Saint Zéphirin
Pape et Martyr
(† 219)
Zéphirin, romain de naissance, succéda à Pape Victor en 202, c'est-à-dire dans l'année où Sévère alluma le feu de la cinquième persécution. Il fut l'appui et le consolateur des fidèles, et la charité lui fit ressentir ce que souffraient tous les confesseurs. Il est vrai que les triomphes des martyrs étaient pour lui un sujet de joie; mais son coeur reçut des plaies bien profondes de la chute des apostats et des hérétiques. La douleur que lui causait l'aveuglement de ces derniers ne cessa point lorsque la paix eut été rendue à l'Église.
Natalis qui vivait à Rome, et avait souffert diverses tortures pour la foi, s'était laissé séduire par Asclépiodote et Théodote le banquier, l'un et l'autre disciples de Théodote le corroyeur, que le Pape Victor avait excommunié à cause de son hérésie. Ces deux hérésiarques ordonnèrent Natalis évêque de leur secte, et s'engagèrent à lui fournir tous les mois un revenu de cent cinquante deniers d'argent. Mais Dieu eut pitié de celui qui avait confessé son nom; il l'avertit par plusieurs visions d'abandonner le parti des hérétiques, dans lequel il ne restait que par intérêt et par vanité. Enfin Natalis fut fouetté par un Ange pendant toute une nuit. Le lendemain il alla se jeter aux pieds de Zéphirin, fondant en larmes, et revêtu d'un habit de pénitence; il se prosterna aussi devant l'assemblée des fidèles, et y donna de si grandes marques de repentir, que tous en furent touchés.
Zéphirin montra son zèle avec tant de vigueur contre les blasphèmes des hérétiques séducteurs de Natalis, que ceux-ci le traitèrent de la manière la plus outrageuse; mais ce fut une gloire pour lui de s'entendre donner le titre de principal défenseur de la divinité de Jésus-Christ. Il mourut en 219, après avoir occupé le siège pontifical pendant dix-sept ans.
Nous voyons, surtout dans les premiers siècles du christianisme, une suite de pasteurs zélés à maintenir le dépôt de la foi, à veiller sur la pureté de la morale et à conserver la sainteté de la discipline. Qu'ils eurent de combats à soutenir! De quelle constance et de quelle fermeté n'eurent-ils pas besoin pour résister au paganisme, aux hérésies et à la corruption du monde! C'est par leurs travaux que nous jouissons des plus précieux avantages de la grâce. Nous devons donc à Dieu un tribu de louanges pour cette miséricorde dont Il a donné des marques si éclatantes à Son Église. Nous devons encore Lui recommander nos propres oeuvres, Le prier d'exalter la gloire de Son Saint Nom pour la propagation de la foi sur la terre, de susciter dans Son Église des modèles de vertu, des pasteurs animés de Son Esprit, un peuple disposé à captiver Son entendement sous l'autorité de la révélation, et à soumettre son coeur au joug aimable de la loi divine, un peuple saisi d'horreur pour les nouveautés profanes en matière de doctrine, et aguerri contre les assauts et les artifices de la corruption.
Vies des Saints recueillies par les meilleurs auteurs, Édition Georges E. Desbarats, 1868
SOURCE : http://magnificat.ca/cal/fr/saints/saint_zephirin.html
Pape de 198 à 217. Fêté depuis le XIIème siècle.
« Le martyrologe hiéronymien et celui de Vienne annoncent le natale du pape Zéphyrin au 20 décembre, mais le Liber Pontificalis le fixe au 25 août. Le calendrier de Mantoue et les martyrologes de Florus, Adon et Usuard l’inscrivent au lendemain 26. C’est la date à laquelle la fête de saint Zéphyrin apparaît dans le calendrier du Latran. Ni les martyrologes, ni le Liber Pontificalis ne lui donnaient le titre de martyr. Il était vénéré au cimetière de Callixte dans un mausolée à triple abside érigé en surface, qui existe encore de nos jours. La tradition voulait au VIIe siècle qu’il reposât dans le même tombeau que le martyr saint Tharsicius » [1].
