City of God in Exile
Main Gate

Sacred Calendar

The Roman year ordered for memory, penance, feasts, saints, and the daily pilgrimage of the faithful.

Calendar standard

Pre-1955 Roman usage

The calendar follows the universal Roman year under the rubrics of Pope St. Pius X, with the Roman Martyrology preserved as a distinct daily witness.

The day is presented for prayer, recollection, study, and perseverance in the City.

Daily observance

Today in the City of God

The Church keeps this day in holy time. The Pilgrim's Companion gathers the feast, daily quote, Martyrology, meditation, prayer, and related chapters into one daily path through the City.

Daily observance

St. Callistus I, Pope and Martyr

Wednesday, October 14, 2026

Season: Time after Pentecost

The day is set within the Roman year so its feast, Martyrology, daily quote, prayer, and reading path may be received together without blurring their proper sources.

Today's pilgrimage

St. Callistus I, Pope and Martyr

Rank: Double

Color: red

Quote for the day

Pope St. Gregory the Great

“There are three states of the converted: the beginning, the middle, and the perfection.”

Roman Martyrology

Roman Martyrology - October 14

At Rome, on the Aurelian road, the birthday of blessed Callistus, pope and martyr. By order of the emperor Alexander, after being a long time kept in prison without food, and daily scourged with rods, he was finally hurled from the window of the house in which he had been shut up, and cast into a well, and thus merited the triumph awarded to conquerors. — At Caesarea, in Palestine, St. Fortunata, virgin and martyr, during the persecution of Diocletian. After having been subjected to the rack, to fire, to the teeth of beasts and other torments, she gave up her soul to God. Her body was afterwards conveyed to Naples, in Campania. — Also, the Saints Carponius, Evaristus, and Priscian, brothers of the said blessed Fortunata, who having their throats cut, obtained likewise the crown of martyrdom. — Also, the Saints Saturninus and Lupus. — At Rimini, St. Gaudentius, bishop and martyr. — At Todi, St. Fortunatus, bishop, who, as is mentioned by blessed Gregory, was endowed with an extraordinary gift for casting out unclean spirits. — At Wurtzburg, St. Burchard, first bishop of that city. — At Bruges, in Belgium, St. Donatian, bishop of Kheims. — At Treves, St. Rusticus, bishop. — The same day, the departure out of this world of St. Dominic Loricatus. In Italy, St. Bernard, confessor.

Read and verify the full entry

Highlighted saint

St. Callistus I

Pope and martyr cast into the well.

The Martyrology honors St. Callistus, pope and martyr, who after imprisonment and scourging was cast into a well and gained the triumph of martyrdom.

His feast teaches that the Roman shepherd's office is not worldly security. The successor of Peter may be humiliated and slain, yet the office remains ordered to Christ's flock.

Virtue to practice

Roman fidelity under humiliation.

Error to resist

The worldly reading of office that expects honor without sacrifice.

For the pilgrim in exile

Let St. Callistus steady the heart. Apostolic office is not disproved by suffering; often it is revealed beneath suffering.

Imitate today

  • Pray for Roman fidelity.
  • Endure humiliation without surrendering duty.
  • Honor the martyrs of apostolic office.

Sources

  • St. Andrew Daily Missal, October 14.
  • Roman Martyrology, 1916 Baltimore edition, October 14.

Breviary Witness

The Roman shepherd cast down but crowned.

Matins - St. Callistus I

Breviary witness

  • The Breviary honors St. Callistus as pope and martyr, a Roman shepherd crowned through imprisonment, scourging, and death.
  • His witness shows that apostolic office may be humiliated without being emptied of Christ's charge.

For the pilgrim in exile

Do not judge the Church's offices by worldly honor. Christ's servants may be cast down while their witness rises before God.

Sources

  • Roman Breviary, Matins lessons for October 14, St. Callistus I.
  • Roman Martyrology, 1916 Baltimore edition, October 14.

Meditation

Growth After Pentecost

In the Time after Pentecost, the Church sends the faithful back into daily labor under the light of the Holy Ghost. The soul must not seek fire as excitement only. It must seek the fire that purifies speech, strengthens duty, exposes false peace, and keeps the Church's received worship dear.

Prayer

The day should become prayer.

O Lord, show me the sins I excuse, the occasions I keep near, and the attachments I protect. Give me contrition without despair and amendment without delay.

Thought for the pilgrim

The purgative way begins by refusing excuses.

Practice

The day should become obedience.

Identify one concrete fault, make an act of contrition, and choose the opposite act.

Source notes

Universal Roman Calendar under the rubrics of Pope St. Pius X

Fasting and abstinence according to the laws observed in 1952

Daily quotations and pilgrimage excerpts should come from Scripture, Fathers, Doctors, saints, traditional popes before 1958, traditional catechisms, approved devotional works, or received liturgical texts.

The Roman Martyrology, Baltimore, 1916, published by John Murphy Company; the local 1916 text is displayed and traceable to its source lines.

  • St. Andrew Daily Missal, Liturgical Calendar, pp. xvii–xxviii.
Browse the Roman Martyrology