Innocent

Innocent, the name of thirteen popes, the most remarkable of whom are the following.—INNOCENT I., a native of Albano, was elected Bishop of Rome in 402. Next to the pontificate of Leo the Great that of Innocent forms the most important epoch in the history of the relations of the see of Rome with the other churches, both of the East and of the West. He was earnest and vigorous in enforcing the celibacy of the clergy. He maintained with a firm hand the right of the Bishop of Rome to receive and to judge appeals from other churches, and his letters abound with assertions of universal jurisdiction, to which Catholics appeal as early evidence of the Roman primacy. Innocent I. died in 417, and was canonised.—For Innocent II. see POPE, ANTIPOPE.