Leçon des Matines avant 1960.
Troisième leçon. Zéphirin, né à Rome, et préposé au gouvernement de l’Église, sous l’empereur Sévère, établit que ceux qui devaient être ordonnés le seraient suivant la coutume, en temps convenable et en présence de Clercs et de laïcs assemblés en grand nombre, et qu’on ne choisirait pour ce ministère que des hommes instruits et de mœurs recommandables. Il régla aussi que l’Évêque célébrant le Sacrifice serait assisté de tous les Prêtres. Enfin, il décréta que les Patriarches, les Primats, les Métropolitains, ne prononceraient aucune sentence contre un Évêque, sans être forts de l’autorité apostolique. La durée de son pontificat fut de dix-huit ans et de dix-huit jours. Il fit au mois de décembre quatre ordinations, dans lesquelles il consacra pour divers lieux, treize Prêtres, sept Diacres et treize Évêques. Il reçut la couronne du martyre sous le règne d’Antonin, et fut enseveli sur la voie Appienne, près du cimetière de Calixte, le sept des calendes de septembre.
[1] Cf. Pierre Jounel, Le Culte des Saints dans les Basiliques du Latran et du Vatican au douzième siècle, École Française de Rome, Palais Farnèse, 1977.
Dom Guéranger, l’Année Liturgique
Zéphyrin fut le premier des Pontifes ensevelis dans la crypte célèbre où les Papes du IIIe siècle vinrent après leurs combats dormir le dernier sommeil. La catacombe qui succédait ainsi au cimetière Vatican dans l’honneur d’abriter les vicaires du Christ avait été inaugurée, trente ans auparavant, par Cécile la vierge martyre : comme sur le point de quitter la vie elle consacrait son palais de Rome en église, du fond de la tombe elle faisait maintenant que sa sépulture de famille passât à l’Église maîtresse et mère. La donation funéraire des Cæcilii devenait, en face de l’État païen, le commencement de la propriété collective ecclésiastique, officiellement reconnue du pouvoir ; Zéphyrin confia l’administration du nouveau cimetière au premier personnage après lui de l’Église romaine, l’archidiacre Calliste. Le saint Pontife vit s’accentuer de son temps la lutte de l’hérésie touchant l’unité de Dieu et la trinité des divines personnes ; sans le secours d’un vocabulaire qui ne vint que plus tard fixer jusque dans , les mots l’exposition théologique, il sut tenir à égale distance les Sabelliens pour qui la Trinité n’était qu’un nom, et les précurseurs d’Arius qui se vengèrent en déversant sur lui l’outrage [2].
Successeur de Victor Ier, le Pontife de la Pâque, vous aussi fûtes dévoré du zèle de la maison de Dieu [3] pour maintenir, en les accroissant toujours, la régularité, la dignité, la splendeur du culte divin sur notre terre. Au ciel, la cour du vainqueur de la mort s’enrichit pendant votre pontificat des plus nobles conquêtes, les Irénée, les Perpétue, tous les martyrs sans nombre auxquels la persécution de Septime Sévère assura le triomphe. Parmi de périlleuses embûches, la vérité eut en vous le gardien divinement assisté que le Seigneur avait promis à son Église [4]. Votre fidélité fut récompensée par des progrès nouveaux de cette Épouse du Fils de Dieu à vous confiée, par l’affermissement définitif de ses pieds sur le sol d’un monde qu’elle doit acquérir tout envier à l’Époux. Nous retrouverons en octobre votre souvenir, inséparable qu’il est de celui de Calliste, aujourd’hui votre diacre, alors à son tour vicaire de l’Homme-Dieu. A cette heure, bénissez-nous comme père ; que Pierre connaisse toujours en nous ses fils.
[2] Philosophumena, Lib. IX.
[3] Johan. II, 17.
[4] Luc. XXII, 32.
