Felix IV

Felix was born about 489 or 490 in Samnium in central Italy, the son of Castorius. He had already served the Roman Church, having been among the delegation sent to Constantinople under Pope Hormisdas. After Pope John I died in prison at Ravenna on 18 May 526—having completed a diplomatic mission for the Arian Ostrogoth king Theodoric the Great—nearly two months of vacancy followed. Under the king's pressure the clergy and people elected Felix, who was consecrated bishop of Rome on 12 July 526.

Theodoric's favor allowed Felix to obtain greater benefits for the Church; the king died later that same year (30 August 526). Under the regency of Queen Amalasuntha, well disposed toward Catholics, Felix received the gift of two ancient buildings in the Roman Forum—the Temple of Romulus and the adjoining library of the Forum of Peace—which he transformed into the basilica of Saints Cosmas and Damian, the first Roman basilica dedicated to Eastern saints. A contemporary mosaic portrait of the pope survives in its apse. An imperial (royal) edict, drafted with respect for papal authority, confirmed that civil or criminal accusations by laymen against clerics must be judged by the pope or an ecclesiastical court he appointed; violators paid a fine of ten pounds of gold destined for the poor.

In his brief four-year reign Felix consecrated no fewer than thirty-nine bishops and ordained many priests, renewing the clergy. He wrote to Caesarius of Arles approving the careful examination of laymen seeking ordination and condemning priests who returned to secular life. Above all he intervened in the Semi-Pelagian controversy then troubling southern Gaul. Drawing chiefly on Sacred Scripture and the writings of Saint Augustine, he sent chapters on grace and free will to the Gallic bishops. These propositions were received as canons by the Second Council of Orange in 529, which also clarified original sin; Felix thereby upheld that salvation is God's gift of grace, not the first fruit of unaided human will, and he approved Caesarius's work against Faustus of Riez.

Fearing discord between pro-Byzantine and pro-Gothic factions in Rome, the gravely ill pope sought to secure peace by designating his successor. In the presence of clergy and Senate he handed his pallium to the archdeacon Boniface (later Boniface II), notified the people and the court at Ravenna, and threatened excommunication for any who opposed the choice—stipulating that if he recovered, Boniface must restore the pallium. The Senate forbade discussion or acceptance of a living pope's nomination of a successor. After Felix's death on 22 September 530 the majority of the clergy elected Dioscorus, while a minority held to Boniface, producing a brief schism ended by Dioscorus's early death. Felix was buried in the portico of Saint Peter's Basilica. He is venerated as a saint; his feast has been kept on 30 January and is noted in the Roman Martyrology on 12 October (with local observances also on 22 September or 12 July). He is the most recent pope to bear the name Felix.

May Saint Felix IV obtain for us steadfast love of the Church's true teaching on grace, and let us imitate today his courage in defending the faith amid political pressure.