St. Hippolytus

St. Hippolytus (c. 170–c. 235) was a priest of Rome and the most important theologian writing in the Roman Church of the early third century. Learned in Greek philosophy and Scripture, he produced commentaries, chronicles, and polemical works, of which the best known is the Refutation of All Heresies. The influential church order known as the Apostolic Tradition has also long been attributed to him, though scholars today debate its authorship. Hippolytus was a rigorist, and his zeal drew him into open conflict with the popes of his day. He accused Pope Zephyrinus of doctrinal laxity regarding the Trinity, and he broke with Pope Callistus over the reconciliation of sinners, holding that the Church should not readmit those guilty of grave sins. According to the traditional account, his followers set him up as a rival bishop of Rome, which is why he is sometimes described as the first antipope. God brought the story to a redemptive close. During the persecution of the emperor Maximinus Thrax in 235, Hippolytus and Pope Pontian were both deported to the mines of Sardinia, a sentence that amounted to a death sentence. There, tradition holds, Hippolytus was reconciled to the Church before dying of his sufferings, and he has always been honored as a martyr. The bodies of the two men were later brought back to Rome and buried on the same day; Hippolytus was laid in the cemetery on the Via Tiburtina that bears his name. Because his memory later became entangled with legendary figures of the same name — notably a soldier said to have been converted by St. Lawrence and put to death by being dragged by horses — Hippolytus acquired his traditional patronage of horses and prison guards; these stories belong to hagiographical legend rather than history. The Church celebrates him with Pope St. Pontian on August 13, a fitting joint memorial for two former adversaries united in exile, suffering, and the peace of Christ.