Saint Fabian

Pope and Martyr

Feast Day

January 20

Life

d. 250

Born

Rome

Fabian was elected bishop of Rome in January 236 and reigned for fourteen years. Eusebius of Caesarea, in Ecclesiastical History VI, 29, recounts that he was a layman from the Roman countryside who came to the city for the election; while the assembled clergy and people were considering candidates, a dove descended on his head, and he was acclaimed pope by the assembly.

His pontificate fell during a period of comparative peace under the emperors Gordian III and Philip the Arab. According to the Liber Pontificalis, he organized the Roman Church into seven ecclesiastical regions, each entrusted to a deacon, and oversaw building works in the catacombs. He maintained correspondence with the African Church, as letters of Cyprian of Carthage attest, and he was associated with the recovery of the body of Pope Pontian, who had died in exile in the mines of Sardinia.

The Decian persecution began in late 249 with an edict requiring all citizens to offer sacrifice to the gods. Fabian was among its first victims; he was arrested in Rome and martyred on January 20, 250. Cyprian, in Letter 9, calls him "an incomparable man" whose example of faithful pastoral leadership is now crowned by martyrdom.

He was buried in the papal crypt at the Catacomb of Saint Callixtus on the Appian Way. The original Greek inscription on his tomb, naming him bishop and martyr, was discovered by Giovanni Battista de Rossi in the nineteenth century and survives. His name is included in the Roman Martyrology and his Optional Memorial is observed on January 20 with that of Saint Sebastian.