Fabian
Bishop of Rome for fourteen years, who died in the Decian persecution in January 250. He was commemorated at Rome in the cemetery of Callistus.
Eusebius, writing some seventy years later, tells the story that Fabian was a stranger from the country whom no one had thought of as bishop until a dove settled on his head in the assembly (Eusebius, Church History 6.29). The list of Roman bishops compiled in the fourth century gives him fourteen years in office, from the consulship of 236 to that of 250, and says that he divided the districts of the city among the deacons and had much building done in the cemeteries (Chronograph of 354 part 13 (Liberian Catalogue), Fabius and Cornelius).
He died under Decius (Eusebius, Church History 6.39.1). The Roman calendar of martyrs commemorates him on 20 January in the cemetery of Callistus; the list of bishops gives the 21st (Chronograph of 354 part 12, 20 January) (Chronograph of 354 part 13 (Liberian Catalogue), Fabius and Cornelius). Cyprian, on receiving the Roman clergy’s report, wrote to congratulate them on their bishop’s “glorious end” (Cyprian, Letters 3.1 [9.1]). The same list dates his successor Cornelius from the consuls of 251 (Chronograph of 354 part 13 (Liberian Catalogue), Fabius and Cornelius).
In the timeline
- AD 250, firm dateThe Decian Persecution
The emperor Decius orders the inhabitants of the empire to sacrifice to the gods and obtain a certificate. Bishops are executed or driven into hiding, many Christians comply, and the churches are left divided over how to receive them back.