Saint Sixtus II

The Apostolic See had remained vacant for a month after the martyrdom of Pope Saint Stephen I ( pape saint Étienne Ier Pope in office at the time of the events. 253-257). The Church of Rome, widowed of its pastor, learned daily of the massacre of one of its children. Thus, the acolyte Tarcisius was arrested by the pagans while he was carrying the Holy Eucharist. The soldiers who seized him wanted to know what he was carrying. The heroic minister of Jesus Christ refused to reveal the holy species and allowed himself to be beaten to death with stones and clubs by the populace. In a solemn meeting in the catacombs, the clergy and the faithful of Rome, braving the fury of the persecution, had the courage to give a successor to the martyr Pontiff. Saint Stephen I had entrusted the government of the Church to Sixtus, his archdeacon, while he himself, imprisoned for the faith, suffered the first attacks of the eighth persecution. The votes of the assembly fell upon the courageous archdeacon (257). As soon as Saint Dionysius, Patriarch of Alexandria, learned of his election, he wrote to him to as saint Denis, patriarche d'Alexandrie Bishop of Alexandria and Church Father of the 3rd century. k whether it was necessary to rebaptize those who had received baptism at the hands of heretics and who asked to be received into the bosom of the Catholic Church. We do not have his answer; but if he had the time to give one, it was undoubtedly entirely in conformity with that which his predecessor, Saint Stephen, had given to the same question proposed by bishops of Africa: namely, that nothing should be innovated, but that one should hold to tradition. Dionysius had the consolation of seeing all those whom a passing error had led astray return to unity. Sixtus conferred orders in the month of December, according to the custom of the Popes, and laid hands on four priests, seven deacons, and two bishops. Some include Saint Sixtus, the first archbishop of Reims, among this number; but Flodoard, who wrote the History of the Church of Reims, says that he was sent to the Gauls long before by the apostle Saint Peter.

Our Saint suffered incredible hardships for the defense and propagation of the Christian religion. The Emperor Valerian having declared to the senate that he wished for bishops, priests, and ministers of the Church to be sought out above all, and for them to be made to suffer all kinds of tortures until death, he was arrested as a leader of the Christians, presented to the judges, and accused of holding secret assemblies, contrary to the prince's prohibi tion. Sixte Third-century pope sometimes confused with the consecrator of Saint Sixtus of Reims. Sixtus confessed that he spared nothing to establish the worship of the true God and to destroy the superstition of idolatry, and protested that he would willingly die for a cause so just and so holy. He was led to the temple of Mars to be pressed to sacrifice to this false divinity; but he absolutely refused to commit this impiety. Thus, after a short imprisonment, and while the Pontiff was celebrating the holy myster ies at the cemetery o cimetière de Calliste Burial place of Saint Pontian in Rome. f Callixtus, soldiers seized his person and led him outside the city, where the executioners cut off his head (August 6, 259).

Saint Sixtus had reigned for about two years from the consulship of Maximus and Glabrio (257), until that of Aemilianus and Bassus (259). He preceded into heaven that constellation of glorious martyrs whom the edicts of Valerian multiplied in every part of the world, and whose names the history of the earth could not all preserve. As he walked to his exec ution, Lawrence, archdeacon of the Roman Laurent, archidiacre de l'Église romaine Archdeacon to Sixtus II, celebrated Roman martyr. Church, followed him weeping and said to him: "Where are you going, my father, without your son? Where are you going, holy Pontiff, without your deacon?" Sixtus replied: "It is not I who abandon you, O my son, but a greater combat is reserved for you: you will follow me in three days!" This is what happened. But if Saint Sixtus was not accompanied from that moment by Saint Lawrence, he did not, however, lack other companions in his sufferings. For Saint Felicissimus and Saint Agapitus, deacons, Saint Januarius, Saint Magnus, and Saint Stephen, subdeacons, and Saint Quartus, were beheaded with him, as the Roman Martyrology assures, although the poet Saint Prudentius says in particular of Saint Sixtus that he was fastened to a cross.

Among the praises that antiquity has bestowed upon Sixtus II, one notes above all that of a gentle and peaceful pontiff. It was to this mildness that the consoling mission of ending the quarrel of the Re-baptizers was r querelle des Rebaptisants Theological conflict regarding the validity of baptism administered by heretics. eserved, which we have spoken of, and which had filled the pontificate of his predecessor with bitterness.

His body was buried in the cemetery of Callixtus, on the Appian Way, where he had been executed, and those of his companions in the cemetery of Praetextatus, according to the remark of the Book of the Sovereign Pontiffs, attributed to Saint Damasus. All the martyrologies, after Saint Cyprian, Saint Augustine, Saint Maximus, Saint Peter Chrysologus, and many others, speak with respect of this blessed Pontiff.

Saint Sixtus is represented: 1° with a sword at his side, to recall that he was beheaded; 2° attached to a cross, as some authors claim he endured this type of torture; 3° conferring the diaconate upon Saint Lawrence; 4° being led to prison and handing over the alms money to Saint Lawrence, to be distributed to widows and orphans; 5° walking to his execution, accompanied by the same Saint Lawrence, to whom he predicts that he will endure martyrdom after three days.

## CULT AND RELICS.

Among the Dominican sanctuaries of Rome, one notes the church of Saint Sixtus the Old. It was built towards the end of the 3rd century, on the site and with the debris of a temple of the Muses, by a Roman matron named Trigide, in honor of our holy Pontiff. His precious remains, taken from the cemetery of Callixtus on the Appian Way, were deposited there. From the 4th to the 13th century, this church suffered greatly, and in the year 1200, Innocent was obliged to rebuild it entirely when he resolved to gather at Saint Sixtus all the scattered nuns in Rome. In 1488, during the pontificate of Sixtus IV, Cardinal Pierre Ferricci restored it at his own expense, and another cardinal, Philippe Buon-Compagni, at about the same time, commissioned Baccio Pintelli, the famous architect of the Sistine Chapel and the Sixtus Bridge, to create the small facade that we still see today. Under the pontificate of Paul V (1605-1621), the Most Reverend Father Seraphin Sicco, Master General of the Order of Saint Dominic, had some paintings executed there. Finally, Benedict XIII (1724-1730) put the finishing touches to its embellishment, and if, today, this dear church is still fresh and well-preserved, despite its abandonment and the humidity of its neighborhood, it owes it to the zeal and intelligent care of the Reverend Father Nutooly, ex-prior of Saint Clement.

Let us add, for the record, that this church of Saint Sixtus, the first dwelling of Sai nt Dominic and saint Dominique Founder of the Order of Preachers and mission companion of Peter. consequently the true cradle of his Order, heard the powerful voice of the founder of the Dominicans resound many times. It is there that, very often, he announced the divine word to that crowd which everywhere pressed upon his steps, and tore from him some scraps of his clothing to make them into relics.

We have completed the account of Fr. Giry with the General History of the Church, by Abbé Darras, vol. VIII; and the Dominican Year, vol. V.