Friedrich Bernard Christian Maassen
United Sees of Macerata and Tolentino
Vicariate Apostolic of Mackenzie
Marie-Edmé-Patrice-Maurice de MacMahon
Joseph-Anna-Marie de Moyria de Mailla
François-Pierre-Gonthier Maine de Biran
Françoise, Marquise de Maintenon
Joseph-Marie, Comte de Maistre
Marcellinus of Civezza, O.F.M.
Margaret of the Blessed Sacrament
Prefecture Apostolic of Mariana Islands
Congregation of the Missionaries of Mariannhill
Sts. Maris, Martha, Audifax, and Abachum
Lucius Perpetuus Aurelianus Marius Maximus
Vicariate Apostolic of Marquesas Islands
Moral and Canonical Aspect of Marriage
Diocese of Marseilles (Massilia)
Vicariate Apostolic of the Marshall Islands
Diocese of Marsico Nuovo and Potenza
Luigi Ferdinando, Count de Marsigli
Missionaries of the Company of Mary
Servants of Mary (Order of Servites)
Society of Mary (Marist Fathers)
St. Mary Frances of the Five Wounds of Jesus
Richard Angelus a S. Francisco Mason
Devises and Bequests for Masses (United States)
Feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus
Caius Julius Verus Maximinus Thrax
Prefecture Apostolic of Mayotte, Nossi-Bé, and Comoro
Charles Joseph Eugene de Mazenod
Abbey and Congregation of Melk
Vicariate Apostolic of Méndez and Gualaquiza
Francisco Sarmiento de Mendoza
Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy
Sisters of Mercy of St. Borromeo
Frédéric-François-Xavier Ghislain de Mérode
Delegation Apostolic of Mesopotamia, Kurdistan, and Armenia
Metal-Work in the Service of the Church
Prince Klemens Lothar Wenzel von Metternich
Francis, Joseph, and Paul Mezger
Military Orders of St. Michael
Giovanni Francesco Pico della Mirandola
Congregation of the Sisters of Misericorde
Prefecture Apostolic of Misocco and Calanca
Congregation of Priests of the Mission
Congregation of Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo
Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales of Annecy
Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle
Mission Indians (of California)
Catholic Indian Missions of Canada
Catholic Indian Missions of the United States
François-Napoléon-Marie Moigno
Diocese of Molfetta, Terlizzi, and Giovinazzo
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Molière
Principality and Diocese of Monaco
Canonical Erection of a Monastery
Monophysites and Monophysitism
Monothelitism and Monothelites
Montagnais Indians (Chippewayans)
Charles-Forbes-René, Comte de Montalembert
Marquis de Louis-Joseph Montcalm-Gozon
Diocese of Monterey and Los Angeles
Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu
Anne, First Duke of Montmorency
Alexis-François Artaud de Montor
Antoine-Jean-Baptiste-Robert Auget, Baron de Montyon
Dioceses of Mostar and Markana-Trebinje
Feast of the Most Pure Heart of Mary
Toribio de Benavente Motolinia
Congregations of Mount Calvary
Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Karl Ernst, Freiherr von Moy de Sons
Johann Chrysostomus Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
St. Clair Augustine Mulholland
Baron Eligius Franz Joseph von Münch-Bellinghausen
Archdiocese of Munich-Freising
Date of birth unknown; consecrated 18 Jan., 336; d. 7 Oct., 336. After the death of Pope Sylvester, Mark was raised to the Roman episcopal chair as his successor. The "Liber Pontificalis" says that he was a Roman, and that his father's name was Priscus. Constantine the Great's letter, which summoned a conference of bishops for the investigation of the Donatist dispute, is directed to Pope Miltiades and one Mark (Eusebius, "Hist. Eccl.", X, v). This Mark was evidently a member of the Roman clergy, either priest or first deacon, and is perhaps identical with the pope. The date of Mark's election (18 Jan., 336) is given in the Liberian Catalogue of popes (Duchesne, "Liber Pontificalis", I, 9), and is historically certain; so is the day of his death (7 Oct.), which is specified in the same way in the "Depositio episcoporum" of Philocalus's "Chronography", the first edition of which appeared also in 336. Concerning an interposition of the pope in the Arian troubles, which were then so actively affecting the Church in the East, nothing has been handed down. An alleged letter of his to St. Athanasius is a later forgery. Two constitutions are attributed to Mark by the author of the "Liber Pontificalis" (ed. Duchesne, I, 20). According to the one, he invested the Bishop of Ostia with the pallium, and ordained that this bishop was to consecrate the Bishop of Rome. It is certain that, towards the end of the fourth century, the Bishop of Ostia did bestow the episcopal consecration upon the newly-elected pope; Augustine expressly bears witness to this (Breviarium Collationis, III, 16). It is indeed possible that Mark had confirmed this privilege by a constitution, which does not preclude the fact that the Bishop of Ostia before this time usually consecrated the new pope. As for the bestowal of the pallium, the account cannot be established from sources of the fourth century, since the oldest memorials which show this badge, belong to the fifth and sixth centuries, and the oldest written mention of a pope bestowing the pallium dates from the sixth century (cf. Grisar, "Das römische Pallium und die altesten liturgischen Schärpen", in "Festschrift des deutschen Campo Santo in Rom", Freiburg im Br., 1897, 83-114).
The "Liber Pontificalis" remarks further of Marcus: "Et constitutum de omni ecclesia ordinavit"; but we do not know which constitution this refers to. The building of two basilicas is attributed to this pope by the author of the "Liber Pontificalis". One of these was built within the city in the region "juxta Pallacinis"; it is the present church of San Marco, which however received its present external shape by later alterations. It is mentioned in the fifth century as a Roman title church, so that its foundation may without difficulty be attributed to St. Mark. The other was outside the city; it was a cemetery church, which the pope got built over the Catacomb of Balbina, between the Via Appia and the Via Ardeatina (cf. de Rossi, "Roma sotterranea", III, 8-13; "Bullettino di arch. crist.", 1867, 1 sqq.; Wilpert, "Topographische Studien uber die christlichen Monumente der Appia und der Ardeatina", in "Rom. Quartalschrift", 1901, 32-49). The pope obtained from Emperor Constantine gifts of land and liturgical furniture for both basilicas. Mark was buried in the Catacomb of Balbina, where he had built the cemetery church. His grave is expressly mentioned there by the itineraries of the seventh century (de Rossi, "Roma sotterranea", I, 180-1). The feast of the deceased pope was given on 7 Oct. in the old Roman calendar of feasts, which was inserted in the "Martyrologium Hieronymianum"; it is still kept on the same date. In an ancient manuscript a laudatory poem is preserved (unfortunately in a mutilated text), which Pope Damasus had composed on a Saint Marcus (de Rossi, "Inscriptiones christ. urbis Romae.", II, 108; Ihm, "Damasi epigrammata", Leipzig, 1895, 17, no. 11). De Rossi refers this to Pope Mark, but Duchesne (loc. cit., 204), is unable to accept this view. Since the contents of the poem are of an entirely general nature, without any particularly characteristic feature from the life of Pope Mark, the question is not of great importance.
Liber Pontif., ed. DUCHESNE, I, 202-4; URBAIN, Ein Martyrologium der christl. Gemeinde zu Rom am Anfang des V. Jahrh. (Leipzig, 1901), 198; LANGEN, Gesch. der rom. Kirche, I, 423.
J.P. KIRSCH