Calixtus

CALIXTUS, cɑ-lix´tUs: The name of three popes and one antipope.

Calixtus (Callistus) I.: Pope 217–222. Through the discovery of the work of Hippolytus on heresies, a new aspect, differing in many particulars from the traditional one, has been assumed by the story of this early bishop. The old account ascribed to him the building of the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere. The Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals contain two in which, among other things, regulations are laid down for the ember fasts. He was called a martyr, but the sets of his martyrdom are purely legendary, probably composed in the seventh century. The picture given by Hippolytus, though bitterly hostile, is at least clear and sharp in its outlines. According to it, Callistus was the slave of a Christian official named Carpophorus, who entrusted him with considerable sums of money, which he lost. Taking flight to avoid a reckoning, he was pursued by his master, and jumped into the sea to escape him, but was pulled out and condemned to the treadmill. Then he got into a quarrel with the Jews in Rome, and was beaten and sent to the mines of Sardinia, from which he was released by the influence of Marcia, the mistress of Commodus. It is impossible to determine how far Callistus was morally blameworthy in this chequered career—probably not as much as Hippolytus says. The events recited are said to have happened in the pontificate of Victor. The next bishop, Zephyrinus, brought Callistus back to Rome, probably already in orders, and gave him charge of the large cemetery which later bore his name. Under Zephyrinus he came into conflict with Hippolytus on the dogma of the Incarnation (see Monarchianism); and at the next vacancy a schism occurred, each party electing its own leader as bishop (see Hippolytus). Callistus seems to have been, like Zephyrinus, a Modalist; it was he who excommunicated Sabellius. The question of discipline also brought him into conflict with Hippolytus, according to whom he laid down the principle, unacceptable to the rigorists of the time, that all sins might be forgiven, and denied the necessity of deposing a bishop who should be guilty of deadly sin. Hippolytus accuses him of taking this position so as to increase the numbers of his own church; but it is undeniable that a clear-sighted man could hardly fail to see the defects and inconsistencies of the then existing church discipline, and Callistus was probably seeking to establish a more logical system. The Catalogus Liberianus is authority for placing his death in 222. [The largest of the Roman catacombs is the Cemetery of St. Callistus; and De Rossi says it was the first common cemetery, given to the pope by some noble family for the use of the whole Christian community. Thirteen out of the next eighteen popes after Zephyrinus are said to have been buried there.]

(A. Hauck.)

Bibliography:The Epistolæ are in MPG, vol. x. An anonymous Translation, ed. Holder-Egger, is in MGH, Script., xv. (1887) 418–422. Consult: C. K. J. Bunsen, Hippolytus and his Age, 2 vols., London, 1852–56; J. J. I. von Döllinger, Hippolytus und Callistus, Regensburg, 1853; K. J. Neumann, Der römische Staat und die allgemeine Kirche, i. 312–313, Leipsic, 1890; T. E. Rolffs, Das Indulgens-Edikt des . . . Kallist, in TU, xi. (1894) 3; H. Achelis, Hippolytstudien, Leipsic, 1897; Harnack, Litteratur, i. 603–605; Jaffé, Regesta, i. 12–13, ii. 731; Milman, Latin Christianity, i. 75–79; Bower, Popes, i. 20–21.

Calixtus II. (Gui, or Wido, son of Count William of Burgundy): Pope 1119–24. He was made archbishop of Vienne in 1088, and under Paschal II. was legate in England, with little success. In the investiture controversy he was one of the leaders of the French opposition to the compromise of 1111 with Henry V. A synod called by him at Vienne in that year condemned lay investiture without reserve and excommunicated Henry, threatening the pope with renunciation of allegiance if he did not confirm its decrees. When he was elected pope by the cardinals assembled at Cluny (Feb. 2, 1119), Henry had reason to fear the accession of a second Hildebrand. He made conciliatory overtures to the new pontiff, offering to submit the controversy to a council called by Calixtus, and approved an agreement with the papal representatives by which, in return for the revocation of his excommunication, he surrendered his claims to the right of investiture. But the agreement proved impossible of execution, and soon, in a great council held at Reims (Oct. 29 and 30, 1119), Calixtus renewed his denial of the right and his excommunication of Henry and of Antipope Gregory VIII. Though the sentence remained ineffective in Germany, Calixtus strengthened his authority in France during his stay there, finding a firm ally in Louis the Fat. He went to Italy in the spring of 1120, and entered Rome in triumph, Gregory VIII. fleeing to Sutri, whose citizens delivered him up to his victorious rival in the following April. This strengthened Calixtus's position still more against the emperor; but the final decision of the contest was brought about by the intervention of the German princes, assembled at Würzburg in the autumn of 1121. They counseled Henry to acknowledge Calixtus and the canonically elected bishops, undertaking in return to arrange a peace with the Church, and proposing the convocation of a general council, in which they promised to defend the honor of the Empire. Calixtus appointed Lambert of Ostia and two other cardinals to conduct the negotiations, which began at Worms in Sept., 1122. Archbishop Adalbert of Mainz continued to urge the strict Hildebrandine position and it was due to Lambert's work alone that the discussion, instead of being fruitless, led to the Concordat of Worms (see Concordats and Delimiting Bulls, I, § 1). This was solemnly confirmed by Calixtus in the First Lateran Council, opened on Mar. 18, 1123, which also renewed the canons against simony and clerical marriage, and proclaimed a "truce of God" and a new crusade. While the 348plans for this undertaking were being made, Calixtus died, Dec. 13 or 14, 1124.