Bhx cardinal Schuster, Liber Sacramentorum
Le Liber Pontificalis indique, en ce jour, la mort de Zéphyrin, mais il a contre lui le Martyrologe Hiéronymien qui la mentionne le 20 décembre 217.
Le gouvernement du vieux Pontife fut long et important, car, à ce moment-là, l’Église romaine atteignit un grand développement et, grâce surtout au docte archidiacre Callixte, elle organisa la résistance contre les hérétiques. Nous savons même par Optat de Milève que le Pape prit personnellement la plume contre eux et laissa un ouvrage contre leurs erreurs. Ce fut aussi sous Zéphyrin que le prêtre Caius écrivit son dialogue contre le montaniste Proclus ; en même temps, Callixte tenait tête aux hardiesses du subtil Hippolyte qui, à force de distinctions, semblait séparer la Trinité, jusqu’à en faire trois dieux.
A Zéphyrin revient aussi la gloire d’avoir agrandi, sur la voie Appienne, la nécropole appelée plus tard de Callixte, du nom de l’archidiacre auquel il voulut en confier l’administration. Avec lui s’interrompt la série des Papes ensevelis au Vatican, près de saint Pierre, et s’inaugure la crypte papale de la voie Appienne. Zéphyrin ne fut cependant pas enseveli sous terre, mais il eut sa tombe dans le pavement de la basilique trichora qui existe encore sur les catacombes de Callixte, du côté de la voie Ardéatine, et que De Rossi dénomma à tort, de sainte Sotère. Plus tard, à la suite sans doute des destructions opérées par les Goths dans les cimetières, les ossements de saint Tarcisius furent recueillis dans un même tombeau avec ceux de saint Zéphyrin, et furent ainsi l’objet d’une égale vénération. Ibi sanctus Tarsicius et sanctus Zeferinus in uno tumulo iacent, comme l’atteste l’Épitomé de Locis Sanctis. Au IXe siècle, ces saintes reliques furent transférées dans la nouvelle église de Saint-Silvestre au Champ de Mars où, en effet, elles sont mentionnées dans la Notitia Nataliciorum qu’on y conserve :
MENSE • IVLIO • DIE • XXVI • NAT • SCORVM • ZEFIRINI • PAPAE
ET • TARSICII • MARTYRIS
La messe est du Commun Sacerdótes Dei [5], mais la première collecte est la suivante : « Faites, Seigneur, que nous puissions profiter des exemples de votre bienheureux martyr Zéphyrin pape, des mérites duquel nous nous réjouissons en ce jour ».
Saint Zéphyrin ne mourut pas de mort violente. Si, chez des auteurs tardifs, il reçoit le titre de martyr, cela doit s’entendre largement, en tant qu’il vécut à l’époque de la persécution,
[5] Jusqu’en 1942.
Dom Pius Parsch, Le guide dans l’année liturgique
La liturgie et le sacerdoce.
Saint Zéphyrin. — Jour de mort : 26 août 217. Tombeau : Les premiers papes étaient ensevelis au Vatican, près de saint Pierre. Saint Zéphyrin est le premier qui fut enterré dans la crypte papale de la Catacombe de Calixte, sur la voie Appienne. Au neuvième siècle, ses reliques furent transportées, avec celles de saint Tarsicius, dans l’église Saint-Sylvestre, sur le Champ de Mars. Vie : Le gouvernement de ce pape avancé en âge fut long et important (198-217). L’Église romaine fut alors particulièrement florissante et très active contre l’hérésie.
Le bréviaire signale plusieurs réformes liturgiques notables entreprises par le pape Zéphyrin : « Il décida que ceux qui devaient être ordonnés le seraient suivant la coutume, en temps convenable, et en présence des clercs et des laïcs assemblés en grand nombre, et qu’on ne choisirait pour ce ministère que des hommes instruits et de vie recommandable. Il décréta en outre que tous les prêtres, assisteraient à la messe célébrée par l’évêque. Il décida enfin que les Patriarches, les Primats, les Métropolitains ne pourraient porter aucune sentence contre un Évêque sans l’autorité apostolique ».
