born probably Africa
died Nov. 19, 496, feast day November 21
Pope (492–496).
He combated the Acacian Schism in the East, which advocated the Monophysite heresy . He maintained papal authority and established Roman primacy in ecclesiastical affairs. He is known for his theory of the two powers of world governance in which he asserted that both sacred and civil power are of divine origin and independent. In 494 he changed the pagan Lupercalia festival into the feast of the Purification.