[St. Pachomius Library]

St. Sixtus III, Pope of Rome

IV/V Centuries
The son of a Roman priest, Sixtus (d. 440) was among the chief priests of Rome when he was elected pope in 432. As a young man, he was suspected of being a Pelagian, or of being sympathetic to Pelagius. He, however, seems to have answered the suspicions, and he may have drafted Celestine I's statement at the Council of Ephesus (431), which refuted Nestorius' claim that Mary was the "mother of Christ" but not the "mother of God". Sixtus, during his papacy, settled a dispute between Cyril of Alexandria and John of Antioch that had arisen at Ephesus. Sixtus himself was involved in a dispute with Patriach Proclus of Constantinople over jurisdiction in Illyricum (the Balkans). In addition to repairing buildings damaged in the 410 sack of Rome, Sixtus founded St. Sebastian, the earliest known monastery in Rome.

Karen Rae Keck


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