Pope Eleutherius

Today is the Feast of Philip Neri, we did him last year.  Today I give you:

Pope Saint Eleutherius

Also Known As:
Eleutherus

memorial
26 May

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Our Saint today was a deacon under Pope Saint Soter and was elected thirteenth Pope about the year 171.  He was martyred somehow and was buried on the Vatican Hill near Saint Peter.   His bodine was moved around a few times and now is in the Church of Saint Susanna, in Rome.    

During his time there were a bunch of heretical knuckleheads called the Montanists.  The Montanists were the Pentecostals of the day, relying on personal inspiration by the Paraclete as their new theology.   This along with strict interpretation of the Scripture, snake handling, screaming gibberish and claiming it's "speaking in tongues." All that junk.    The Montanists tried to revert back to the Jewish Dietary laws put to rest by St Peter and Paul.   Our Saint today finally said, if God made it and you can eat it, it's okay to eat unless it's disgusting to eat.....I may be paraphrasing....

The Gnostics were still around pumping out their balderdash too...Eleutherius  told them the right time of day in no uncertain terms, you'd think that was the end of it....but no.   

Bede the Venerable once wrote that the King of England contacted Pope Eleutherius informing him the Country wanted to become Christian.   This has since been proven to be one of Bede the Venerable's bloviating tall tales.   See his entry from yesterday for further insight.