributed to this pope by

this is probably only an inference from the statement the author of the " Liber Pontificalis ". One of these

of Eusebius ("Hist, eccl.", II, xxiv, in P. G., XX, ma built within the city in the region " iuxta Palla-

205), that in that year Anianus succeeded St. Mark in cinis"; it is the present church of San Marco, which

the Sec of Alexandria. Certainly, if St. Mark was alive however receivea its present external shape by later

when II Tim. was written (II Tim., iv, II), he cannot alterations. It is mentioned in the fifth century as a

have died in 61-62. Nor does Eusebius say he di4; the Roman title church, so that its foundation may with-

historian may merely mean that St. Mark then re- out diflSculty be attributed to St. Mark, The other

signed his see, and left Alexandria to join Peter and was outside the dty; it was a cemetery churchy which

Paul at Rome. As to the manner of his death, the the pope got built over the Catacomb of Balbma. be-

" Acts "of Mark give the saint the glory of martyniom, tween the Via Appia and the Via Ardeatina (ct. de

and say that he died while being dragged through the Rossi, " Roma sotterranea *', HI, 8-13 ; '* BuUettino di

streets of Alexandria; so too the Paschal Chronicle, arch, crist.", 1867, 1 sqq.; Wilpert, "Topographische

But we have no evidence earlier than the fourth cen- Studien Qber die christhchen Monumente der Appia

tiuy tJiat the saint was martyred. This earlier silence, und der Ardeatina ", in " Rom. Quartalschrif t ", 1901, '

however, is not at all decisive against the truth of the 32-49). The pope obtained from Emperor Constan-

later tradition. For the saint's alleged connexion with tine gifts of land and liturgical furniture for b6th basili-

Aquileia, see "Acta SS.", XI, pp. 346-7, and for the cas. Mark was buried in the Catacomb dt Balbina,

removal of his body from Alexandria to Venice and where he had built the cemetery church. Hb grave is

his cultus there, ibid., pp, 352-8. In Christian litera- expressly mentioned there bv the itineraries of the

ture and art St. Mark is symbolically represented b^ seventh century (de Rossi, *^Roma sotterranea", I,

a lion. The Latin and Greek Churches celebrate his 180-1). The feast of the deceased pope was given on

feast on 25 April, but the Greek Church keeps also the 7 Oct. in the old Roman calendar ot feasts, which was

feast of John Mark on 27 September. inserted in the " Martyrologium Hieronynuanum " ; it

Ada SS., XI, 344-58; P, G., CXV, 164-70; Mangenot in is still kept on the same date. In an ancient manu-

(EdmbuiTBh*. 1909), 427-56. ' ' J. MacRory. christ. urbis Romae.", II, 108; Ihm. " iamasi epigram-

mata", Leipzig, 1895, 17, no. 11). De Rossi refers

Mark, Saint, Pope, date of birth unknown; conse- this to Pope Mark^ but Duchesne (loc. cit., 204), is

crated 18 Jan., 336 ; d. 7 Oct. j 336. After the death of unable to accept this view. Since the contents of the

Pope Sylvester, Mark was raised to the Roman episco- poem are of an entirely ^neral nature, without any

pal chair as his successor. The "Liber PontificaUs" Mrticularly charactenstic feature from the life of

says that he was a Roman, and that his father's name rope Mark, the Question is not of great importance.

was Priscus. Constantine the Great's letter, which />t&erP<mii/..ed. Duchesne, I. 202-4; Urbain, £tn Afarfyr-

summoned a conference of Wshops f or the investipj- ?&fp'Si.%TO8?TSS^K."(^. 3^^ ^'^X^\ l^.-*'

tion of the Donatist dispute^ IS directed to Pope Milti- j^ p^ Kirsch. ades and one Mark (Eusebius, "Hist. Eccl., X, v).

This Mark was evidently a member of the Roman Mark, Gospel op Saint. — ^The subject will be

clergy, either priest or first deacon, and is perhaps treated under the following heads: (I) Contenta