The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church

General list of Cardinals
5th Century (494-498)

Gelasius I (494-496) Anastasius II (497-498)
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Note 1. Annuaire Pontifical Catholique, 1926, p. 135, indicates that its "Essai de liste générale des Cardinaux" ought to start with the pontificate of Gelasius I (492-498) because it is from that period that Chacón, Vitae et res gestae Pontificum Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalium, I, cols. 330-332, offers the first list of twenty-eight cardinal presbyters with their titles. But it adds that Cristofori in his Cronotassi dei Cardinali de Santa Romana Chiesa, provides the names of twenty cardinals with their titles from previous centuries and that Annuaire itself adds to those two or three more names. The list of names before Pope Gelasius I's pontificate, continues Annuaire, should be considered as a preface to the "Essai" and adds that they are highly doubtful. Given this uncertainty, the site The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church starts its "General list of Cardinals" with the names listed during the pontificate of Pope Gelasius I.

Note 2. The term cardinalis may mean principalis, like the leading or principal priest heading the clergy of a church or titulo; and also it may signify a clergyman who was attached to a church other than the one for which he was ordained, mostly for liturgical functions. From the end of the fifth century until the second half of the eleventh century the term cardinalis was used to qualify presbyters permanently attached to the Roman tituli (or parishes), which were also often called tituli cardinales. When those presbyters subscribed the acts of the Roman council, they indicated the title in which they were the head presbyter or cardinalis. Pope Stephen III (IV) (769-772) decreed that the neighboring bishops should represent the pontiffs weekly at episcopal functions in the patriarchal Lateran basilica and should aid them with their counsel. They had been assisting the bishop of Rome, as the volume of ecclesiastical and temporal business increased greatly, for a long time. By that time, their service was already an ancient custom. These bishops received the name of episcopi cardinales. From the beginnings of the Church in Rome there were seven deacons with the duty of assisting the pope in liturgical functions and to helping in the administration of the material possessions of the Church. In the third century each deacon was assigned two of the fourteen regions in which the city of Rome was divided. Later, the number of deacons was increased and each region was assigned to one deacon, with subdeacons and notaries. Toward the end of the 7th century and the beginning of the 8th, a new institution appeared in Rome, originally from the East, the monastery deaconries, each one having a church. Each one had a deacon leading it but these deacons did not have anything to do with the deacons of the Roman Church. Towards the end of the 9th century, due to topographical changes in the city of Rome and the decline of the monastery deaconries, they all but disappeared. But not so the churches belonging to those deaconries. The cardinal deacons as we know them today did not begin to exist until the last quarter of the 11th century around the pontificates of Popes Urban II and Paschal II when they started to take part in papal functions with the banners of their deaconries and to subscribe the acts of the synods and council with the name of their deaconries like the priests cardinalis had been doing for centuries. Around 1051, the term cardinalis began to be used as a noun. The presbyters, bishops and deacons cardinalis (an adjective) listed in this site from the beginning until the time in which the term began to be used as a noun, thus describing an office, could be considered as pre-cardinals. A substantial bibliography has been consulted concerning the origin and developemt of the cardinalate during this epoch.

Note 3. Given the antiquity of this century, the date of creation of the cardinals is not exactly known. The date in which the cardinals are here organized indicates when they were mentioned as such by the sources consulted and by the documentation in which they appear, such as councils and synods.

Gelasius I (492-496)

Note. Following is the list of 28 presbyters cardinalis in 494 given by Chacón-Oldoini, Vitae et res gestae Pontificum Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalium, I, cols. 330-331 as well as the names of seven deacons cardinalis listed in col. 332. Furthermore, the names of three presbyters cardinalis and one deacon cardinalis given by Cristofori's Cronotassi dei Cardinali de Santa Romana Chiesa, are also listed.

