00:00Today, August 13, the Church invites us to honor Saint Hippolytus of Rome,
00:06a prominent figure of the 3rd century, at once a theologian, priest, polemicist and Ferrara, once an antipope.
00:17Hippolytus was born in Rome towards the end of the 2nd century.
00:20Gifted with great intelligence and ardent faith,
00:24He became a priest esteemed for his teachings and writings.
00:30He comments on the Scriptures with rare precision,
00:34composes treatises against heresies
00:37and wrote what is considered one of the oldest known Eucharistic prayers.
00:44But his demands led him into conflict with Pope Callistus I.
00:50Hippolytus judges the pontiff too indulgent in the forgiveness of serious sins and too flexible in the face of heresies.
00:58Believing he was defending the purity of the faith, he was elected by an opposing group.
01:05He thus became the first antipope in history.
01:10For almost ten years, he remained in this position of rupture,
01:15opposing several successive popes.
01:17However, fate will change his life.
01:21In 235, under Emperor Maximin the Trace, a violent persecution broke out.
01:29Hippolytus and the legitimate Pope, Pontian, are arrested and sent into exile in the mines of Sardinia,
01:36a place where condemnation often means death.
01:40It is there, in the midst of suffering, that a miracle of grace occurs.
01:47Hippolytus and Pontian are reconciled.
01:50Both renounce their differences to unite in the same faith and the same fidelity to Christ.
01:58Shortly after, they died as martyrs, offering their lives as a testimony of love for God.
02:04Hippolytus's body was repatriated to Rome, and very quickly, his memory became that of a saint,
02:13not for his past intransigence, but for his conversion, his newfound humility and his martyrdom.
02:22Today, Saint Hippolytus reminds us that even the deepest divisions
02:28can be healed when forgiveness and truth meet.
02:32His story is a call to always seek unity, without renouncing fidelity to the Gospel.
03:02Subtitling Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
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