Pratique. — Un double trait commun à tous les papes des premiers siècles :
1) Leur plus grand souci est celui de la liturgie : ils publient des décisions sur la célébration de la messe, sur l’administration du sacrement de l’Ordre. Le zèle du service de Dieu a toujours été et sera toujours la plus haute obligation du pape, des évêques et des prêtres.
2) Par le sacrifice de leur vie, les premiers papes sont devenus semblables au Liturge Divin. — La messe est du commun des Souverains Pontifes (Si diligis).
SOURCE : http://www.introibo.fr/26-08-St-Zephyrin-pape-et-martyr
Pope St. Zephyrinus
(Reigned 198-217).
Date of birth
unknown; died 20 Dec., 217. After the death of Pope Victor in 198, Zephyrinus was elected hissuccessor and consecrated. The pope is described by Hippolytus in the
"Philosophymena" (IX, xi) as a simpleman without education. This is evidently to be understood as meaning that
Zephyrinus had not taken the higher studies and had devoted himself to the
practical administration of the Church and not to theological learning. Immediately
after his elevation to the Roman See, Zephyrinus called to Rome the confessor Callistus, who lived at Antium and who had received a monthly pension from Pope
Victor, and intrusted him with the oversight of thecoemeterium. It is evident that shortly before this
the Roman Christian community had, under Victor, become the owner of a common
place of burial on the Via Appia, and Zephyrinus now
placed Callistus over this cemeterywhich was given the name of Callistus. Undoubtedly Callistus was also made a deacon of the Roman Church by Zephyrinus. He was
the confidential counsellor of the pope, whom he succeeded. The positions of the Christians, which had remained favourable in the first years of
the government of Emperor Septimus Severus (193-211), grew constantly worse, and
in 202 or 203 the edict of persecution appeared which forbade conversion toChristianity under the severest
penalties. Nothing is known as to the execution of the edict in Rome itself nor of the martyrs of the Roman Church in this era.
More,
however, is certain concerning the internal disputes in
the Roman Church over the doctrine of the Trinity. The
adherents of the heretical teacher Theodotus the Tanner had been excommunicated with their leader byPope
Victor. They formed an independent heretical community at Rome which was ruled by
another Theodotus, the Money
Changer, and Aselepodotus. These men persuaded a confessor of Rome named Natalis, who had acknowledged his faith without wavering before
the heathen judge and had suffered
torture, to permit himself to be made the bishop of the sect for a monthly payment of
170 denarii. Natalis, however,
received many warnings in dreams.
At first he paid no attention to these visions,
but on one occasion he believed that he had been severely tortured by angels and now he began to
ponder the matter. Early in the
morning he put on a penitentialgarment,
covered himself with ashes, and
threw himself with tears at the feet of Zephyrinus. He confessed hiswrong-doing and begged to be received again into
the communion of the Church, which was finally granted him (Eusebius, Church History V.32). In the same era the adherents of Montanus also worked with great energy atRome. The Montanist Proculus (or Proclus)
published a work in defense of the new prophecies.
A refutation ofProclus in the
form of a dialogue was written by a learned and rigidly orthodox Roman Christian named Caius, wherein he refers to the grave
of St. Peter on the Vatican Hill and of St. Paul on the Via Ostiensis. Caius rejects the Apocalypse of St.
John, which he regards as a work of the heretic Cerinthus. In opposition to Caius,Hippolytus wrote his "Capita contra Caium" (cf. Eusebius, Church History III.28 and VI.20).
