Pope Mark

Mark was a Roman, son of Priscus, who succeeded Sylvester I on 18 January 336. Evidence suggests the Depositio episcoporum and Depositio martyrum — early lists of bishops and martyrs — were begun under his watch. He issued a constitution giving the bishop of Ostia the pallium and the authority to consecrate newly elected popes, formalizing a ritual that would last centuries. He founded the Basilica of San Marco in Rome and a cemetery church over the Catacomb of Balbina on land donated by Constantine. Mark died of natural causes on 7 October 336, just under nine months into his papacy, and was…