YEAR OF OUR LORD CCXXIII. ST. CALLISTUS I POPE AND MARTYR. NOTICE
Callistus, a Roman by nationality, son of Domitius, from the district of the city of the Ravennati, held the see for 5 years, 2 months, and 10 days. He lived in the times of Macrinus and Heliogabalus, from the consulship of Antoninus and Alexander. He was crowned by martyrdom. He ordained that a fast be held four times a year, for the sake of grain, wine, and oil, according to prophecy. He was buried in the cemetery of Calepodius, on the Aurelian Way, at the third milestone, on the 14th of October. He built the church of Saint Mary beyond the Tiber. And he made another cemetery on the Appian Way, where many priests and martyrs rest, which is called to this day the cemetery of Callistus. He performed five ordinations in the month of December: 16 presbyters, 4 deacons, and 8 bishops for various locations. He rested from his episcopate for 6 days.
A Callistus, a Roman by birth and a most vigilant shepherd of the Church, celebrated for miracles and sanctity—who healed Privatus, who was full of ulcers, by his prayers—received the charge of the pontificate on the 6th of September in the year of the Lord’s incarnation 221, which is the second year of Antoninus Caracalla. See Baronius, year 220.
Under the emperor Alexander, in the third year of his reign, which is 226 of Christ, he was put to the test of martyrdom on the 13th of October, as the ecclesiastical tables report; even though it is found that he held the see for five years, but for only one month and 12 days.
The Roman Martyrology contains these words: At Rome, on the Appian Way, is the birthday of the blessed Pope and martyr Callistus, who, by the command of the emperor Alexander, was tormented for a long time by hunger in prison, and beaten daily with clubs, until he was finally thrown from the window of the house in which he was kept, and cast into a well, and thereby gained the triumph of victory. But because the emperor Alexander, as Lampridius testifies in his *Life of Alexander*, not only did not harm the Christian cause but rather promoted it greatly—having Christ among the gods, performing divine service to Him in his private chapel at morning hours, and, had he not been dissuaded by the oracles of the gods, having decreed to build a temple to Him—was delighted by the conduct of the Christians, proposed them as models to the governors of the provinces, and finally, having expelled the tavern-keepers, granted them a public place for holding assemblies, from which, in the time of Augustus, when Christ was being born in Bethlehem, oil had sprung forth, and permitted him to build a temple there, in the name of the Virgin's birth, consecrated by the pontiff Callistus: because, I say, he was so well-disposed toward the Christians with the best intention, we have judged it to be more true that Pope Callistus was killed not by the explicit command and decree of the emperor Alexander himself, but rather by the counsel and decree of the jurisconsults, and especially Ulpian, who, as is evident from Lactantius Firmianus (*De Mortibus Persecutorum,* book V, ch. 11 and 12), was most hostile to the Christians as if they were sacrilegious. For he acted as tutor B to the emperor, sat in the first place beside the prince, and administered the praetorian prefecture, a most exalted dignity, by the emperor's grant; he was also the master of the records, to such an extent that the emperor did almost everything according to his judgment, and it was said to have happened by the order of Alexander what had been done by the command and counsel of Ulpian alone. Regarding these matters, see Baronius, year 225, numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.; likewise year 226, number 4.
C This decree exists as his first epistle. See what we shall say in the notes to that epistle.
Mentions of the cemeteries of the pontiffs are made by this author in various places; forty-three are recounted by Baronius in the year of Christ 226, numbers 8 and 9. Those places are called cemeteries, to which Christians used to carry the bodies of their deceased, smeared with ointments, to be buried; for they called these places cemeteries (sleeping-places), because the faith taught that Christians do not die, but are to be raised again, and in the meanwhile fall asleep in the Lord. Tertullian, *De Corona Militis*. These are sometimes called elsewhere *areæ*, tombs, catacombs, and, from the nature of the location, sandy crypts. In these places were buried the deceased of the Christians only, and not of the pagan gentiles, and therefore they were accustomed to be frequented by Christians on the Lord’s days: which was afterwards forbidden by the edicts of other emperors, and in turn granted to Christians by others. See Baronius, year 130, number 2; year 226, numbers 10 and 11; year 260, number 17; year 258.