Hippolytus was the most important theologian among the Roman presbyters of this era. He was an
avowed adherent of the doctrine of the Divine Logos. He
taught that the Divine Logos became man in Christ, that theLogos differs in
every thing from God, that he is the mediary between God and the world of
creatures. Thisdoctrine in the form in
which it was set forth by Hippolytus and his school aroused many doubts, and anothertheological school appeared in opposition
to it. This latter school was represented at Rome in this era byCleomenes and particularly by Sabellius. These men were
rigid opponents of the Theodotians,
but were not willing to acknowledge the incarnation of the Logos, and emphasized above all the absolute unity (monarchia) ofGod. They explained the Incarnation of Christ in the sense that this was another
manifestation (modus) of God in His union with human nature. Consequently they were called Modalists or Patripassians,
as according to them it was not the Son of God but the Father Who had been crucified. The Christian common people held
firmly, above all, to the Unity of God and at the same time to
the true Godhead of Jesus Christ. Originally no distrust of thisdoctrine was felt among them. Pope Zephyrinus did not interpose authoritatively
in the dispute between the twoschools. The heresy of the Modalists was not at first clearly evident, and
the doctrine of Hippolytus offered many difficulties
as regards the tradition of the Church. Zephyrinus said simply that he acknowledged only one God, and this was the Lord Jesus Christ, but it was the Son, not the Father, Who had died.
This was the doctrine of thetradition of the Church. Hippolytus urged that the pope should approve of a
distinct dogma which represented
thePerson of Christ as actually different
from that of the Father and condemned the opposing views of theMonarchians and Patripassians.
However, Zephyrinus would not consent to this. The result was that Hippolytusgrew constantly more irritated and angry against he pope and particularly against
the deacon Callistus whom, as the councillor of the pope, he made responsible for the position of the latter. When after the
death of ZephyrinusCallistus was elected Roman bishop, Hippolytus withdrew from the Church with his scholars, caused a schism, and made himself a rival bishop.
Zephyrinus
was buried in a separate sepulchral chamber over the cemetery of Calistus on the Via Appia (cf.
Wilpert, "Die papstgruber und die Suciliengruft in der Katakombe des hl.
Kallistus", Freiburg, 1909, 91 sqq.). The"Liber Pontificalis" attributes two Decrees to Zephyrinus; one on the ordination of the clergy and the other on
theEucharistic Liturgy in the title churches of Rome. The author of the biography has ascribed these Decrees to thepope arbitrarily and without historical basis.
Sources
Liber Pontificalis, ed. DUCHESNE, I, 139; DUCHESNE,
Histoire ancienne de l'Église, 292 sqq.; LANGEN, Geschichte der römischen
Kirche, I (Bonn, 1881), 200 sqq.; BAGEMANN, Die romische Kirche und ihr
Einfluss auf Dissiplin und Dogma in den ersten drei Jahrhunderten (Freiburg in
Mr., 1864), 84 sqq.; cf. also the bibliography to HIPPOLYTUS.
Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope St.
Zephyrinus." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New
York: Robert Appleton Company,1912. 2 Apr. 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15756c.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Michael T. Barrett. Dedicated to the memory of Pope Zephyrinus.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Michael T. Barrett. Dedicated to the memory of Pope Zephyrinus.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.
Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of
New York.
Zephyrinus, Pope M (RM)
Born in Rome, Italy; died there on December 20, c. 217. Zephyrinus was born of
humble origins, but was elected to succeed Pope Saint Victor I in 199. He named
Saint Callixtus as his deacon and adviser. His pontificate was marked by
numerous controversies and persecutions, including the especially bloody one
instituted by Severus. He strove to combine firmness with charity and was ever
ready to welcome back repentant sinners and erroneous theologians. Though he
excommunicated the two Theodati for the Monarchianism, he was denounced by
Saint Hippolytus, a severe critic who later became an anti-pope, for failure to
act decisively and authoritatively in suppressing prevalent heresies and as a
tool of Callixtus in his Philosophoumena. Apparently the pope acted too
charitably for Hippolytus. Although Zephyrinus is listed as a martyr in the
Roman Martyrology, it is unlikely that he was killed for the faith because his
body lies intact in San Sisto Vecchio Church in Rome. He may be considered a
martyr because of all the trials that taxed his patience and strength
(Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia). In art, Saint Zephyrinus is a
pope with a sword (Roeder). First epistle and second epistle.
