Saint Callistus I, Pope and Martyr

Most of what is known of Callistus comes from his opponent Hippolytus. As a young slave of a Christian master, Carpophorus, he ran a bank that failed, and was later sentenced to the mines of Sardinia, from which he was released with other Christians. Pope Zephyrinus made him his deacon and put him in charge of the Christian cemetery on the Appian Way, which still bears his name as the catacombs of St Callistus. He became bishop of Rome about 217; Hippolytus attacked him for readmitting to communion those who had committed grave sins and done penance. Callistus died about 222, according to a tradition killed in a riot in Trastevere, and was buried on the Via Aurelia.