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Simplicius
pope
SaintResearchedAncient RomeDate unknown
Feast: 10 March (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Born
420
Died
10 March 483
verified
Beatified
—
not on record
Canonised
—
not on record
Who they were
Simplicius of Tivoli was elected pope in 468, in the years when the Western Empire came to an end.
He vigorously defended the Church's independence against the Byzantine emperors and the authority of the Apostolic See in matters of faith, and upheld the Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria. He died on 10 March 483 and was venerated as a saint.
The miracles
There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.
Why that counted as sanctity
A pope who guarded the faith as the Western Empire fell.
Sources
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - Pope St. Simplicius
- Wikidata Q168741 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Pope Simplicius (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.