SOURCE :
http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0826.shtml
Pope Saint
Zephyrinus
The pontificate of this first third-century pope was to see a storm of
heresy rage around the pontiff, who had to keep a firm hand on the tiller of
Peter’s bark.
According to the “Liber Pontificalis,” Zephyrinus was a Roman, the son
of Habundius. He ordered that all ordinations, whether of priests, deacons, or
simple clerics, should take place before the assembled clergy and laity.
The storm which agitated Christian thought in the time of Pope Zephyrinus
was due to a double heresy. On the one hand, Theodotus the Tanner, though
excommunicated by Pope St. Victor, was still teaching that Christ was not the
true Son of God. On the other hand, a certain Praxeas came to Rome to tell Pope
Zephyrinus that the old idea of the Trinity was all wrong, that really there
were not three Persons in one Divine Nature, but only three modes of one
substance.
Pope Zephyrinus, who was no philosopher, clung firmly to the traditional
doctrine handed down from the Apostles. In the midst of these metaphysical
storms, he also had a good strong adviser in Calixtus, who succeeded him as
Pope.
Eusebius in his “Ecclesiastical History” has an interesting story about
the heretics in the pontificate of Pope Zephyrinus. Theodotus the Tanner, far
from being silenced by Pope Victor’s excommunication, had set up his own
church. He had found backers in another Theodotus (a banker) and Asclepediotus.
The heretics found a man of some prestige to be bishop for them. This was
Natalius, who had been a confessor of the faith and had suffered tortures for
it. They paid him a yearly stipend–150 denarii, about $25 in prewar money. But
as Eusebius tells the story, Jesus, not wishing that one who had suffered for
him should go out of the church, sent angels in visions to bring Natalius to a
better frame of mind. Natalius, blinded by the pinchbeck glory of being a
heretical bishop, at first paid the visions little attention. But one night the
angels gave the stubborn fellow a sound whipping. This brought him to his
senses. He put on sack- cloth, covered himself with ashes and hastened to throw
himself before Pope Zephyrinus and plead for pardon.
Besides heresy, Pope Zephyrinus had to cope with renewed persecution.
Septimius Severus, friendly at the start of his reign, became decidedly
hostile. During the pontificate of Zephvrinus the Emperor issued his famous
decree forbidding anyone to become a Christian.
St. Zephyrinus is honored as a martyr by the Church. He was buried in
his own cemetery or August 26. His feast is kept on August 26.
St.
Zephyrinus, Pope and Martyr
See
Tillemont, Ant. Sandini,
Vitæ Pont. Rom. ex antiquis Monum. Anastasius,
with the notes of Bianchini and Muratori. Mandosi, Bibl. Roman.
A.D.
219.
ST. ZEPHYRINUS, a native of Rome, succeeded Victor in the pontificate,
in the year 202, in which Severus raised the fifth most bloody persecution
against the church, which continued, not for two years only, as Dodwell
imagined; but to the death of that emperor in 211, as Ruinart, Berti, and
others prove from Sulpicius Severus, and other authorities. Under this furious
storm this holy pastor was the support and comfort of the distressed flock of
Christ, and he suffered by charity and compassion what every confessor underwent.
The triumphs of the martyrs were indeed his joy, but his heart received many
deep wounds from the fall of apostates and heretics. Neither did this latter
affliction cease by the peace which Caracalla restored to the church, and which
was not disturbed by Macrinus, by whose contrivance Caracalla was murdered in
Mesopotamia, in 217, nor by the successor and murderer of this latter, the
impure Heliogabalus, who reigned to the year 221. The chief among these
heretics were Marcion, Praxeas, Valentine, and the Montanists; for St. Optatus
testifies, 1 that all these were vanquished by Zephyrinus, bishop of Rome.
