Pope Sixtus II

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 257 to 258}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = Pope | honorific-prefix = Pope Saint | name = Sixtus II | title = Pope of Rome | church = Catholic Church | image = Sandro Botticelli – Sixtus II.jpg | caption = Fresco of Sixtus II by Botticelli (1480s) | term_start = 31 August 257 | term_end = 6 August 258 | predecessor = Stephen I | successor = Dionysius | birth_date = Greece, Roman Empire | birth_place = | death_date = {{death date|258|8|6|df=y}} | death_place = Rome, Italy, Roman Empire | feast_day = 6/7 August | other = Sixtus | venerated = Catholic Church,<br> Eastern Orthodox Church,<br> Oriental Orthodoxy }}

'''Pope Sixtus II''' ({{langx|el|Πάπας Σίξτος Β΄}}; died 6 August 258), also written as '''Pope Xystus II''', was the bishop of Rome from 31 August 257 until his death on 6 August 258. He was killed along with seven deacons, including Lawrence of Rome, during the persecution of Christians by the Emperor Valerian.<ref name="cathenc">{{Cite CE1913|wstitle=Pope St. Sixtus II}}</ref>

==Life== According to the ''Liber Pontificalis'', he was a Greek,<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Smith|first1=William|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LTb6zWm5PMcC|title=Encyclopaedic Dictionary Of Christian Antiquities (in 9 Volumes)|last2=Cheetham|first2=Samuel|date=2005|publisher=Concept Publishing Company|isbn=978-81-7268-111-1|pages=936}}</ref> born in Greece, and was formerly a philosopher.<ref>''The Book of Pontiffs (Liber Pontificalis)'', translated with introduction by Raymond Davies (Liverpool: University Press, 1989), p. 10</ref> However, this is uncertain, and is disputed by modern Western historians arguing that the authors of ''Liber Pontificalis'' confused him with the contemporary author Xystus, who was a Greek student of Pythagoreanism.<ref name="cathenc"/>

Sixtus II restored the relations with the African and Eastern churches, which had been broken off by his predecessor over the question of heretical baptism raised by the heresy Novatianism. [[File:Legendari di sancti istoriado uulgar, 1497 – (santo Sisto papa) - BEIC IE4411203.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The Martyrdom of Sixtus II in the ''Golden Legend'' (1497)]]

In the persecutions under the Emperor Valerian in 258, numerous bishops, priests, and deacons were put to death. Pope Sixtus II was one of the first victims of this persecution, being beheaded on 6 August. He was martyred along with six deacons: Januarius, Vincentius, Magnus, Stephanus, Felicissimus and Agapitus.<ref name="cathenc" /> Lawrence of Rome, his best-known deacon, suffered martyrdom on 10 August, four days after his bishop.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-sixtus-ii-and-companions/| title = Miller, OFM, Don. "Saint Sixtus II and Companions", Franciscan Media| access-date = 2017-09-28| archive-date = 2017-09-29| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170929091244/https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-sixtus-ii-and-companions/| url-status = dead}}</ref>

Sixtus is thought by some to be the author of the pseudo-Cyprianic writing ''Ad Novatianum'', though this view has not found general acceptance. Another composition written at Rome, between 253 and 258, is generally agreed to be his.

==Legacy== Sixtus II is referred to by name in the Roman Canon of the Mass.<ref name="cathenc"/> The Tridentine calendar commemorated Sixtus, Felicissimus, and Agapitus on the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, 6 August. They remained in that position in the General Roman Calendar until 1969, when, with the abolition of commemorations, the memorial of Sixtus "and his companions" was moved to 7 August, the day immediately after that of their death.<ref>''Calendarium Romanum'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 1969), p. 133</ref>

The following inscription honoring Sixtus was placed on his tomb in the catacomb of Callixtus by Pope Damasus I: {{Blockquote|At the time when the sword pierced the bowels of the Mother, I, buried here, taught as Pastor the Word of God; when suddenly the soldiers rushed in and dragged me from the chair. The faithful offered their necks to the sword, but as soon as the Pastor saw the ones who wished to rob him of the palm (of martyrdom) he was the first to offer himself and his own head, not tolerating that the (pagan) frenzy should harm the others. Christ, who gives recompense, made manifest the Pastor's merit, preserving unharmed the flock.<ref name="migne">J. P. Migne, ''Patrologia Latina'', XIII, 383–4 [https://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/01p/0366-0383,_SS_Damasus_I,_Carmina_Vol_1,_MLT.pdf]</ref>}}

==See also== {{Portal|Biography|Christianity|History}} *List of Catholic saints *List of popes *''Sistine Madonna''

==References== {{Reflist}}

== Literature == * {{BBKL|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070629123834/http://www.bautz.de/bbkl/s/sixtus_ii.shtml |band=10|spalten=578-582|autor=Erich Kettenhofen|artikel=Sixtus II}} * {{Catholic Encyclopedia|wstitle=Pope St. Sixtus II|author=Michael Ott}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Sixtus II}} *[http://www.bartleby.com/210/8/062.html "St. Xystus, or Sixtus II., Pope and Martyr"], ''Butler's Lives of the Saints'' * {{Hl-Lex|b|Sixtus_II.html}} * [https://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/01_01_0257-0258-_Sixtus_II,_Sanctus,_Martyr.html Collected works by Migne Patrologia Latina]

{{S-start}} {{s-rel|grt}} {{s-bef|before=Stephen I}} {{s-ttl|title=Bishop of Rome|years=257–258}} {{s-aft|after=Dionysius}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sixtus 02}} Category:258 deaths Category:3rd-century archbishops Category:3rd-century Christian martyrs Category:3rd-century executions Category:3rd-century Romans Category:Greek popes Category:Papal saints Category:Christian martyrs executed by decapitation Category:People executed by the Roman Empire Category:Year of birth unknown Category:3rd-century popes Category:Popes