D By the Law of the Twelve Tables, as Cicero testifies in *De Legibus*, book II, it had been forbidden to bury a dead person within the walls. By this law, therefore, even the Christians were compelled to bury their dead outside the walls, unless perhaps someone had secretly (which happened quite often) carried off the body of a martyr and buried it in his own house. Under the Christian emperors, the bones of the saints were translated into the churches. Baronius, year 226, numbers 7 and 12.
ANOTHER NOTICE
(D. Coustant, *Epistolæ Rom. pont.*, vol. I, p. 114.)
After Zephyrinus, Callistus—who is called Calixtus by both Optatus and Augustine—was ordained in the first year of Heliogabalus, around the beginning of the year of Christ 219. Five years not having fully elapsed, he ended his life by martyrdom on the 14th day of October, in the year 223, the day on which his feast is also celebrated. In the *Chronicle* of Eusebius, five years of pontificate are simply attributed to him. In the Bucherian catalogue, however, which is also supported by the *Liber Pontificalis*, it is noted that he governed the Church for 5 years, 11 months, and 10 days. But the aforementioned catalogue does not hold together; it defines Callistus’s episcopate as lasting from the consulship of Antoninus and Adventus until the third (read: fourth) of Antoninus and Alexander—that is, from the year of Christ 218 to 222. Nor does that which is contained in the *Liber Pontificalis* (Fuit temporibus Macrini et Heliogabali a consulatu [read: ad consulatum] Antonini et Alexandri) agree with the *Chronicle* or the *History* of Eusebius. For in both, it is recorded that while Heliogabalus was reigning in the place of the deceased Macrinus, Zephyrinus passed away and Callistus assumed the government of the Church.
Regarding the decree and epistles ascribed to Callistus.
1. If one must believe the common *Pontificalis* book, Callistus decreed that a fast be held four times in the year, for the sake of grain, wine, and oil, according to the prophecy. In the Fossatensis manuscript, now in the Colbertine library—with which another manuscript of the Queen of Sweden in the Bollandists' *Acta Sanctorum*, vol. 1, April, Appendix, agrees—the same decree is enunciated thus: "He instituted the fast to be held three times in the year on Saturday, for grain, wine, and oil, according to the prophet, in the fourth, seventh, and tenth months." Isidore Mercator combines both readings, as if he had read: "The fast, which used to be held three times a year, is to be held four times and constituted." For he introduces him writing thus: "The fast, which you have learned to celebrate among us three times a year, we now decree is more fittingly held during the four seasons."
2. That the custom of fasting on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday was generally received in the Roman Church at least by the fifth century, the sermons of Leo provide confirmation. Moreover, that this custom, taken from legal institutions, also persisted among Christians by apostolic authority, the same Leo teaches. Hence, he says deservedly in Sermon 9 on the Fast of the Tenth Month, "Apostolic sanctions have arranged that the benefit of the ancient fasts should remain; and although the custom of the Church had learned to exercise itself with more prolonged rigors, it nevertheless embraced the sanctification of continence coming from the Law: for to those to whom it was granted to be able to do what is greater, it was indecent not to celebrate what is less." And in Sermon 8 on the Fast of the Seventh Month, c. 3, he says: "Although all time is suitable (for fasts), we nevertheless hold this to be most appropriate, which we see has been chosen by apostolic and legal institutions." In Sermon 4, c. 2, he declares this to be a general fast of the whole Church: which, however, is to be understood at least of the Roman Church. Wherefore in Sermon 3, c. 2, he proclaims regarding the same: "The fast, which the universal Church undertakes, separates no one from the general purification; and then the people of God become most powerful, when the hearts of all the faithful come together into the unity of holy obedience."
3. Callistus, Isidore Mercator, suppressed two epistles, to be returned someday to their genuine parent along with the rest of his offspring.
ACTS OF ST. CALLISTUS, POPE AND MARTYR OF ROME
(Acta Sanctorum Bolland., October vol. VI, day 14, p. 401.)
NOTICE.
