CALLISTUS I, POPE, ST.

Pontificate: c. 218 to 222. According to the Liber pontificalis, Callistus was a Roman by birth; his father, Domitius, was from the district of Trastevere. Originally an imperial household slave of Carpophorus, Callistus is said to have engaged in banking and was accused of embezzlement. His creditors allowed him to remain free in hopes of recovering some lost funds, but Callistus got into a brawl in a synagogue on the Sabbath. He was condemned to the mines of Sardinia (c. 186–189). Through the influence of Marcia, the concubine of Emperor Commodus, he was released and lived in Anzio on the bounty of Pope victor i, although some sources say that Victor deliberately left his name off the list of those to be freed. Under Pope zephyrinus he became deacon and was apparently given charge of the cemetery of S. Callisto. A majority elected him to succeed Zephyrinus (c. 217). Later, eusebius of caesarea assigned a length of five years to his pontificate (Ecclesiastical History 6.21). The followers of hippolytus of rome, however, were not prepared to accept Callistus and elected their own leader as bishop, thus making Hippolytus the first antipope in a schism that lasted until 235. On Oct. 14, 222, in Rome, Callistus was martyred, probably in a local disturbance in Trastevere, since there is no record of a formal persecution under Emperor Alexander Severus (222–235). He was buried in the cemetery iuxta Callistum, possibly on the site of an earlier oratory connected with him (titulus Callisti ).

Callistus is credited with having stabilized the Saturday fast, three times a year, decreeing abstention from food, oil, and wine according to the prescription of Zechariah 8.19. This is thought to be a source of the ember days.

From the Philosophumena (9.11–12; 10.27) of Hippolytus, a prejudiced but factually correct source, we have considerable information about Callistus. His dispute with Hippolytus was primarily doctrinal. Callistus began by condemning Sabellius, the chief exponent of monarchianism that tended to overemphasize the unity of persons in the Blessed Trinity. This did not, however, reconcile him with Hippolytus, since Callistus apparently could not accept Hippolytus's theory of the Logos, which seemed to exaggerate the distinction between Father and Son and thus savored of ditheism. Since Callistus had condemned Sabellius for heresy, it is difficult to believe that he embraced the Monarchian position as asserted by Hippolytus (Philos. 9.12). Undoubtedly the dispute was due, in part, to inconsistencies in theological terminology, a defect that was remedied only in the course of time. Callistus also introduced a number of disciplinary changes that brought the ire of Hippolytus upon him. He authorized the ordination of men who had been married two and even three times; he recognized the validity of marriages between free women and slaves; and he maintained that the Church had authority to absolve from all sins, and should adopt a policy of mercy toward the lapsi who had compromised their faith by temporary apostasy, but had repented. The last decision became a matter of controversy in the Church for years, dividing the clergy and faithful into two factions: the so-called laxists and the rigorists. Callistus was not innovator so much as a realist who accepted that the church is a community of sinners and not the rigorists' community of saints.

It is probable that tertullian's famous sarcasm concerning a peremptory edict did not refer to Callistus: "I hear that an edict has been published, and a peremptory one: the bishop of bishops, that is the Pontifex Maximus, proclaims: I remit the sins of adultery and fornication for those who have done penance" (De pudicitia 1). This decision came to be known as the Edict of Callistus; many historians maintained that it had reference to Pope Callistus, and contained a sarcastic allusion to the primacy. Contemporary scholars generally believe that it was aimed at the bishop of Carthage, but no text has survived.

Callistus is the first pope, except for Peter, whose name was commemorated as a martyr in the oldest martyrology of the Roman Church, the fourth-century depositio martyrum (c. 354). A late tradition alleged that his relics were transported to France, while another maintained that they were deposited in the crypt of S. Maria in Trastevere under Pope innocent i (401–417). His tomb in the cemetery of Calepodius, on the Via Aurelia, was discovered in 1960 in the remains of an oratory erected there by Pope julius i in the fourth century, and described by the seventh-century Salzburg Itinerary. The crypt is decorated with paintings depicting his martyrdom. The name and picture of Callistus also appear on a piece of gold glass, now in the Cabinet des Médailles in Paris. The famous catacomb of San Callisto is named after him because Zephyrinus put him in charge of the first public Christian cemetery on the Appian Way.

Feast: Oct. 14.

Bibliography: Liber pontificalis, ed. l. duchesne, 1 (Paris 1886–92): 141–142; 3 (Paris 1938):73–74. a. fliche and v. martin, eds., Histoire de l'église depuis les origines jusqu'à nos jours (Paris 1935–) 2:101–103, 404–415. e. casper, Primatus Petri (Weimar 1927). e. caspar, Geschichte des Papsttums von den Anfängen bis zur Höhe der Weltherrschaft, 2 v. (Tübingen 1930–33) 1:22–47, 572–575. c. cecchelli, Tre deportati in Sardegna (Rome 1939). j. quasten, Patrology, 3 v. (Westminster, Md. 1950–) 2:233–235. c. daly, Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur 3:176–182, edict. g. ferretto, Biblioteca sanctorum 3:681–689. k. beyshclag Theologische Zeitschrift 20:103–124. u. fasola, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) 6:20–24, tomb. e. ferguson, ed., Encyclopedia of Early Christianity (New York 1997) 1.204–205. j. n. d. kelly, Oxford Dictionary of Popes (New York 1986) 13–14. a. barufa, Le Cataombe di S. Callisto. Storia, archeologia, fede (Vatican City 1992). m. mazza, "Deposita pietatis. Problemi dell'organizzazione economica in comunità cristiane tra Il e III secolo," Atti dell' Accademia Romanistica Constantiana. IX Convenga internazionale (Naples 1993) 187–216. a. stewart-sikes, "Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 5: A Prophetic Protest from Second Century Rome," Studia Patristica 31: 196–205.

[j. chapin]