Calumny and Pope Callistus I
Calumny, according to the glossary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is a “false statement which harms the reputation of others and gives occasion for false judgments concerning them.” The sin of calumny is as old as Adam and Eve, who famously blamed everyone except themselves for the events of the third chapter of Genesis. Modern technology simply makes it easier for their descendants (including us, of course) to spread our falsehoods faster and more efficiently.
Few saints’ lives epitomize the dangers of calumny more perfectly than does the life of Saint Callistus. According to a fourth century tradition, October 14, 2022, marks the 1800th anniversary of the death of Callistus I, the sixteenth pope of the Church. Beyond those facts, just about everything else we know about Callistus is open to debate because our information comes from hostile contemporaries.
If the only biographies of your life were written by two people who hated you, could subsequent generations piece together the truth about your life? Perhaps that would be possible if they examined your life in reverse chronological order, trying to understand how you lived your life, but starting first with how you ended it. This approach is certainly helpful in coming to a better understanding of Saint Callistus.
Some of the earliest lists of the popes name Callistus as a saint and a martyr. Since the practice of the Catholic faith was considered treason in the Roman Empire from the first pope to the thirty-third pope, martyrdom was always near at hand for Christ’s Vicar on earth, even during relatively quiet periods. There was apparently no widespread persecution of Christians during Callistus’ time under the reign of the Roman emperor Severus Alexander. But it is plausible, as some records say, that Callistus was killed during a riot. Presumably his death occurred at the hands of a mob in the city of Rome; Christians were always a convenient scapegoat during times of plague, famine, or other disasters.
Knowing that the people of the early Church considered Callistus to be a saint helps us re-interpret the accounts of his papacy by the only contemporary sources we have: the writings of early Church leaders Tertullian and Hippolytus.
After all, we know how those two men’s lives ended. Both Tertullian and Hippolytus were brilliant men and faithful Catholics for many years, but at some point, their faith in Christ’s Church faltered. They strenuously objected to Callistus’ decisions as pope, claiming that he was being far too lenient. Tertullian eventually left the Church and became a follower of the Montanist heresy; Hippolytus set himself up as the first anti-pope and only repented when a later pope (Saint Pontian) brought him back into the Church while both men were in prison. (This is why Hippolytus is called Saint Hippolytus by the Church.)