The Acts of the martyrdom of Callistus, having been collated with various ancient manuscripts, were long since published in large part and illustrated with a Commentary by Henschenius in *Acta SS.*, vol. 2, May, on the tenth day of that month, page 498 and following; not indeed complete, but only to the extent that they contained the deeds of the holy martyrs Calepodius, Palmatius, Simplicus, Felix, Blandas, and others, of whom he was treating there. The remaining part was omitted, in which the remaining deeds of St. Callistus and the martyrdom of St. Asterius, who buried St. Callistus, and of the soldier Privatus, are explained.
We shall provide these documents in their entirety from the same manuscript which Henschenius used. Henschenius believed these Acts were written by Roman notaries, following, I suppose, the words found at the beginning of the manuscript, which are of this kind: A *The glorious deeds of Pope St. Calixtus and other martyrs, written by Roman notaries*; but this is believed too easily: for they are not endowed with that simplicity which is proper to the primitive and sincere Acts of the martyrs, nor are they lacking in flaws which cannot be imputed to Roman notaries: whence Sollerius, in his *Observation on the Martyrology of Usuard* for the tenth day of the month of May, states that he does not know what could have moved Henschenius to adopt that opinion.
But although these Acts were not written by Roman notaries, they are nevertheless of great antiquity, as they shone before Bede, Ado, and Rabanus, who quite often use their very words, as anyone who has consulted their texts, where they deal with the Holy Martyrs mentioned in the Acts of St. Calixtus, and has compared them with the Acts, will readily admit: for it cannot be said that the announcements of the Martyrologists were not compiled from the Acts, but rather that the Acts were compiled from these; which is refuted even by the words of Bede, citing the Acts of Calixtus. For after he wrote these things for the tenth day of May concerning the Holy Calepodius, Palmatius, and Simplicius: *At Rome, the birthday of the aged priest Calepodius, under the emperor Alexander, who had him killed by Laodicius, and his body dragged through the city and thrown into the Tiber on the day of the Kalends of May. Which the fishermen found and raised, and reported to Pope Calixtus. But he, having received it, embalmed it with spices and linens, and buried it in the cemetery of the same on the Via Aurelia, at the third milestone from the City, on the sixth day before the Ides of May. Then Palmatius the consul was beheaded by Alexander with his wife and children and forty-two others (with whom was also Simplicius the senator) who had recently been baptized through the teaching of Pope Calixtus and the priest Calepodius*: he immediately adds: *Written in the Passion of Pope St. Calixtus*. And indeed, see how conformable these words of Bede are with the Acts: concerning Calepodius, indeed, number 8, you will read: *‹Whom (Alexander) caused to be killed by the sword, and his body to be dragged through the city under the day of the Kalends of May: whose body he caused to be thrown into the Tiber... Which (the fishermen) raising from the river, reported to the Blessed Pope Calixtus... which holy body he received and embalmed with spices and linens and with hymns, and buried it in the cemetery of the same, the sixth day before the Ides of May.›* Concerning Palmatius, indeed, number 3: *‹(Calixtus) also baptized the whole house of Palmatius, and his wife and children of both sexes, forty-two in number.›* Again, for the fourteenth day of October, concerning the Holy Pontiff, Bede: *‹The birthday of St. Pope Calixtus: who in the persecution under the emperor Alexander was tortured a long time with hunger and beaten daily with rods, was comforted and consoled by a vision of his priest Calepodius, who had previously finished his martyrdom: who, being placed in the same prison, cured a certain soldier, named Privatus, from the pain and foulness of ulcers and at the same time from infidelity. Hearing this, Alexander caused the soldier himself to die by leaded whips: but the blessed Calixtus was thrown out through the window of the house; and with a stone tied to his neck, he was submerged in a well, and was covered over with rubble. But after seventeen days, his priest Asterius, coming by night with the clerics, raised the body and buried it in the cemetery of Calepodius on the day before the Ides of October.›* If you read numbers 8 and 9 of the Acts, you will find almost the same words: you will experience the same thing if you wish to compare the words of Ado with the words of the Acts. Whence it follows that the Acts of St. Calixtus are from the eighth century, in which Bede flourished, and perhaps much older indeed.
