Saint Sixtus II and Companions

Sixtus II became Bishop of Rome in 257, at a time when the Emperor Valerian had begun a harsh persecution of Christians. A gentle and peace-loving pastor, he worked to restore good relations with the churches of Africa and Asia that had been strained by disputes over baptism.

In August 258 Valerian ordered that bishops, priests and deacons be put to death at once. On August 6, while Sixtus was seated in his chair preaching to the faithful in the cemetery of Callixtus on the Appian Way, soldiers burst in and beheaded him together with four of his deacons, Januarius, Vincent, Magnus and Stephen. Two other deacons, Felicissimus and Agapitus, were martyred the same day, and his archdeacon Lawrence followed four days later. Sixtus was buried in the Crypt of the Popes in the same catacomb, and his name is still mentioned in the Roman Canon of the Mass.

Pilgrims to Rome visit the Crypt of the Popes in the Catacombs of Saint Callixtus, where an inscription by Pope Damasus honors him.

His name is heard whenever the First Eucharistic Prayer is prayed, linking every Mass to the witness of the martyrs.