Saint Callistus I

Pope and Martyr
(died 222)

Saint Callistus I, whose life before his election as Bishop of Rome is known to us largely from the hostile account of his adversary Hippolytus, was a slave who rose through the ranks of the Roman Church to become one of its most important leaders. He was a slave of a Christian master who had entrusted him with banking operations; when these failed, possibly through the dishonesty of others, he was condemned to the treadmill. He was later sent to the mines of Sardinia, from which he was freed through the intercession of Marcia, a favourite of the Emperor Commodus who had Christian sympathies.

After his release he served the Roman Church under Pope Zephyrinus, managing the great Christian cemetery on the Appian Way that still bears his name, the Catacomb of Callistus, which contains the tombs of many early popes and martyrs. On the death of Zephyrinus in 217 he was elected Bishop of Rome, despite the fierce opposition of Hippolytus, who regarded him as too lenient in his treatment of repentant sinners and heretics.

Callistus's pastoral policy, which permitted the readmission to Communion of those who had committed serious sins after a period of penance, was theologically defensible and ultimately the position that prevailed in the Church, but it exposed him to Hippolytus's charge of laxism. His recognition of the validity of marriages between free women and slaves, contrary to Roman law, was a pastoral innovation of remarkable courage in its social implications.

He died in 222, thrown down a well by a mob during a popular riot, and was immediately venerated as a martyr. His feast is celebrated on October 14th, and the Catacomb of Callistus on the Appian Way, one of the most important early Christian archaeological sites in Rome, preserves his memory to this day.