For since Bede did not find these Acts to be older, and it is not likely that they were written at the time when Bede composed his Martyrology, there is certainly reason why we should acknowledge that they were old even in Bede’s age; although it is very obscure and uncertain in what century they were first produced. Petrus Morettus, Canon of the church of St. Mary across the Tiber, in the first volume concerning Pope and Martyr St. Calixtus and his basilica, published in Rome in the year 1752, in Disquisition 4, chapter 9, has collected many things eruditely, by which he contends that they were written (see the cited chapter number 67, page 212) when the memory of the deeds had not yet perished, since they (the Passion of St. Calixtus, and indeed such as it is read today) were in use in the first centuries after tranquility was granted to the Christian religion by the Roman Church. And therefore, *Great from this*, he says, *is the antiquity of the writing and no less its authority.*
ACTS OF THE MARTYRDOM
1. In the times of Macrinus and Alexander, B a part of the Capitol was burned from the south, and inside the temple of Jupiter the golden left hand fell and was melted. But the soothsayers and priests came to Alexander, saying that their gods should be appeased with sacrifices. Having heard this, Alexander ordered their petition to be fulfilled. And while they were sacrificing, suddenly from heaven C there were four priests of the idols, and the altar of Jupiter was burned by the fire (3): and the day became dark, so that the entire Roman people fled outside the walls. And while the people were dispersing in flight, they came across the Tiber into the city to the temple of the Ravennates (4), and they heard in a certain dining hall D ...
A the multitude of Christians singing psalms: among whom was Calixtus the bishop with his clergy. One of the consuls, however, by the name of Palmatius, hearing of the multitude of Christians gathered in that place, reported it to Alexander, saying: "Great Prince, this sign was brought about precisely because the city is becoming defiled. If, therefore, it is purified, we shall rejoice together in the glory of your majesty, and the Republic will shine forth." Alexander said: "Let it be purified." "Finally, explain to us, what is this purification?" Palmatius answered: "That they be not profane." Alexander said: "Who are the profane?" Palmatius answered: "The Christians." Alexander said: "I have ordered once and again that wherever they are found they should be punished, or offer libations to the immortal gods (6)." Palmatius answered, saying: "By your radiance, I have heard—when I was sad because of the sign that took place—how a multitude of Christians was crying out with canticles and incantations in a certain place in the region across the Tiber: wherefore it is no wonder if this cause has brought about this sign."
2. Alexander said to him: "Take authority, so that wherever you find them, you may drag them to sacrifice, to appease the gods: or at least afflict them with exquisite tortures (7)." Then Palmatius, having accepted the authority, having gathered a multitude of soldiers, came across the Tiber, where a multitude of Christians was gathered with the Blessed Calixtus: among whom was Calepodius (8), an old priest; and entering into a certain dining hall (9), B ten soldiers entered: and when they had all entered, these ten soldiers were suddenly made blind. Calepodius the old priest answered and said: "My sons, whom do you seek?" They, however, were crying out, saying: "Light lamps for us, for this place has become darkened before our eyes." But Calepodius the priest said: "God, who sees all things, He Himself has blinded your eyes." Then, groping, they went out as blind men. Now when Palmatius had seen this, terrified with fear, he fled and reported everything to Alexander. On that same day, therefore, Alexander ordered the soldiers who had been made blind to be led into his presence. And when he had learned of the magic art (10), Palmatius answered and said: "If this was done by magic art, where are the virtues of our gods? Let your piety, therefore, order [them] to be brought and sacrificed to the gods, lest the republic perish on account of their incantations." And Alexander ordered that a sacrifice be made to Mercury, and that [he might] learn the answers. A decree (11) was issued to the entire populace that all should hasten from the city of Rome to the Capitol, such that whoever was found in their dwellings on the day of Mercury (12), all would be killed; and with a crier sent out, it was declared thus, that all the common people should convene at the Capitol with the prince on the day of Mercury without delay; whoever did not hasten, let him know that he must be punished by death. On the aforesaid day, all the Roman people hastened to the Capitol. Palmatius also, with his entire household, came to the Capitol with pigs and calves (13).
