Pope Xystus

Pope Xystus, known in later Latin usage as Sixtus II, was Bishop of Rome from 257 until his martyrdom in 258. He is the Xystus named in the Roman Canon of the Mass among the early popes and martyrs. Unusually for a third-century pontiff, the date of his death is fixed by a contemporary witness: Cyprian of Carthage, writing in that same year, reported that Xystus had been executed in a cemetery on 6 August in consequence of an imperial edict against the Christian clergy. The Liber Pontificalis, a later Roman compilation, states that he was a Greek by nationality, but this detail is not confirmed by any third-century source and should be regarded as uncertain. Nothing reliable is known of his family, education, or career before he became bishop of Rome.

He succeeded Pope Stephen I. His short pontificate fell between the Decian persecution and the sharper attack on the hierarchy under Valerian. A major issue inherited from Stephen was the dispute over the validity of baptism conferred by heretics, which had produced a breach with Cyprian of Carthage and with churches in Asia Minor. Ancient writers indicate that under Xystus communion with those churches was restored or at least the conflict was eased, though the surviving evidence does not permit a detailed reconstruction of his policy. He ordained a number of clergy, among whom the deacon Lawrence became the most famous.

In 258 the emperor Valerian ordered that bishops, priests, and deacons be put to death at once, that senators and knights who were Christians be stripped of rank and property, and that imperial officials and members of the household be sent in chains to forced labor. Roman tradition holds that Xystus was seized on 6 August while sitting in his chair and celebrating the liturgy in a cemetery, commonly identified as that of Praetextatus on the Via Appia. He was beheaded there, together with four deacons; two other deacons, Felicissimus and Agapitus, are also associated with his martyrdom. Lawrence was executed on 10 August. These deaths made a deep impression on the Roman church and on the wider Christian world.

Xystus was interred in the papal crypt of the Cemetery of Callistus, also on the Via Appia. In the fourth century Pope Damasus I placed a metrical inscription there celebrating Xystus’s courage and the slaughter of the clergy. The cult of the martyr-pope was established early; his name entered the Communicantes of the Roman Canon. For many centuries his feast was kept on 6 August, the traditional date of his passion. In the General Roman Calendar it is now celebrated on 7 August, the Transfiguration having been assigned to 6 August. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and other historic churches. During the early Middle Ages relics attributed to him were translated from the catacombs; some were given to the Frankish kings and deposited in churches north of the Alps.