Everything about Pope Callixtus I totally explained
Pope Saint 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 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 (199-217) entrusted the burial chambers along the
Appian Way, which had been completely lost and forgotten, until in 1849 they were rediscovered by the archaeologist
Giovanni Battista de Rossi. In the third century, nine Bishops of Rome were interred in the chamber of the
Catacombs of San Callisto now called the
Capella dei Papi.
When Callixtus followed Zephyrinus as Bishop of Rome, he established the practice of the absolution of all repented sins, for which
Tertullian took him to task (
De Pudicitia xxi). The
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops introduction to saints notes that St. Callistus is "most renowned for the reconciliation of sinners, who following a period of penance, were re-admitted to communion with the Church."
(External Link
) Hippolytus and Tertullian were especially upset by the pope's admitting to communion those who had repented for murder, adultery, and fornication, as well as by his alleged belief in
Sabellianism, which he attempted to distance himself from.
In an apocryphal
anecdote in the collection of imperial biographies called the
Historia Augustae, the spot on which he'd built an oratory was claimed by tavern keepers, but
the emperor 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 (Callixtus and
Pope Julius I) 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 (Nyborg).
Callixtus was honored as a martyr in
Todi, Italy, on
August 14. He was buried in the cemetery of
Calepodius on the
Aurelian Way and his anniversary is given by the 4th-century
Depositio Martirum (
Callisti in viâ Aureliâ miliario III) and by the subsequent
martyrologies on 14 October. According to the
Catholic Encyclopedia, his relics were translated in the 9th century to the predecessor of
Santa Maria in Trastevere.
The Roman Catholic Church keeps the feast day of Pope Saint Callixtus I on
October 14.
The
Acta of Callixtus are imaginary (
CE "Pope St Callistus I").
Further Information
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