3. And it happened that blood was poured out because of the slaughter of the animals, and the priests were chanting with incantations; a virgin of the temple named Juliana, seized by a demon, was crying out, saying: "The God of Calixtus, He Himself is the living and true God: He is angered by the pollutions of your Republic, and will crush your mortal kingdom, because you do not adore the truth." Hearing this, Palmatius alone ran to the Blessed Calixtus in the region C across the Tiber in the city of the Ravennates; and he cast himself down, throwing himself [at his feet], and entered into the house where the multitude of Christians was gathered, and fell before the feet of the Blessed Calixtus, saying: "I have known Jesus Christ to be the true God, whom the demons confessed today: by Him I adjure you that you free me from the worship of demons and stones; baptize me as you preach." Calixtus the bishop said to him: "Do not mock the truth by erring." Palmatius answered with tears, saying: "Lord, I do not mock: for I have known in the blindness of the soldiers and in the response of the virgin that your Christ is my Lord." Calepodius the old priest answered and said to the blessed Bishop: "Most blessed Father, do not deny baptism to him who asks for it." At the same time, he proclaimed a fast (14) for him for one day, and D [The remainder of the text is omitted in the printed source.]
well that was in the same house, he blessed it. Placing Palmatius in a basin (15), S. Calixtus the bishop said to him: "Do you believe with your whole heart in God the Father Almighty, Creator of things visible and invisible?" Palmatius answered: "I do." And he said to him: "And in Jesus Christ, His Son (16)?" And he answered again: "I do." And he said to him: "And in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the remission of sins, and the resurrection of the body?" And Palmatius cried out with a loud voice and with tears: "I do, Lord." At that very hour he began to cry out and say: "I have truly seen the Lord Jesus Christ, the true light, who has enlightened me (17)." He then baptized the entire household of Palmatius, along with his wife and children, forty-two people of both sexes. From that day, Palmatius began to distribute all his wealth to the Christian poor, B searching through regions and crypts so that wherever he found Christians, whether in custody or in hiding, he might provide them with food or clothing from his own resources.
4. Thirty-two days later (18), Palmatius was sought by Alexander, to whom it had been reported that he was a Christian and that he was persuading others to be the same. Then Alexander ordered him to be brought forward. When he had been seized by a certain tribune named Torquatus and sent into the Mamertine prison (19); three days later (20) Torquatus informed Alexander that Palmatius was in custody. Then Alexander, rejoicing, ordered him to be brought before him. And Palmatius, bound in chains, entered before Alexander. When he saw him, he ordered him to be unbound and said to him: "Have you become so mad, O Palmatius, as to forsake the gods, and to seek and worship a dead man (21)?" Palmatius remained silent. Alexander said to him: "Speak with confidence: do not be afraid." Palmatius answered, saying: "If you grant me leave, we shall speak the truth." Alexander said to him: "Except for the defamation of the gods, speak." Palmatius said: "Most excellent prince, if you notice, they are not gods, but the handiwork of mortal men. Now let your clemency discern who ought to be worshipped: judge for yourself what sort of things those are that are fashioned by mortals. But I, a wretched man, beseech your highness: tell your god to speak, and when I have questioned him, let him answer; and if this happens, I will not forsake the gods you speak of." Alexander said to him: "And how is it that from your cradle you have adored these, and now you abandon them?" Palmatius answered: "I acted like a poor wretch, but now I have recognized what is true, for which reason I pray to the Lord Jesus Christ that He may forgive me because, in my ignorance, C I have sinned." At that same hour, Alexander, smiling, handed him over to a certain senator named Simplicius, saying: "Keep him with you without any fear, and by gentle words recall him to the worship of the gods; for the Republic has need of such a man." Having received Palmatius, the senator Simplicius had fine garments brought and put on him, and led him into his own house. And this Simplicius gave orders to his wife and the elders of his household that Palmatius should have authority over the entire house of Simplicius. Then Palmatius, spending his time in fasts and keeping the night vigils, ceased not to pray to God the Father Almighty and to Jesus Christ His Son with tears, that he might repent of his error.
