raging mob and thrown to his death from a height. His body was then
dumped in a well before being retrieved by his followers and buried in the
cemetery of Calepodius on the Aurelian Way.
Hippolytus would return to the Church after eighteen years in schism,
inspired by the humility and example of another great Bishop of Rome, St.
Pontian, with whom he worked side by side in the salt mines. Hippolytus
has the dual distinction of being the first and only canonized antipope. On
the other hand, the rigorous and unforgiving Tertullian would die an
obscure death, unrecorded and uncelebrated. Some authors are of the view
that he so dominated Montanism that the sect later became known as the
Tertullianists. Records indicate that this sect subsisted until the end of the
fourth century when St. Augustine converted them.
Themes for study:
The rise of the Montanist heresy;
Tertullian’s apostasy to Montanism;
St. Hippolytus as the first antipope and schismatic;
The pastoral balance of Pope Callistus and his patience in the face
of hostility.
Further reading:
Warren H. Carroll, The Founding of Christendom (A History of
Christendom), Vol. 1, Christendom Press, 1985, pp. 464-470;
Fernard Hayward, A History of the Popes, J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd.,
1931, pp. 26-29;
Philip Hughes, A History of the Church, Vol. 1, Sheed and Ward,
1948, pp. 100-108;
Fr. John Laux, Church History, TAN Books and Publishers, 1930,
pp. 63-64.
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