494 (I)
(1) 1. Lorenzo (presbyter cardinalis of the title Praxidæ (S. Prassede)). + Between 506 and 508.
(2) 2. Martiniano (presbyter cardinalis of the title Cæciliæ (S. Cecilia)). + (?).
(3) 3. Gennaro (presbyter cardinalis of the title Vestinæ (Ss. Vitale, Gervasio e Protasio)). + (?).
(5) 4. Gordiano (presbyter cardinalis of the title Pammachii (Ss. Giovanni e Paolo)). + Shortly after as he was replaced in that title in 495.
(6) 5. Pietro (presbyter cardinalis of the title sancti Clementis (S. Clemente al Monte Celio)). + Before 499.
(7) 6. Paolino (presbyter cardinalis of the title Juli (S. Maria in Trastevere (Callisto e Giulio))). + (?).
(8) 7. Valente (presbyter cardinalis of the title sanctæ Sabinæ (S. Sabina)). + (?).
(8) 8. Pietro (presbyter cardinalis of the title Chrysogoni (S. Crisogono in Trastevere)). + (?).
(9) 9. Asterio (presbyter cardinalis of the title Pudentis (Ss. Pudente e Pudenziana (Pastore))). + (?).
(10) 10. Felice (presbyter cardinalis of the title Æquiti (S. Silvestro)). + (?).
(11) 11. Projettizio (presbyter cardinalis of the title Damasi (S. Lorenzo in Damaso)). + (?).
(12) 12. Gioviano (presbyter cardinalis of the title Æmilianæ (S. Emiliana)). + (?).
(13) 13. Bono (presbyter cardinalis of the title Crescentianæ (S. Crescenziana)). + (?).
(14) 14. Probiano (presbyter cardinalis of the title Eusebii (S. Eusebio nell' Esquilino)). + (?).
(15) 15. Sebastiano (presbyter cardinalis of the title Nicomedii (S. Nicomede)). + (?).
(16) 16. Marciano (presbyter cardinalis of the title Cyriaci (S. Ciriaco alle Terme di Diocleziano)). + (?).
(17) 17. Andrea (presbyter cardinalis of the title Matthæi (S. Matteo)). + (?).
(18) 18. Romano (presbyter cardinalis of the title Tigridæ (S. Sisto)). + (?).
(19) 19. Marcello (presbyter cardinalis of the title Romani (S. Stefano al Monte Celio)). + (?).
(20) 20. Asello (presbyter cardinalis of the title Vizanti (Ss. Gabino e Susanna)). + (?).
(21) 21. Anastasio (presbyter cardinalis of the title Anastasiæ (S. Anastasia)). + (?).
(22) 22. Epifanio (presbyter cardinalis of the title Apostolorum (Ss. XII Apostoli (Ss. Filippo e Giacomo))). + (?).
(23) 23. Aconzio (presbyter cardinalis of the title Fasciolæ (Ss. Nereo ed Achilleo)). + (?).
(24) 24. Benedetto (presbyter cardinalis of the title Gaii (S. Caio)). + (?).
(25) 25. Domenico (presbyter cardinalis of the title Tigride (Ss. Aquila e Prisca nel Monte Aventino)). + (?).
(26) 26. Stefano (presbyter cardinalis of the title Marcelli (S. Marcello)). + (?).
(27) 27. Epifanio (presbyter cardinalis of the title Marcii (S. Marco)). + (?).
(28) 28. Ilario (presbyter cardinalis of the title Lucinæ (S. Lorenzo in Lucina)). + (?).
(29) 29. Paolino (presbyter cardinalis of the title of the title Fasciolæ (Ss. Nereo ed Achilleo)). + Before 499.
(30) 30. Cipriano (deacon cardinalis of the Holy Roman Church). + (?).
(31) 31. Anastasio (deacon cardinalis of the Holy Roman Church). (2)
(32) 32. Tarrense (deacon cardinalis of the Holy Roman Church). + (?).
(33) 33. Citonato (deacon cardinalis of the Holy Roman Church). + (?).
(34) 34. Tertullo (deacon cardinalis of the Holy Roman Church). + (?).
(35) 35. Giovanni (deacon cardinalis of the Holy Roman Church). + (?).
(36) 36. Giovanni (deacon cardinalis of the Holy Roman Church). + (?).

(1) Consecrated Antipope Laurentius on November 22, 498. Ostrogothic King Theodoric decided in favor of Pope Symmachus and Antipope Laurentius accepted the royal decision and submitted himself to the pope. In 502, King Theodoric reinstated him as antipope. In 506, he had to step down again. Died between 506 and 508.
(2) Consecrated Pope Anastasius II on November 24, 496. He died on November 19, 498.

Ca. 495 (II)
(37) 1. Giovanni (presbyter cardinalis of the title Pammachii (Ss. Giovanni e Paolo)). (1)

(1) Consecrated Pope John I on August 13, 523. He died a martyr in Ravenna on May 18, 526. His feast in the Roman Martyrology is on May 27.

Ca. 496 (III)
(38) 1. Simmaco (deacon cardinalis of the Holy Roman Church). (1)

(1) Consecrated Pope Symmachus on November 22, 498. He died on July 19, 514. Inscribed in the Roman Martyrology, his feast is celebrated on July 19.

Unknown date (IV)
(39) 1. Pascasio (deacon cardinalis of the Holy Roman Church). + Before 514.

