Lentorama 2010: Two Millennia of Pointy Hats

Day 4: Pope Zephyrinus (199-217)

You don't have to dig too far into the lives of the popes to find that they all weren't loved, or particularly suited for the job. Zephyrinus may be the first in the series of such popes, as contemporary writers seem pretty well united in the belief that he was too simple and too weak for the job. Many pointed to his deacon, Callixtus (who would succeed him as pope), as the real power.

With that in mind, it's no surprise that what little we know about his term as pope is negative. For starters, conditions for Christians under Roman rule grew steadily worse, until emperor Septimus Severus formally started persecuting them again (particularly converts). It also appears that Zephyrinus helped spur the first schism in the church, when he was unable to properly counter the teachings of a priest named Hippolytus regarding the unified nature of the Holy Trinity. Callixtus would inherit the problem, which grew to the point where Hippolytus is considered by some to be the first antipope.

What Zephyrinus does have in common with many of the early popes is that he is sainted, probably because of his martyrdom, of which we know nothing. Based on his performance, it's really the only way he'd get sainted.