St. Callistus

St. Callistus I was pope from about 217 to 222, in an age when the Church of Rome still lived under the shadow of persecution. He was born in Rome, probably in the later second century, though the year is unknown. Much of what is recorded of his early life comes from the writings of his theological rival Hippolytus, a hostile witness whose account must be read with caution. According to that account, Callistus began life as a slave in the household of a Christian named Carpophorus, was entrusted with funds that were lost, and was eventually condemned to the mines of Sardinia, from which he was released with other Christian prisoners. Whatever the truth of those early misfortunes, Callistus rose to a position of great trust in the Roman Church. Pope St. Zephyrinus ordained him a deacon and placed him in charge of the Christian cemetery on the Appian Way, the first burial ground officially owned by the Church. That cemetery, where many early popes and martyrs were laid to rest, still bears his name: the Catacombs of San Callisto remain among the most visited pilgrimage sites of Christian Rome. Elected bishop of Rome on the death of Zephyrinus around 217, Callistus proved a shepherd of notable mercy. He taught that the Church could absolve even grave sins such as adultery when the sinner sincerely repented, and he recognized as valid the marriages of free Roman women to men of lower rank or servile condition, which Roman law refused to acknowledge. For this compassion he was bitterly attacked by the rigorist Hippolytus, but his practice affirmed a conviction the Church has never abandoned: that no repentant sinner is beyond God's forgiveness. Callistus died in 222. He is venerated as a martyr from at least the fourth century, and tradition relates that he was killed in a local uprising in the Trastevere district, perhaps thrown into a well; the details cannot be verified, but he is the earliest pope after St. Peter listed in the Church's oldest martyrology. He was buried on the Aurelian Way, and his relics are venerated at the basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, which tradition traces to a Christian meeting place he established. Venerated long before formal canonization processes, he is remembered on October 14 as a patron of cemetery workers.