04 Works, Today, April 13th, is Saint Martin the Confessor's day, With Footnotes - #100

St Martin the Confessor, pope of Rome

St Martin the Confessor, pope of Rome (655). Martin became Pope on July 5th, 649, at the time of a furious quarrel between the Orthodox and the Monothelite heretics.

Constans II

Constans the Second, also called Constantine the Bearded ,Heraclius' grandson, was on the throne at the time, and Paul was Patriarch of Constantinople. To restore peace in the Church, the Emperor himself wrote a dogmatic decree, the Typos, which leaned heavily towards heresy. 

Pope Martin summoned a Council of 105 bishops, at which the Emperor's statement was condemned. At the same time, the Pope wrote a letter to Patriarch Paul, begging him to uphold the purity of the Orthodox faith and to counsel the Emperor to reject the theories of the heretics.

Constans II receiving the decisions of the Council

This letter infuriated both the Patriarch and the Emperor. The Emperor sent one of his generals, Olympius, to take the Pope to Constantinople in bonds. The general did not dare to bind the Pope with his own hands, but instructed one of his soldiers to kill him with the sword in church. But, when the soldier entered the church with his sword concealed, he was instantly blinded. Martin escaped death. Then, by the intrigues of the heretic Patriarch Paul, the Emperor sent a second general, Theodore, to bind and take the Pope on the charge that he, the Pope, was in collusion with the Saracens and that he did not reverence the most holy Mother of God. When the general arrived in Rome and read the accusation against the Pope, he replied that it was a libel; that he had no contact of any sort with the Saracens, the opponents of Christianity, 'and whoever does not confess the most holy Mother of God and do her reverence, let him be damned in this age and in that which is to come.' But this did not affect the general's decision.

Tancredi Scarpelli

Pope Martin I forced to leave Rome by order of Emperor Constans carried out by Theodore Calliopa, exarch of Ravenna

Tancredi Scarpelli ( 1866 - 1937 ) was an Italian illustrator and designer. He worked for the Giuseppe Nerbini publishing house in Florence. He also illustrated numerous books including the History of Italy by Paolo Emiliani Giudici, detective stories, Salgari's novels, I promessi sposi diManzoni (1910 edition released in pantries, with 40 panels by Scarpelli) and the Divine Comedy
Recovering his drawings made for the Registers of the Allegra Brigade, the Nerbini publishing house published in 1955 the collection of stickers entitled The great explorers and navigators. The collection was revived in 1960 by the Alba house in Tortona. More on Tancredi Scarpelli 

The Pope was bound and taken to Constantinople, where he lay long in prison in great sickness, tortured by both anxiety and hunger, until he was finally sentenced to exile in Cherson, where he lived for two years before his death. He gave his soul into the hands of the Lord, for whom he had suffered so greatly, in 655. The evil Patriarch, Paul, died two years before him and, when the Emperor visited him on his deathbed, he smote his head against the wall, confessing with tears that he had greatly sinned against Pope Martin and asking the Emperor to set Martin free. More on Saint Martin the Confessor

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