Ss. SIXTUS II, POPE AND MARTYR, AND COMPANIONS, August 6th

Collect

O GOD, who vouchsafest unto us to keep the heavenly birthday of blessed Sixtus, Felicissimus and Agapitus, thy holy Martyrs : grant, we beseech thee ; that we may rejoice in the perpetual felicity of their fellowship in heaven. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, who livest and reignest with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

For the Legend

POPE Sixtus (or Xystus) II is said by some to have been an Athenian who, from a philosopher, became a disciple of Christ. He succeeded Pope St. Stephen I in the year 257. The story of his martyrdom hath come down to us thus. In the persecution under Valerian he was seized, and given the choice of death or of offering sacrifice to an idol. He firmly refused to commit that wickedness, and as he was being led away to seal his testimony, his Archdeacon Laurence ran up to him, and in his grief cried out : Whither goest thou without thy son, O my Father? O Priest of God, why dost thou set forth without thy Deacon? And Sixtus answered : I leave thee not, O my son ; verily the truth of Christ calleth thee to sterner wrestling than mine ; yet three days, and thou shalt follow me, the Deacon behind the Priest ; and in the meanwhile, if thou hast anything in the treasury, give it to the poor. Sixtus was accordingly slain upon that day, and with him the deacons Felicissimus and Agapitus, and the subdeacons Januarius, Magnus, Vincent, and Stephen. He suffered where he was buried, namely, in the cemetary of Callistus, on August 6th, 258. According to the Pontifical Book, he sat in the throne of Peter at Rome eleven months and twelve days, during which time he held one December Ordination, wherein he made four priests, seven deacons, and two bishops for divers places.

From the Anglican Breviary