Our saint had also the affliction to see the fall of Tertullian, which
seems to have been owing partly to his pride, and partly to one Proclus, or
Proculus, an eloquent Montanist, whom Tertullian highly extolled, after he had
become an abettor of that heresy. This Proculus was publicly put to confusion
at Rome by Caius, a most learned priest of that church, under St. Zephyrinus,
who was afterwards ordained a regionary bishop—that is, with a commission to
preach the gospel without being fixed in any particular see, as Photius assures
us. Eusebius, St. Jerom, and Photius much commend the dialogue of Caius with
Proculus; a work which has not reached our times. Photius tells us that Caius
also composed a treatise against Artemon, who believed that Jesus Christ was
only a mere man, and several other learned works, from which Eusebius took the
account he has given us of the penance of Natalis. 2 This man lived at Rome, and having confessed the faith before the
persecutors, underwent torments in defence of it; but afterwards was seduced
into heresy by Asclepiodotus and Theodotus the banker, who were both disciples
of Theodotus the tanner, whom Victor, bishop of Rome, had excommunicated for
reviving the heresy of Ebion, affirming that Christ was no more than a mere man,
though a prophet. These two heretics had persuaded Natalis to suffer them to
ordain him a bishop of their sect, promising that he should be furnished
monthly with one hundred and fifty silver denarii, upwards of three pounds
sterling; but God having compassion on his confessor, warned him by several
visions to abandon these heretics; among whom he was detained only by interest
and vanity. At length he was whipped a whole night by an angel. The day
following he covered himself with sackcloth and ashes, and shedding abundance
of tears, went and threw himself at the feet of Zephyrinus: he prostrated
himself also before both the clergy and the laity in a manner with which the
whole assembly was much affected. However, though he entreated very earnestly,
and showed the marks of the stripes he had received, it was with much
difficulty that St. Zephyrinus readmitted him to the communion of the church,
granting him, in recompense of his great compunction, an indulgence or
relaxation of the severity of the discipline, which required a penitential
delay and trial. Eusebius tells us, in the same place, that this holy pope
exerted his zeal so strenuously against the blasphemies of the two Theodotuses,
that those heretics treated him in the most contumelious manner; but it was his
glory that they called him the principal defender of Christ’s divinity. St.
Zephyrinus filled the pontifical chair seventeen years, dying in 219. He was
buried in his own cemetery (comprised in that of Calixtus, as Aringhi shows) on
the 26th of August, on which most martyrologies commemorate him; though those
of Vandelbert and Rabanus, with the old martyrology, under the name of St.
Jerom, published by Florentinius, mark his festival on the 20th of December,
probably on account of some translation, or the day of his ordination, says
Berti. 3 He is, in some martyrologies, styled a martyr, which title he might
deserve by what he suffered in the persecution, though he perhaps did not die
by the executioner.
God has always raised up holy pastors, zealous to maintain the sacred
deposit of the faith of his church inviolable, and to watch over the purity of
its morals, and the sanctity of its discipline. How many conflicts did they
sustain! with what constancy, watchfulness, and courage did they stand their
ground against idolatry, heresy, and the corruption of the world! We enjoy the
greatest advantages of the divine grace through their labours; and we owe to
God a tribute of perpetual thanksgiving and immortal praise for all those
mercies which he has afforded his church on earth. We are bound also to
recommend most earnestly to him his own work, praying that he exalt the glory
of his divine name, by propagating his holy faith on earth; that he continually
raise up in his church shining examples of all virtue, pastors filled with his
spirit, and a people disposed to captivate their understandings to his revealed
truths, and subject their hearts to the sweet yoke of his holy love and divine
law; watchful to abhor and oppose every profane innovation of doctrine, and all
assaults and artifices of vice.
Note 1. S. Optat. l. 1, de Schismate, n. 9, et
Albaspinæus, not. ib. [back]
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume
VIII: August. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/8/261.html
Divenne papa, e restò a capo della Chiesa per 20 anni circa, e qui si trovò ad affrontare eresia Modalista, che aveva un’errata concezione dei rapporti tra Padre e il Figlio. Fu il primo dei papi che vennero sepolti a Callisto sulla via Appia.
