Saint Hippolytus of Rome

Life story

Hippolytus lived in Rome at the end of the second century and the start of the third. He was a priest of wide learning who wrote mostly in Greek. Many works are attributed to him, among them the Refutation of All Heresies and a text on rites and Church order usually called the Apostolic Tradition, though who wrote each of these remains debated. In 1551 an ancient statue carrying a list of works under his name was found in Rome near the Via Tiburtina.

He quarrelled sharply with the popes of his time, above all Callixtus, over the discipline applied to serious sinners and over how to express the teaching on the Trinity. A group of believers followed him, and he set himself up against the popes who came after. For this reason many historians call him the first antipope, although that label is itself disputed.

In 235 the emperor Maximinus Thrax sent Pope Pontian and the priest Hippolytus to the mines of Sardinia. The Roman calendar compiled in 354 records both men as having been taken there, and Pontian resigned during that period. Both died in exile from the hardship of the labour. Their bodies were later brought back to Rome, Pontian being buried in the catacomb of Callixtus and Hippolytus on the Via Tiburtina. The 13th of August is recorded as the day of their remembrance.

The Roman Church honoured both men as martyrs, which is usually taken to mean that they had been reconciled before they died. The story that he was dragged to death by horses is a later legend, mixed up with a mythological figure of the same name, and is not treated as history.

Works and witness

• Roman priest of the early third century who wrote mainly in Greek
• Credited with the Refutation of All Heresies
• At odds with the popes of his day, above all Callixtus
• Exiled with Pope Pontian to the Sardinian mines in 235
• His body was brought back to Rome and buried on the Via Tiburtina

Saints from the same country

Saint Agnes, Saint Lawrence, Saint Cecilia, Saint Sebastian

References

• Martyrologium Romanum
• Chronographus anni 354 (Roman calendar of 354)
• Hippolytus, Refutatio omnium haeresium

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.