Popes Caius and Soter

Feast: April 22

Today’s post is about two saints who were early century popes: Pope Soter¹ and Pope Caius. ²

Pope Soter reigned from AD 167 to his death in AD 174. ³ Early Church records tell us very little about him. However, we know that he was known for his kindness and generosity. He was also known as a fierce opponent of heresy, he wrote an encyclical against Montanism (a teaching which believed that a Christian who had sinned gravely could never be redeemed.) He was held in such high esteem by the faithful, that a letter written by him to the Corinthians was read in Church alongside the epistle of St. Clement.⁴

Pope Soter is also known for declaring that marriage was valid as a sacrament only when blessed by a priest; and for formally inaugurating Easter as an annual festival in Rome.⁵

Pope Caius⁶ reigned from December 17, 283 to April 22, 296. he was a native of the Dalmatian city of Salona. Not much is known of him, other than the fact that he was persecuted and had to live in the catacombs, until he was beheaded by Emperor Diocletian.⁷

As pope, Caius decreed that before someone could assume the position of bishop, he must first be porter, lector, exorcist, acolyte, subdeacon, deacon, and priest. ⁸

Why read about these popes?

All my growing up years I knew only one pope and that was JP2. I bought many of his encyclicals and read many of his sermons but, I had no idea about the popes between St. Peter and JP2. For me it was as if the Church started with the papacy of JP2. He was larger than life for me and I’m sure for many other Catholics of my age, he was a super star.

But, it seems a little unfair and ignorant of me, to assume that there were no other popes who were as great or perhaps greater than the popes of my day. Recently, with my discovery of the Tridentine Mass I am slowly getting to know that we had many holy and saintly popes. I think, it is good to learn about these saints who didn’t simply preach with words, but sometimes even with their own blood (a.k.a. martyrdom).

The reason these two popes (St. Soter and St. Caius) are interesting is because they are popes of the early Church. Catholics have a line of popes that can be traced back to St. Peter and his successors, we should be familiar with these vicars of Christ because their authority still holds. They teach us even from beyond the grave, that Christ is with His Church even during persecution and even during times of heresy.

Ecclesiastes1:10 says, “Nothing under the sun is new,”⁹ Neither persecution nor heresy is new to the Church. From these two popes we learn that we must fight. “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.” [Ephesians 6:12] ¹⁰

Part of the fight is learning about the Church and its History, so that as St. Paul says, you may “withdraw yourselves from every brother walking disorderly, and not according to the tradition which they have received of us.”[2 Thessalonians 3:6] ¹¹

St. Soter and St. Caius pray for us and the Church.

Instaurare Omnia in Christo

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References:

1. https://www.vatican.va/content/vatican/en/holy-father/sotero.html

2. https://www.vatican.va/content/vatican/en/holy-father/caio.html

3. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03144c.htm

4. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/sts-caius-and-soter-449

5. https://catholicsaints.info/pope-saint-soter/

6. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Pope_Caius

7. https://popehistory.com/popes/pope-st-caius/

8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Caius

9. https://www.drbo.org/cgi-bin/d?b=drb&bk=23&ch=1&l=10#x

10. https://www.drbo.org/cgi-bin/d?b=drb&bk=56&ch=6&l=12#x

11. https://www.drbo.org/cgi-bin/d?b=drb&bk=60&ch=3&l=6#x