5. Now there came to him a certain Felix by name, whose wife had been lying in bed for four years as an invalid; he cast himself at the feet of Palmatius, saying: "Confessor of our Lord Jesus Christ, pray for your handmaid, my wife Blanda, that she might be delivered from the bed of pain, and I myself may receive baptism with her; for it is a long time that she has been held by a paralytic sickness, and now our resources have been exhausted." Then Palmatius, in the presence of the wife of Simplicius, fell to the ground and began to pray with tears alongside Felix, saying: "Lord God, who hast enlightened thy servant, grant me the eternal light, Jesus Christ: save thy handmaid Blanda, and lift her from the bed of pain, that all may know that thou art the Creator of all things." At that very hour, Blanda came running on her own feet to the house of the senator Simplicius and said: "Baptize me in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who took my hand and healed me." Then Felix [C/D] began to urge B. Palmatius to be baptized. At that same hour, B. Palmatius sent to S. Calixtus the bishop; and he came and baptized Felix along with his wife Blanda. Seeing this, Simplicius fell at the feet of Calixtus, asking that he might be baptized with his whole household. Then B. Calixtus the bishop said confidently: "Let the Lord gather the wheat into His barn (22)," and he catechized the whole household of Simplicius, and his wife and children and his family, D nearly sixty-eight souls of both sexes. B. Calepodius the priest, filled with joy, began to cry out in the house of Simplicius, saying: "Glory to thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, who deignest to lead thy handiwork from darkness to light, and to deliver them from error." Hearing this, Alexander, knowing that a multitude of people had received baptism through B. Calixtus the bishop, sent an army of soldiers and seized all those who had received baptism, whom he ordered to suffer the penalty of beheading, and that their heads be hung through the various gates of the city of Rome, as an example to the Christians.
6. He also held the blessed Calepodius, whom he had ordered to be killed by the sword; and his body was dragged through the city on the Kalends of May. He had his body cast into the Tiber, before the island of Lycaonia. In those same days, the blessed Calixtus fled with ten of his clergy and hid himself in the house of a certain Pontianus, entreating the fishermen to seek the body of the blessed presbyter Calepodius. They found it, raised it from the river, and reported it to the blessed Bishop Calixtus. Then he was filled with joy. He took the holy body, embalmed it with spices and linens, and with hymns buried it in the cemetery of the same, on the sixth day before the Ides of May.
7. From the same day, Alexander began to search curiously for the blessed Bishop Calixtus. And it was reported to him that he was in the house of Pontianus near the Ravennatian gate: and he sent secretly across the Tiber and apprehended him, ordering that he be tortured therein with hunger. Yet, although for four days he had received no food, he was strengthened all the more by fasts and prayers. Hearing this, Alexander ordered him to be beaten with clubs every day and to be kept in custody in the same place, so that if anyone came to him by night, he would be killed. And when he had been worn down in custody for many days, the blessed Calepodius came to him by night through a vision and comforted him, saying: "Be firm, Father: for your crown is already complete, that you may receive from God the reward worthy of your labor." But the blessed Calixtus, persisting in prayer, ceased not to entreat the Lord.
8. Now there was in the same place a certain soldier, Privatus by name, who was full of ulcers and was being tormented day and night with pains. He sent himself to the feet of the blessed Bishop Calixtus, saying: "Save me from my ulcers, for I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is God living and true, who, just as He delivered Blanda, is able also to save me, because for a long time I have been consumed by the affliction of my pain." The blessed Bishop Calixtus answered, saying: "If you believe with your whole heart, my son, and be baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity, you shall be cleansed." The soldier Privatus answered: "I believe that the Lord delivers and saves me in baptism, by your hand." Then the blessed Calixtus baptized him, and thus he was cleansed from the wounds and the disease by which he was held. And he began to cry out, saying: "The Lord Jesus Christ, whom the blessed Bishop Calixtus preaches, is the true and Holy God: for idols are vain and shall be brought to naught; for Christ is the eternal God." Hearing this again, Alexander, full of wrath because he had baptized the soldier Privatus, sent and had Privatus beaten with leaded scourges until he failed; but the bishop Calixtus he ordered to be thrown from a window of the house, and having tied a stone to his neck, to be submerged in a well and covered with rubble.
9. After seventeen days, his presbyter, named Asterius, came with the clergy by night, and raised the body of the blessed Bishop Calixtus and buried it honorably in the cemetery of Calepodius, on the Via Aurelia, on the day before the Ides of October. Yet after six days, Alexander apprehended the presbyter Asterius: whom he ordered to be thrown from a bridge. His holy body was found at Ostia and buried by certain Christians in the same city on the twelfth day before the Kalends of November; our Lord Jesus Christ reigning, who lives and reigns God for all ages of ages. Amen.