Pope Saint Miltiades

Miltiades, also called Melchiades, was probably of African origin and was elected bishop of Rome in 311. During his short pontificate the Church passed from persecution to peace: in 313 the Edict of Milan granted Christians freedom of worship. Emperor Constantine gave the Church the Lateran palace, and there Miltiades presided over a synod in 313 that addressed the Donatist schism in North Africa. He died in January 314 and was buried in the Catacomb of Callixtus.

His traditional feast on December 10 appears in the older Roman calendar, where he was honored as a martyr for the sufferings he endured in the persecutions; the current Roman Martyrology remembers him on January 10.