LUCIUS I, SAINT

died March 5, 254, ; feast day March 4 pope from June 253 to March 254. He succeeded St. Cornelius on June 25, 253. He was exiled to Civitavecchia, Italy, by the Roman emperor Gallus but later was allowed to return to Rome by Gallus' successor, Valerian. According to Bishop St. Cyprian of Carthage, Lucius continued the liberal policy Cornelius had established toward apostates who renounced Christianity because of the persecution of the Roman emperor Decius. Thus Lucius opposed and condemned the Novatian Schism, a rigorist movement against penitent apostates, inspired by the antipope Novatian. Lucius is honoured in Denmark as the patron saint of Copenhagen. Lucius' martyrdom in the Valerian persecution is unproven.