(A. Hauck.)

Bibliography: The Epistolæ et Privilegia are in MPL, clxiii.; An Epistola spuria, ed. W. Grundlach, is in MGH, Epist., iii. (1891) 108–109. The Vita by Cardinal Pandulfus Aletrinus, a contemporary, is in ASB, May, v. 14–15, and in MPL, clxiii. Consult: Liber pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, ii. 322, 376, Paris, 1892; H. Witte, Forschungen zur Geschichte des Wormser Concordats. Göttingen, 1877; M. Maurer, Papst Calixt ll., Munich, 1889; F. Gregorovius, Geschichte der Stadt Rom, iv. 369 sqq., Stuttgart, 1890, Eng. transl., iv. 390–402, London, 1896; U. Robert, Histoire du pape Calixte II., Paris, 1891; idem, Bullaire du pape Calixte ll., ib. 1891; Jaffé, Regesta, i. 270; Milman, Latin Christianity, iv. 130–149; Bower, Popes, ii. 456–460.

Calixtus III. (Johannes de Struma): Antipope 1168–73, in opposition to Alexander III. After the peace of Venice, he maintained himself for a while at Albano, but on Aug. 29, 1178, he made his submission to Alexander and was restored to the communion of the church, being entrusted with the government of Benevento.

(A. Hauck.)

Bibliography: Jaffé, Regesta, ii. 429, 430; Milman, Latin Christianity, iv. 431–437; Bower, Popes, ii. 514–515.

Calixtus III. (Alonso de Borja or Borgia): Pope 1455–58. Born at Xativa in Valencia [Dec. 31, 1378]. After a legal education he became bishop of Valencia in 1429 and cardinal in 1444. On Apr. 8, 1455, being then seventy-seven years old, he was elected pope. He was s man of simple and blameless life, but too weak to cope with the disorders of the time, some of which arose directly from his own partiality for his relatives. Immediately after his accession, he took a vow to carry forward a war against the Turks and atone for the manner in which Europe had looked on supinely at the fall of Constantinople. Legates were sent throughout the Continent to preach a crusade and collect troops and money. Money, indeed, came in, especially through the help of the mendicant orders, in large sums; but the old crusading zeal had died down too far to be rekindled. The tithes which were required, on behalf of the undertaking, from the clergy of France and Germany aroused universal discontent. The doctors of the University of Paris and the clergy of Rouen appealed in 1456 to a general council against the tax, and a similar appeal was made in Germany, not only on this ground but on that of the failure to observe the Vienna Concordat of 1448 in regard to the system of clerical benefices. While endeavoring to put down this rebellious spirit, Calixtus succeeded in assembling a small fleet which sailed (May 31, 1456) to help the Knights of St. John in their dangerous position at Rhodes. The fleet, under the command of the cardinal legate Scarampo, occupied some small islands of the Grecian archipelago, without venturing on a decisive engagement. The Greeks had not the courage to rise in force, and the Christian princes and Italian cities took but a languid interest in the crusade. It was a piece of luck that the victory of the heroic Hunyadi at Belgrade (July 14 and 21, 1456) averted the most pressing peril. The pope was hindered by the consequences of his hostility to Alfonso of Naples, after whose death (June 27, 1458) he refused to acknowledge the claim of Alfonso's natural son Fernando, asserting that the kingdom reverted as a fief of the papacy to himself. This attitude was the outcome of his desire to advance his own nephews, one of whom, Rodrigo (the future Alexander VI.), he had made cardinal and vice-chancellor of the Roman Church in spite of his being below the canonical age; another, Pedro, he had made duke of Spoleto, destining the Neapolitan crown for him. Calixtus died, however (Aug. 6, 1458), before his unscrupulous designs could break the peace of Italy. His nephews and their Spanish followers left Rome, where, in alliance with the Colonna family, they had been guilty of incessant crimes and violence.

(A. Hauck.)

Bibliography: B. Platina, The Lives of the Popes, ii., 250–257, London, n.d. Consult: A. von Reumont, Geschichte der Stadt Rom, iii. 126 sqq., Berlin, 1868; F. Gregorovius, Geschichte der Stadt Rom, vii. 146 sqq., Stuttgart, 1870, Eng. transl., London, 1900; Pastor, Popes, ii. 317–479; Creighton, Papacy, iii. 178–201; Milman, Latin Christianity, viii. 120 sqq.; Bower, Popes, iii. 238–240.