THE LIVES AND TIMES OF THE POPES IN THE FIFTH CENTURY

 

SAINT SIXTUS III

A.D. 432-440

IT was to Sixtus that Saint Augustine wrote his celebrated letter concerning grace. Sixtus was then only a priest of the Roman Church. His nomination to the pontificate was made by unanimous consent, and even in the presence of two Oriental bishops. Fourteen years previous to his exaltation, when he as yet was only a catechist, with great eloquence he anathematized the Pelagian dogmas. Having become pope, he still more strongly opposed their criminal attempts. After having confirmed the Council of Ephesus, which had been approved of by his predecessors, he applied himself to dispersing the faction of Nestorius, who still had for partisans some bishops of the East.

He zealously labored to re-establish peace between Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria, and John, Bishop of Antioch. This letter at length confessed that Nestorius, whose abettor he had been, had been justly condemned by the council. From the peace thus made, two metropolitans were excluded, Elladius of Tarsus, and Eutherus of Thyanis, who, in their obstinacy, appealed to the pontiff Sixtus. He did not show himself favorable to their appeal, solely because they persisted in their preference for the errors of Nestorius.

The Pagis, in the criticism of Baronius and in the Life of Sixtus III, freely and skilfully treat the question of that appeal, and prove that the Oriental bishops, when dissenting, always appealed to the sovereign pontiffs, and not to the general councils.

In the year 433 the pope ordained, as Bishop of Ravenna, Saint Peter Chrysologus. It is said that the pope was miraculously invited to that ordination by Saint Peter himself. Saint Sixtus, wishing to erect a trophy in honor of the Most Holy Virgin, for the victory gained over the heresy of Nestorius, augmented and renovated the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, which he enriched with precious gifts and consider able income. He left other proofs of his magnificence to the Basilica of Saint John of Lateran.

In four ordinations, in December, he created fifty-two bishops, twenty-two or twenty-eight priests, and twelve deacons. He governed the Church about eight years, died on the 28th of March, 440, and was interred in the catacombs of Saint Laurence beyond the walls. Bosio gives a very exact description of all the ancient catacombs where a host of martyrs were buried during the persecutions. There many Christians found at once an asylum, death, and burial. Among others are the catacombs of the Vatican, and the catacombs on the following viae, or roads : Aurelia, Cornelia, Portuensis, Ostiensis, Ardeatina, Appia, Latina, Labinica, Praestina, Tiburtina, Salaria, and Flaminia. (The etymology of the word catacombs fully justifies the use to which it is applied. Before proving that, we must at the outset admit that formerly the word was not catacombs, but catatombes. In the acts of Saint Cornelius and in those of Saint Sebastian the latter word alone is employed, and in Saint Gregory we first find the use of the word catacombs.)

The Holy See was vacant one month and eleven days.