La scintilla che innescò nuove crudeli repressioni fu la mancata partecipazione dei cristiani ai festeggiamenti del decennale dell'imperatore pro salute impetorum, perchè marcatamente pagani.
Oltre a ciò dovette continuare a combattere ulteriori eresie, contrastato da Ippolito sul metodo di lotta e che sfocerà successivamente nel primo scisma cristiano, quello di Ippolito.
Sant' Ippolito fu teologo e scrittore di cultura greca, divenne esponente della teologia del logos. Avversario di Zefirino e di quello che diventerà papa e santo Callisto. Fu probabilmente in contatto con la dinastia dei Severi ma dagli stessi abbandonato e deportato in Sardegna, da Massimo il Trace, dove trovò il martirio.
Nonostante tutto però, Zefirino riuscì ad organizzare ancora di più la gerarchia ecclesiastica nominando per la prima volta un suo vicario (Callisto) con compiti più pratici che teologici.
A lui si deve la volontà di organizzare i cimiteri cristiani che furono spostati dalla via Salaria alla via Appia, dove già esistevano quelli di Pretestato e Domitilla.
Uno dei cimiteri fu chiamato "la cripta dei papi" dove il primo ad esservi tumulato fu proprio Zefirino.
Autore: Franco Prevato
San Zeffirino (o Zefirino) Papa e martire (?)
sec. III
(Papa dal
199 al 217)
Divenne papa, e restò a capo della Chiesa per 20 anni circa, e qui si trovò ad affrontare eresia Modalista, che aveva un’errata concezione dei rapporti tra Padre e il Figlio. Fu il primo dei papi che vennero sepolti a Callisto sulla via Appia.
Etimologia: Zeffirino = dal nome del venticello primaverile
Emblema: Palma
Martirologio Romano: A Roma accanto al cimitero di Callisto sulla via
Appia, deposizione di san Zefirino, papa, che governò per diciotto anni la
Chiesa di Roma e diede mandato al suo diacono san Callisto di costruire il
cimitero della Chiesa di Roma sulla via Appia.
Nativo di Roma, in qualche annuale appare sotto il nome di Geferino. Il
suo papato iniziò sotto il terrore di Settimio Severo, il quale convinto
assertore della religione politeistica, oltre che per pratici motivi attinenti
il dominio delle provincie romane, aveva sposato Giulia Domna, di un antico
casato sacerdotale dell'antica città siriana di Emesa dove veniva praticato il
culto al "dio sole".
La scintilla che innescò nuove crudeli repressioni fu la mancata partecipazione dei cristiani ai festeggiamenti del decennale dell'imperatore pro salute impetorum, perchè marcatamente pagani.
Oltre a ciò dovette continuare a combattere ulteriori eresie, contrastato da Ippolito sul metodo di lotta e che sfocerà successivamente nel primo scisma cristiano, quello di Ippolito.
Sant' Ippolito fu teologo e scrittore di cultura greca, divenne esponente della teologia del logos. Avversario di Zefirino e di quello che diventerà papa e santo Callisto. Fu probabilmente in contatto con la dinastia dei Severi ma dagli stessi abbandonato e deportato in Sardegna, da Massimo il Trace, dove trovò il martirio.
Nonostante tutto però, Zefirino riuscì ad organizzare ancora di più la gerarchia ecclesiastica nominando per la prima volta un suo vicario (Callisto) con compiti più pratici che teologici.
A lui si deve la volontà di organizzare i cimiteri cristiani che furono spostati dalla via Salaria alla via Appia, dove già esistevano quelli di Pretestato e Domitilla.
Uno dei cimiteri fu chiamato "la cripta dei papi" dove il primo ad esservi tumulato fu proprio Zefirino.
Autore: Franco Prevato
