Decius, (1)
Decius
(CAIUS MESSIUS QUINTUS TRAJANUS DECIUS).
Roman Emperor 249-251. He was born, date uncertain, near Sirmium in Pannonia of a Roman or a Romanized family. Practically nothing is known about his career, but the greater part of his life seems to have been passed in the army. He was the first of the great soldier-emperors from the Danubian provinces under whom the senatorial regime ended and the government became an absolute monarchy. No sooner was his position as emperor made certain by the defeat of Philip at Verona, than Decius commenced to put into effect extensive plans for the reorganization of the empire. Problems of administration, internal as well as external, at once claimed his attention. To the latter he principally devoted his own energies and consequently the greater part of his reign was spent at the head of the legions attempting to repel the Gothic invaders from the Balkan lands. After several campaigns during which he gave no evidence of military genius he met with a signal defeat in the marshes of the Dobrudscha in which he lost his life. This overthrow, attributed by some writers to the treachery of some of the Roman generals, was so complete that the emperor’s body was never recovered. In the administration of the internal affairs of the empire, Decius showed himself to be an unstatesmanlike theorist. He conceived the unpractical policy of reforming the morals of his time by a forcible restoration of the old religion. He revived the obsolete office of censor as a sop to the senatorial party, permitted them to name its first incumbent, whom he invested with the most autocratic prowers in matters of civil service and over the private lives of the citizens. Oblivious of the changes wrought by time and the march of ideas, he pinned his faith to the almost abandoned paganism of old Rome as the solution of the problems of his time. Such sweeping reforms necessarily brought into prominence the growing power of the Christian Church, and made it clear that any attempt to realize or enforce the absolutism of earlier Roman politics must necessarily be futile as long as any considerable body of citizens professing the Christian creed was allowed the free exercise of their religion. Belief in the freedom on conscience and the higher estimate of religion found among the Christians could find no part in such schemes as those of Decius and would necessarily prove an insuperable obstacle to the complete realization of his plans. Various reasons have been assigned for the emperor’s hatred of Christianity, some seeing in it an evidence of innate cruelty, others a desire to be avenged on the friends of his predecessor; but there can be little doubt that the main motives for his hostility were political, conceived not in the form of fanaticism but in purposes of political expediency. The scope of the anti-Christian legislation of Decius was broader than that of his predecessors and much more far-reaching in its effects. The text of his edicts has not survived but their general tenor can be judged from the manner in which they were executed. The object of the emperor was not the extermination of the Christians, but the complete extinction of Christianity itself. Bishops and priests were unconditionally punished with death. To all others was given an opportunity to recant and, to ensure the abandonment of Christianity, all were compelled to submit to some test of their loyalty to Paganism, such as the offering of sacrifice, the pouring of libations, or the burning of incense to the idols. The unexpectedness of the attack, coupled with the fact that an appalling amount of laxity and corruption had manifested themselves during the long peace which the Church had just enjoyed, produced the most deplorable effect in the Christian fold. Multitudes presented themselves to the magistrates to express their compliance with the imperial edict and to these apostates tickets were issued attesting the fact that they had offered sacrifice (sacrificati) or burned incense (thurificati), while others, without actually performing these rites, availed themselves of the venality of the magistrates to purchase certificates attesting their renunciation (libellatici). These defections, though numerous, were more than counterbalanced by the multitudes who suffered death, exile, confiscation, or torture in all parts of the empire. The Decian persecution was the severest trial to which the Church up to that time had been subjected and the loss suffered by the Church in consequence of apostasy was almost as damaging as the losses by martyrdom. The problem of deciding on what conditions the lapsi should be admitted to the church and what weight was to be attached to the pardon of confessors, produced the bitterest dissensions and led directly to two dangerous schisms.
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DUCHESNE, Histoire ancienne de l’église (Paris, 1906), I, 367-368; ALLARD, Histoire des persécutions pendant la premiére moitié du IIIe siècle (Paris, 1885-090; 2nd ed. 1892); GREGG, The Decian Persecution (Edinburgh, 1897).