Note. Annuaire Pontifical Catholique, 1926, pp. 139-140, "Note complétive", indicates that Chacón-Oldoini, Vitae et res gestae Pontificum Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalium, I, cols. 331-332, adds to the lists of cardinal presbyters and deacon given above, another two lists: the archpresbyters in the cardinalitial titles, which were twenty-four in 494, and the minores presbyters attached to those same titles, eleven in 494. Annuaire adds that to better understand these lists, it is necessary to distinguish between the function and the title that accompanies it. During the first centuries of the Church, the title indicated the function and was not, as it is today, a simple mark of honor that does not confer any jurisdiction. Besides, from the signatures that appear in the ancient documents, it can be seen that besides the archpresbyter and the cardinal presbyter, there were signatures of other presbyters of the same title. To distinguish themselves from other presbyters, they took the name of the church in which they were incardinated and this did not mean that they had been vested with the cardinalitial dignity. In a Roman synod celebrated by Pope Symachus on March 1, 499, three presbyters signed with the same title. The first one was Anastasio, presb. card. tituli S. Anastasiae, this was the titular cardinal of that church. The second one was Italiano, archipresbyter in titulo, who was the archpresbyter of that church, the one who presided over the clergy who served in it. The third one, Giovanni, signed presbyter in titulo S. Anastasiae, was one of the presbyters (nowadays, vicars) who served in the same church. Following are these two lists.
Archpresbyters in cardinalitial titles:
Urbico, archpresbyter in the title of S. Clemente al Monte Celio (he could be cardinal no. 6 in the pontificate of Pope Symmachus);
Sorano, archpresbyter in Ss. Vitale, Gervasio e Protasio, of the title Vestinae;
Giustino, archpresbyter in Ss. Pudente e Pudenziana, of the title of Pastore;
Redempto, archpresbyter in the title of S. Crisogono;
Giovanni, archpresbyter in Ss. Giovanni e Paolo, of the title Pammachius (he could be cardinal no. 2 in the pontificate of Pope Symmachus);
Epifanio, archpresbyter in the title of S. Ciriaco alle Terme;
Marcello, archpresbyter in S. Maria, of the title of Callisto e Giulio in Trastevere;
Domizio, archpresbyter in S. Crescenzia;
Abondanzio, archpresbyter in S. Sabina nell'Aventino;
Agatone, archpresbyter in the title of Ss. Gabino e Susanna;
Sebastiano, archpresbyter in S. Silvestro nell'Esquilino, of the title Equitii;
Valentino, archpresbyter in the title of S. Eusebio nell'Esquilino;
Geno, archpresbyter in the title of S. Nicomede;
Denis, archpresbyter in the title of S. Emiliana;
Paolino, archpresbyter in the title Fasciolae (he is no. 29 in the pontificate of Pope Gelasius I);
Agapito, archpresbyter in the title of Ss. XII Apostoli;
Redempto, archpresbyter in the title Tigride;
Severo, archpresbyter in the title of S. Caio;
Giuliano, archpresbyter in the title of S. Anastasia sub Palatio;
Bonifazio, archpresbyter in the title of S. Cecilia in Trastevere;
Pietro, archpresbyter in the title of S. Prassede;
Timoteo, archpresbyter in the title of S. Marcello;
Lorenzo, archpresbyter in S. Lorenzo, of the title Lucinae;
and Abundio, archpresbyter in the title of S. Marco.
Minores presbyters attached to the cardinalitial titles:
Servo di Dio, presbyter of the title of S. Clemente al Monte Celio;
Opilio, in the title of S. Crisogono in Trastevere;
Pietro, in Ss. Vitalio, Gervasio e Protasio, of the title Vestinae;
Adeodato, in the title of S. Silvestro nell'Esquilino;
Crescenzio, in the title of Ss. XII Apostoli;
Settimio, in S. Maria Madre di Dio, called Trastevere, of the title of Callisto e Giulio;
Epifanio, in the title Fasciolae;
Vittorino, in the title of S. Sabina nell'Aventino;
Eutichio, in the title of S. Emiliana;
Giuliano, in the title of S. Anastasia; and
Vincomalo, in the title of S. Crescenziana.

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Anastasius II (497-498)

Elected pope on November 24, 496. He died on November 19, 498. No names of new bishops, priests or deacons cardinalis are found in his pontificate.

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SUMMARY
Gelasius I (492-496) - 39 cardinals
Anastasius II (497-498) - No names of new bishops, priests or deacons cardinalis are found in his pontificate
Total - 39 cardinals

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