Rising to the Role of Pope

To many the role of pope would seem to be only for those who seek power and fame.  This is further from the truth.  Most popes throughout time were very humble men who only desired to do God's will.  This is true for today's saintly pope.

Born:  ??
Death:  222
Born to a Christian slave
Patron: Cemetery workers.

The interesting history of St. Pope Callistus I is actually given to us from his archrival, Saint Hippolytus who eventually recanted his rumors of Callistus upon his death.  Why would the man behind the vicious rumors against a saintly pope be deemed a saint as well?  Well, he had spent his service to the Church trying to unify those who had rejected their beliefs during the early years of Christianity.  Hippolytus did not believe that a person could repent from their sins and return to the Church.  Thankfully, Pope Callistus saw the mercy of God in these sinners after they had performed public penance.

Pope Callistus did not stop at this to bring Christ to the people.  He was also very concerned with equality among the people.  Maybe because he knew the discrepancies of the day.  He accepted marriages between free people and slaves.  Maybe he thought this important because he had been a slave himself before becoming a deacon.

And this might show one of the reason Hippolytus was so concerned that Callistus held this important role in the Church.  I must admit it would be difficult to overlook the troublesome begins of this man.  Hippolytus tells of Callistus fleeing from his master after an issue with money.  Callistus was punished and sentenced to a cruel punishment -- forced labor on the treadmill.  Callistus was released but after further troubles was sent to work in the mines.  Callistus was freed from the mines when a group of Christians were ransomed.

A few years later, Pope Zephyrinus began to teach the slave in the teachings of the Church.  He was asked to administer the Church's property and organize the burial of martyrs in the catacombs on the Appian Way, still named the Cemetery of Saint Callistus.  It seems the pope saw promise in this man as Callistus was made a deacon and an adviser.  He seemed to have a theological understanding beyond his position and this was probably what infuriated Hippolytus.  This sense of jealousy and his own desire for the role of pope clouded his judgment when it came to Callistus.  In actuality, Callistus seemed to bring clarification during a confusing time of multiple heresies.

Pope Callistus is listed as a martyr but we have no record of how he was martyred or by whom. There were no official persecutions at the time, but he may well have been killed in riots against Christians. Some histories state that he was thrown into prison, and then was tortured by starvation in prison and scourged daily. Finally Callistus was thrown from a window of the house headlong into a well, where he drowned.

St. Callistus, pray for us!