The Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Siege of Belgrade, 1456

Pope Calixtus III was one of the Borgia dynasty Popes.  He was old, feeble and widely considered incompetent if not actually corrupt. He was most renowned for his attempts to urge a crusade against the Turks to reclaim for Christendom the city of Constantinople.  When Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453, the sultan was determined to increase his realm by annexing Hungary.  Pope Calixtus III feared the might of the Ottoman army would be too great for the Christians holding the fort at Nándorfehérvár (we know it today as the city of Belgrade).   To be sure, his fears were not unfounded, for the invading Ottoman army was said to have between 60,000 and 70,000 highly trained warriors, while  Janos Hunyadi, a Hungarian warlord charged with the defense of the fort, managed to raise an army of poorly armed but enthusiastic peasants amassing to about 25,000.  So in 1456, Pope Calixtus III delivered a papal bull ordering prayers to be said and church bells to be rung each noon.  The prayers must have worked, because after a surprise attack from the arriving Christian reinforcements, the Ottoman army slipped away in the night on July 22.  The significance of this victory was that the Christians were able to hold off Byzantine advancement for another 70 years.  (In 1521, Sultan Suleiman conquered Hungary and began the spreading of the Ottoman Empire which retained its range of power well into the Victorian period.)  Sadly for the Christian army, this victory came at a great cost.  Bubonic Plague spread through the encampment, killing their general, Janos Hunyadi.

Pope Calixtus III

You may be wondering what this has to do with the Transfiguration of Christ.  When news came to him of the Ottoman withdrawal, Pope Calixtus III ordered that the feast of the Transfiguration of Christ be established on August 6, forever commemorating the victory at the Siege of Belgrade.  Perhaps it was because of Calixtus’ perceived incompetence, but for whatever reason, his papal bull became known as “The Excommunication Bull.”  Legend has it that Pope Calixtus III viewed the appearance of what we call Halley’s Comet in June of 1456 as a bad omen for the Christian defenders in Hungary.  So he excommunicated it.  While this is utter nonsense--for how can one excommunicate a thing that was never in communion in the first place—and there is no reference at all to the comet in his bull, the myth persists.  To this day, church bells are rung at noon on August 6 in Hungary to remember the victory of the Siege of Belgrade.

Still, why would the Pope connect the victory at Belgrade to the Transfiguration? Some speculation indicates that the fires caused by the Christian army to separate themselves from their attackers illuminated the defenders in a way reminiscent of Christ’s illumination during the transfiguration.  Thomas Aquinas considered Christ’s transfiguration as the greatest of all the miracles.  So perhaps the Pope felt the greatest miracle should commemorate what he considered the greatest victory for Christianity. Perhaps he felt that as the disciples witnessed God’s glory in the transfigured Christ, so too may we see His glory in the victory at Belgrade.

Giovanni Bellini - Transfiguration of Christ

The Transfiguration of Our Lord is one of the five milestones in Jesus’ life as described in the gospels, along with his baptism, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension.  The transfiguration is the moment when things change.  Jesus stands with Elijah and Moses at the top of the mountain—a clear bridge between the corporeal world and heaven.  He, who has claimed to be the light of the world, shines with heavenly light on the world below.  It is this conversation that Jesus learns the path he is to take.  Everything changes after the transfiguration.  Where before he taught of how we were to live with one another, of more earthly issues, after the transfiguration, now he teachings become more abstract in nature.  He refers to himself using all those “I AM” phrases: I am the true vine, I am the Way, the Truth, the Light, I am the door, I am the resurrection and the life.  He refers to himself as the Son of God.  Thomas Aquinas considers the transfiguration as the greatest miracle because this is the miracle in which Jesus truly accepts being the Christ.  In 1475, Pierre-Simon LaPlace ridicules Pope Calixtus III by forever tagging him as the incompetent pope who thought to equate a forgettable, unimportant battle with the greatest miracle of all!  Yet, until Pope Calixtus III's 1456 papal bull, the miracle of the Transfiguration of Our Lord was not venerated with a feast day.