died Sept. 22, 530, Rome; feast day January 30

pope from 526 to 530. He was elected on July 12 as the choice of Theodoric the Great (Theodoric), king of the Ostrogoths, who had imprisoned Felix' predecessor, St. John I, and who died shortly after Felix' consecration. The new pope ended the controversy over grace at the second Council of Orange (Orange, councils of) (529) by condemning semi-Pelagianism, which maintained that the beginning of faith results from human effort rather than grace (see Orange, councils of; semi-Pelagianism). Felix converted a pagan temple at Rome into the Church of SS. Cosmas and Damian. To avoid a disputed succession, Felix named the archdeacon Boniface (Pope Boniface II) as his successor.