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.
Choose a date
Daily observance
St. Callistus I, Pope and Martyr
Thursday, October 14, 2027
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
Holy Scripture
“Pray without intermission.”
1 Thessalonians 5:17, Original Douay-Rheims
The pilgrim's devotional rhythm
Keeping the month and the weekday in prayer
This chosen devotional rhythm does not change the feast, rank, or obligations shown above. It gives the passing days a steady intention, helping the pilgrim honor God, intercede for souls, and carry one Catholic practice into the day. It is a household aid to devotion, not another law of the Roman Calendar.
October intention
The Most Holy Rosary
The Rosary places the mysteries of Jesus Christ before the soul in the company of His Mother. Pray it as a school of faith and contemplation, not as hurried words.
Intention
For the defense of the Catholic Faith, peace in Christian homes, the conversion of sinners, and perseverance in mental prayer.
A faithful act
Pray five decades with attention, pausing briefly to place yourself within each mystery before beginning it.
Prayer
Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, keep the mysteries of thy Divine Son living in our minds and fruitful in our conduct.
Thursday remembrance
The Most Blessed Sacrament
Thursday recalls the institution of the Holy Eucharist and the priesthood at the Last Supper. Adore Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and pray for priests, through whose consecrated ministry the Holy Sacrifice is offered.
Intention
For holy priests, worthy Communions, vocations, and reparation for neglect and sacrilege toward the Blessed Sacrament.
A faithful act
Make a visit or spiritual Communion and pray especially for priests by name.
Prayer
Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament, increase our faith, receive our reparation, and sanctify Thy priests.
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.
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.
From Matins
The Roman shepherd who descended into the well and rose by martyrdom.
Matins - Second Nocturn - St. Callistus I, Pope and Martyr
Roman Breviary, Proper lessons for St. Callistus I
“He was pitched head-foremost down a well, and so crowned with martyrdom.”
Doctrine taught
- The Breviary remembers St. Callistus ordering the Roman Church, honoring the bodies of martyrs, and receiving converts from high and low rank.
- Even in prison his pastoral office remained fruitful when he healed the soldier Privatus and gained him to Christ.
- Starvation, scourging, and an ignominious death did not empty the papal office of dignity; they revealed its final measure beneath the Cross.
For the pilgrim in exile
Judge sacred office by fidelity, not worldly security. A shepherd may be cast down before men and yet be crowned because he continues to gather, heal, baptize, and confess Christ.
Full Breviary lessons
Fourth Lesson - The Roman Church Ordered and the Martyrs Honored
Kallistus was a Roman, and ruled the Church in the time of the Emperor Antoninus Heliogabalus. He confirmed the institution of the Ember Fasts, the observance of which hath been received by tradition from the Apostles. He built the Church of St Mary-beyond-the-Tiber, and enlarged the old burying-place on the Appian Way, wherein are buried so many holy Priests and Martyrs, and which hath since been called, on account of this enlargement, the Cemetery of Kallistus.
Fifth Lesson - Pastoral Fruitfulness in Prison
It was by his reverence that the body of the blessed Priest and Martyr Calepodius, which had been cast into the Tiber, was carefully looked for, and, when it had been found, honourably buried. He baptized Palmatius, of Consular, and Simplicius, of Senatorial rank, and likewise Felix and Blanda, all of whom in the end underwent martyrdom. On this account he was thrown into prison, where he wonderfully healed a soldier named Privatus, who was full of sores, and so gained him to Christ; and this Privatus had hardly received the faith, before he was lashed to death with scourges loaded with lead.
Sixth Lesson - Crowned with Martyrdom
Kallistus sat as Pope five years, one month, and twelve days. He held five Ordinations in the month of December, wherein he ordained sixteen Priests, four Deacons, and eight Bishops. After being long starved, and repeatedly flogged, he was pitched head-foremost down a well, and so crowned with martyrdom, under the Emperor Alexander. His body was carried to the Cemetery of Calepodius on the Aurelian Way, at the third mile-stone from the city, upon the 14th day of October, but was afterwards taken to the Church of St Mary-beyond-the-Tiber, which had been built by himself. There it lieth beneath the High Altar, and is held in great reverence of all men.
Sources
- The Roman Breviary, translated by John, Marquess of Bute, 1908, vol. IV, Autumn, Second Nocturn for St. Callistus I, lessons iv-vi, printed pp. 646-647.
- Bute 1908 is used here as an accessible pre-Pius X Breviary witness and is cited distinctly from the 1936-1937 Benziger / Burns Oates edition.
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
- The Roman Breviary, translated by John, Marquess of Bute, 1908, vol. IV, Autumn, Matins for St. Callistus I, printed pp. 646-647.
- Roman Martyrology, 1916 Baltimore edition, October 14.
Meditation
A Shepherd Who Paid for His Office
St. Callistus carried the burden of governing the Roman Church through humiliation and death. The papal office is not worldly immunity, and ecclesiastical dignity is not permission to alter the Faith received from the Apostles. Pray for shepherds to spend themselves for souls and examine whether you accept correction as readily as you demand courage from others.
Related paths
Walk the day through the City.
Today's chapters
Read with the feast.
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 your concrete faults, make an act of contrition, and practice the contrary virtues.
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 ordinarily come from eligible Catholic sources issued no later than December 31, 1954: Scripture, Fathers, Doctors, saints, Roman Pontiffs, traditional catechisms, approved devotional works, and received liturgical texts. Legitimate additions promulgated under Pope Pius XII may be retained when identified precisely; this does not adopt the reformed Holy Week or later rubrical changes.
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.
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, Dom Gaspar Lefebvre, O.S.B., 1953 edition; proper Mass or devotion named in this entry.
- Pope Leo XIII, Supremi Apostolatus Officio, September 1, 1883.
- 1 Corinthians 11:23-29, Douay-Rheims.