P.J. HEALY. Transcribed by WGKofron With thanks to St. Mary’s Church, Akron, Ohio
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IVCopyright © 1908 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat. Remy Lafort, CensorImprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Decius
C. MESSIUS QUINTUS TRAJANUS, a Roman emperor, was born at Bubalia, in Lower Pannonia, towards the close of the second century. Being sent in 249 by the emperor Philippus to restore to subordination the army of Moesia, which was in a state of revolt, the troops proclaimed him emperor against his will, and forced him to march upon Italy. Philippus having been defeated and slain, Decius assumed the government of the empire in the end of the year A.D. 249, but his brief reign was one of restless warring with the Goths, fighting against whom he was killed near Abricium, in the close of the year 251. Decius was an emperor of more than ordinary ability, but his reign was stained by a bloody persecution of the Christians. In point of time this persecution ranks as the seventh, but in point of cruelty it was only equaled by that of Diocletian. SEE PERSECUTIONS.
For about forty years prior to the accession of Decius the Christians had enjoyed peace, which only in some parts of the Roman empire was, for a short time, interrupted by a. decree of the emperor Maximin. The effect of this peace upon the religious life of the Church was, in general, not favorable. Cyprian, Origen, and other ecclesiastical writers complain that worldliness, avarice, and other vices had become prevalent, and that marriages of Christians with pagans had become frequent. Soon after his accession to the throne (probably at the beginning of the year 250), Decius issued a severe decree against the Christians. The decree itself is lost, the Edictum Decii Augusti contra Christianos, which was published in 1664 at Toulouse by Bernard Medonius from Acts of the Martyrs, being spurious, as has been shown by Tillemont and Mosheim. The contents of the decree are, however, fully noticed by Gregory of Nyssa and other ancient writers. It ordered the civil magistrates to destroy Christianity by threatening Christians with the severest punishments and by using against them tortures of every kind. It was sent to the governors of all the provinces, and most of them hastened to execute it. They promulgated the decree, and demanded that within a certain time every Christian should appear before the civil magistrate, and publicly declare his renunciation of the Christian faith; in the case of refusal, he was to suffer severe punishment, even death. Dionysius of Alexandria and Cyprian have given detailed description, of the persecution in the region of Carthage and Alexandria. Cyprian says that at the first news of the impending persecution a majority of the brethren hastened to renounce the faith, but his account is suspected of exaggeration. That the number of apostates was very large is also reported by Eusebius. Of those who remained faithful, most left the cities and sought refuge in solitude, Among this class were many of the most celebrated bishops, as Cyprian, Dionysius of Alexandria, and Gregory Thaumaturgus. This action was generally approved by the Church. The number of those, however, who neither fled nor apostatized was so great that, as soon as the time appointed for the execution of the decree arrived, the prisons were not sufficient to contain those who were arrested. Decius wished executions to be avoided, but every conceivable torture, if necessary, to be resorted to. Most of the civil magistrates vied with each other in inventing the most cruel tortures; only a few showed a spirit of sympathy and leniency. The number of those who succumbed to the torture (lapsi) was very large. Many procured false certificates that they had abjured the faith (libellatici). On the other hand, however, the number of those who died or were mutilated for the faith was considerable. In Rome, Antioch, and Jerusalem the several bishops were massacred; Origen, famous among the early fathers, was subjected to the most acute tortures. All the ancient martyrologies abound in names of those who are reported to have suffered martyrdom under Decius, and Tillemont spent much time and labor to sift the genuine reports from the spurious (Memoires, 3, 133- 189). Fortunately, the persecution of Decius did not last long. About Easter, 251, Cyprian could return from his concealment. The war which the emperor had to carry on against the Goths, his absence from Rome, the inroads of barbarians into the African provinces, and several insurrections, greatly moderated the persecution at the beginning of the year 251. When Decius, towards the close of the year, fell in a battle against the Goths, the Christians were set at liberty. Herzog, Real-Encyklop. 3, 309; Wetzer und Welte, Kirchen.-Lex. 3, 59; Neander, Church History (Torrey’s transl.), vol. 2.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Decius, (1)
eighth bishop of Macon, is assigned by Severtius to the period from 599 to 612; (2) succeeded Deodatus as eleventh bishop of Macon, in the latter part of the 7th century and the beginning of the 8th.