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Julius, Bishop of Puteoli

Wace's Dictionary of Early Christian Biography

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Julius (9) ( Julianus ), bp. of Puteoli (Gesta de Nom. Acacii , in Labbe, iv. 1079 D), probably the bp. Julius to whom, A.D. 448, Leo the Great entrusted the execution of certain disciplinary measures in the church of Beneventum (Leo Mag. Ep. xix. 736). Certainly he, with Renatus the presbyter and HILARUS the deacon, carried to Flavian of Constantinople the famous "tome" of St. Leo in June 449, and acted as his legate in the "Robber" council of Ephesus (Leo Mag. Ep. xxxiii. 866, Migne). The legates are described by Leo as sent de latere meo ( Ep. xxxii. 859, xxxiv. 870. He was not the first pope to use this phrase; see the Ballerini in loc. Migne). Because Julius appears in the "acta" of the council most frequently as Julianus he has been confused with Julian of Cos. That it was our Julius who was the papal legate at Ephesus is proved by Leo's letter to the latter (xxxiv. 870) and by the fact that the legate did not know Greek, which Julian of Cos certainly did (see JULIANUS (27); Labbe, iv. 121 B; Tillem. xv. note 21, pp. 901–902). Evagrius ( H. E. i. x.), Prosper ( Chron. ), and Gesta de Nom. Acac. (in Labbe, iv. 1079 D), call the papal legate Julius, not Julianus (see also Marianus Scotus, Chron. ann. 450 in Patr. Lat. cxlvii. 726). On Quesnel's hypothesis, that Julius and not Renatus died on the road to Ephesus, and that Julian took his place, cf. Tillemont, l.c. , and Hefele, Concil. ii. 368, 369. On their arrival at Ephesus the legates lodged with Flavian; on the ground that they had lived with him and been tampered with by him ( συνεκροτήθησαν , Lat. munerati ), Eutyches took exception to their impartiality as judges (Labbe, iv. 149 B).

The assertion of Liberatus (Breviarium , c. xii.) that the Roman legates could not take part in the council ("assidere non passi sunt " are his words) because the precedence was not given to them as representing Rome, and because Leo's letter was not read, is not in harmony with the acta of the council (see Tillem. xv. notes 26 and 27, p. 904). They undoubtedly did take part in the proceedings of the council, and Julius ranked after Dioscorus. His interpreter, as he could not speak Greek, was Florentius, bp. of Sardis (Labbe, iv. 122 B). We read that he made several efforts to resist DIOSCORUS, especially urging that Leo's letter should be read, but he does not seem to have been so prominent in opposition as Hilarus the deacon (ib. 128 B, 149 B, 302 D). Leo, however, expresses high commendation of the conduct of his legates generally. They protested in the council, he says, and declared that no violence should sever them from the truth ( Ep. 45, 922). He speaks to Theodosius, the emperor, of intelligence having been brought him of the acts of the synod by the bishop whom he had sent, as well as by the deacon ( Ep. xliii. 902); but this in other letters (xliv. 911, xlv. 919) is corrected by the statement that only Hilarus escaped to Rome. What happened to Julius we do not know, nor do we hear of him subsequently (Ughelli, Italia Sacra , vi. 272). Ughelli and Cappelletti (xix. 647, 669) name him Julianus and make him 6th bp. of Puteoli between Theodore and Stephen.

[C.G.]