Pope Callixtus I
Urban I | |
---|---|
Orders | |
Ordination | 199, as deacon by Zephyrinus |
Personal details | |
Died | 222 Rome[1] |
Sainthood | |
Feast day | 14 October |
Patronage | Cemetery workers[2] |
Other popes named Callixtus |
Pope Callixtus I (
Life
Callixtus I's contemporaries and enemies,
Philosophumena claims that, denounced as a Christian, Callixtus was sentenced to work in the mines of Sardinia.[4] He was released with other Christians at the request of Hyacinthus, a eunuch presbyter, who represented Marcia, the favourite mistress of Emperor Commodus.[4] At this time 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.[3]
In 199, Callixtus was ordained a deacon by Pope Zephyrinus and appointed superintendent of the Christian cemetery on the Appian Way. That place, which is to this day called the Catacombs of St. Callixtus, became the burial-ground of many popes and was the first land property owned by the Church.[4] Emperor Julian the Apostate, writing to a pagan priest, said:[4]
Christians have gained most popularity because of their charity to strangers and because of their care for the burial of their dead.
In the third century, nine bishops of Rome were interred in the Catacomb of Callixtus, in the part now called the Capella dei Papi. These catacombs were rediscovered by the archaeologist Giovanni Battista de Rossi in 1849.
In 217, when Callixtus followed Zephyrinus as
The
Death
It is possible that Callixtus was martyred around 222 or 223, perhaps during a popular uprising, perhaps by being thrown down a well. According to the apocryphal Acts of Saint Callixtus,
Callixtus was buried in the cemetery of
See also
- List of Catholic saints
- List of popes
- Pope Saint Callixtus I, patron saint archive
Citations
- ^ The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Saint Calixtus I". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
- ^ Jones, Tery M. "Pope Saint Callistus I". Saints.SQPN.com. Star Quest Publication Network. Retrieved 14 October 2010.
- ^ a b c Chapman, John (1908). "Pope Callistus I" in The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^ ISBN 978-971-91595-4-4.
- ^ Philosophoumena IX.7
- ^ Pagels, Elaine (1979). The Gnostic Gospels. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. p. 108.
- ^ Hippolytus. Refutation of all heresies. Book 9 Ch. 7.
- ^ "Saint Hippolytus of Rome". Encyclopædia Britannica.
- ^ a b Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints. Vol. 2. (J. Hodges, 1877). Digitized 6 June 2007. Page 506.
- ]
- ^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
References
- Kelly, J. N. D. (2006). Oxford Dictionary of the Popes (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 13–4. ISBN 978-0198614333.
Further reading
- Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz (1975). "Calixt I". In Bautz, Friedrich Wilhelm (ed.). Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German). Vol. 1. Hamm: Bautz. cols. 858–859. ISBN 3-88309-013-1.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: John Chapman (1908). "Pope Callistus I.)". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- András Handl (2014). Bishop Callistus I. of Rome (217?−222?): A Martyr or a Confessor? In Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum/Journal of Ancient Christianity 18, p. 390-419.
- András Handl (2021). From Slave to Bishop. Callixtus’ Early Ecclesial Career and Mechanisms of Clerical Promotion. In Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum/Journal of Ancient Christianity 21, p. 53-73. (Open access).
External links
- St. Calixtus, or Callistus, Pope, Martyr Archived 30 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine
- St. Callistus I
- "Callistus I." in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints
- Collected works of Migne Patrologia Latina
- "Callistus I." in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints
- Collected works by Migne Patrologia Latina