Tertullian tore his dalmatic.
Hippolytus had a cow.
Both became schismatic
when Callistus stood the prow.
He had a heart for sinners,
for concubines and such.
His patience with beginners
they found a bit too much.
They fled from the forgiving,
the laxity and taints.
But there’s hope for all us living
if all three died as saints.
—Mike Aquilina
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Tennyson’s Poetic Faith
Richard Holmes’s new biography, The Boundless Deep, depicts how Alfred Lord Tennyson absorbed the scientific discoveries of…
Letters—June/July 2026
The sentimental images painted of proud, tight-knit communities slowly crumbling away are compelling, but I have to…
Delicious Longing
One day around 1836, in the ancient city of Dijon, the young French poet Aloysius Bertrand was…
