Julius I, pope from 337 to 352, was a native of Rome and was chosen as successor of Marcus after the Roman see had been vacant four months. He is chiefly known by the part he took in the Arian controversy. After the Eusabians had, at a synod held in Antioch in 341, renewed their deposition of Athanasius, they resolved to send delegates to Constans, emperor of the West, and also to Julius, setting forth the grounds on which they had proceeded. The latter, after expressing an opinion favourable to Athanasius, adroitly invited both parties to lay the case before a synod to be presided over by himself. This proposal, however, the Eastern bishops declined to accept.
On his second banishment from Alexandria, Athanasius came to Rome, and was recognised as a regular bishop by the synod held in 342. It was through the influence of Julius that, at a later date, the council of Sardica in Illyria was held, which was attended only by seventy-six Eastern bishops, who speedily withdrew to Philippopolis and deposed Julius, along with Athanasius and others. The three hundred western bishops who remained confirmed the previous decisions of the Roman synod; and by its 3rd, 4th and 5th decrees relating to the rights of revision claimed by Julius the council of Sardica perceptibly helped forward the pretensions of the Papacy. Julius on his death in April 352 was succeeded by Liberius.
The warrior pope who commissioned Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling, Raphael to paint the Stanze di Raffaello in the Vatican, and Bramante to begin the new St. Peter's Basilica.
Julius, who was of warlike bent, first proceeded to extend the papacy's temporal power.
Julius, who himself laid the cornerstone, had wished to be buried there, and had even commissioned an imposing tomb from Michelangelo.
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