|
|||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pope Callixtus I |
| Callixtus I | |
 |
|
| Papacy began | 217 |
|---|---|
| Papacy ended | 222 |
| Predecessor | Zephyrinus |
| Successor | Urban I |
| Birth name | Callixtus or Callistus |
| Born | ??? ??? |
| Died | 222 ??? |
| Other popes named Callixtus | |
Pope Callixtus I or Callistus I, was pope from about 217 to about 222, during the reigns of the Roman Emperors Heliogabalus and Alexander Severus. He was martyred for his Christian faith and is a canonized saint of the Roman Catholic Church.
His contemporary and enemy, the author of Philosophumena (probably Hippolytus of Rome) relates that when Callixtus, as a young slave, was put in charge of a bank by his master Carpophorus, he lost the money deposited by other Christians. Callixtus then fled from Rome, but was caught near Portus. According to the tale, Callixtus jumped overboard to avoid capture, but was rescued and taken back to his master. He was released at the request of the creditors, who hoped he might be able to recover some of the money, but was rearrested for fighting in a synagogue when he tried to borrow money or collect debts from some Jews. Denounced as a Christian, Callixtus was sentenced to work in the mines of Sardinia. Finally, he was released with other Christians at the request of Hyacinthus, a eunuch presbyter, who represented Marcia, a mistress of Emperor Commodus. His health was so weakened that his fellow Christians sent him to Antium to recuperate and he was given a pension by Pope Victor I.
Callixtus was the deacon to whom Pope Zephyrinus entrusted the burial chambers along the Appian Way. In the third century, nine Bishops of Rome were interred in these Catacombs of San Callisto, also called the Capella dei Papi.
When Callixtus followed Zephyrinus as Bishop of Rome, he established the practise of the absolution of all repented sins, for which Tertullian criticized him. Hippolytus and Tertullian were especially upset by the pope's admitting to communion those who had done public penance for murder, adultery, and fornication, as well as by his alleged belief in Sabellianism, from which which he attempted to distance himself.
In an apocryphal anecdote in the collection of imperial biographies called the Augustan History, the spot on which he had built an oratory was claimed by tavern keepers, but Alexander Severus decided that the worship of any god was better than a tavern. The story is the basis for dating the original structure of the present Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere.
The Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere was a titulus of which Callixtus was the patron. The 4th-century basilica of Ss Callixti et Iuliani was rebuilt in the 12th century by Pope Innocent II and rededicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The 8th-century Chiesa di San Callisto is close by, with its beginnings apparently as a shrine on the site of his martyrdom, which is attested in the 4th-century Deposition Martyri and so is likely to be historical. It is possible that Callixtus was martyred around 222, perhaps during a popular uprising, but the legend that he was thrown down a well has no historical foundation, though the church does contain an ancient well.
Callixtus was honoured as a martyr in Todi, Italy, on 14 August. He was buried in the cemetery of Calepodius on the Aurelian Way and his anniversary is given by the 4th-century Depositio Martirum and by subsequent martyrologies on 14 October. His relics were translated in the 9th century to Santa Maria in Trastevere.1
The Roman Catholic Church celebrates his optional memorial on 14 October.
The Acts of Callixtus are spurious.2
| Roman Catholic Church titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Zephyrinus |
Bishop of Rome Pope 217–222 |
Succeeded by Urban I |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
