Monday, May 18, 1998
Monday, May 18:
Monday in the Sixth Week of Easter and
Feast of Saint John I, Pope and Martyr White and/or Red vestments
First Reading: Acts 16: 11-15
Psalms: Psalm 149: 1-6, 9
Gospel Reading: John 15: 26-27; 16: 1-4
SAINT JOHN I, POPE AND MARTYR
The 53rd successor of Peter, Pope Saint John I was born in Tuscany and became a priest and then bishop before being elected Pope on August 13, 523. John was asked to go to Constantinople to settle issues regarding the Arians for the Arianism heresy was running rampant. He became the first pope to visit Constantinople and while there he crowned Justinian emperor. This did not sit well with his rival, the ribald Theodoric who retaliated violently by invading Italy and imprisoning the Pope, accusing John of treason and threw him into shackles in Ravenna where he died on this day in 526 of neglect and starvation.
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