Pope Telesphorus

Pope Saint Telesphorus
Bishop of Rome
14th century depiction of St. Telesphorus in the Carmelite Monastery of Straubing in Bavaria
Church	Early Church
Papacy began	c. 126
Papacy ended	c. 137
Predecessor	Sixtus I
Successor	Hyginus
Personal details
Born	Terranova da Sibari, Calabria, Roman Italy
Died	c. 137 Rome, Roman Italy, Roman Empire
Sainthood
Feast day	5 January (Catholic) 5 January (Eastern Orthodox Church) and 22 February (Eastern churches)
Venerated in	Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church
Attributes	Papal vestments
Patronage	Carmelites

Pope Telesphorus (Greek: Τελεσφόρος) was the bishop of Rome from c. 126 to his death c. 137, during the reigns of Roman Emperors Hadrian and Antoninus Pius.

Telesphorus is traditionally considered as the eighth Bishop of Rome in succession after Peter.^[1]

Telesphorus was of Greek ancestry and born in Terranova da Sibari,^[2][3] Calabria, Italy. The Liber Pontificalis mentions that he had been an anchorite (or hermit) monk prior to assuming office.

Eusebius (Church History iv.7; iv.14) places the beginning of his pontificate in the twelfth year of the reign of Emperor Hadrian (128–129) and gives the date of his death as being in the first year of the reign of Antoninus Pius (138–139).^[1]

As the capital of the empire was a place that allowed a wide spread of ideas, many heretics moved to Rome during his pontificate. During this period, the main heretical doctrine was Gnosticism, which Telesphorus vigorously fought because he believed it could steer religion towards a mysticism far removed from reality. The main exponent of this doctrine was the philosopher Valentinus, who at this time moved from Egypt to Rome and also managed to have a large number of followers in the capital of the empire for more than twenty years.

A fragment of a letter from Irenæus to Pope Victor I during the Easter controversy in the late 2nd century, also preserved by Eusebius, testifies that Telesphorus was one of the Roman bishops who always celebrated Easter on Sunday, rather than on other days of the week according to the calculation of the Jewish Passover. Unlike Victor, however, Telesphorus remained in communion with those communities that did not follow this custom.^[1]

The tradition of Christmas Midnight Masses, the celebration of Easter on Sundays, the keeping of a seven-week Lent before Easter and the singing of the Gloria are usually attributed to his pontificate, however, historian Johann Peter Kirsch says that "[n]one of the statements in the "Liber pontificalis" and other authorities of a later date as to liturgical and other decisions of this pope are genuine."^[1]

According to the testimony of Irenaeus (Against Heresies III.3.3), he suffered martyrdom.^[4] Although most early popes are called martyrs by sources such as the Liber Pontificalis (dating to the 3rd century at earliest), Telesphorus is the first to whom Irenaeus, writing considerably earlier (c. 180 AD), gives this title, thus making his martyrdom the earliest attested martyrdom of a pope after Peter. He was buried in the Vatican Necropolis, next to his predecessors.

In Roman Martyrology, his feast is celebrated on 2 January; the Eastern churches celebrate it on 22 February.

Until the 17th century, the Carmelites venerate Telesphorus as a patron saint of the order since some sources depict him living as a hermit. He is depicted in a stained glass window at the Carmelite monastery in Boxmeer.^[5]

The town of Saint-Télesphore, in the southwestern part of Canada's Quebec province, is named after him.^[6]

• List of popes

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope St. Telesphorus". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

• Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. The Penguin Dictionary of Saints. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 0-14-051312-4.
• Kelly, J.N.D. Oxford Dictionary of Popes. (1986). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
• Benedict XVI. The Roman Martyrology. Gardners Books, 2007. ISBN 978-0-548-13374-3.
• Chapman, John. Studies on the Early Papacy. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1971. ISBN 978-0-8046-1139-8.
• Fortescue, Adrian, and Scott M. P. Reid. The Early Papacy: To the Synod of Chalcedon in 451. Southampton: Saint Austin Press, 1997. ISBN 978-1-901157-60-4.
• Loomis, Louise Ropes. The Book of Popes (Liber Pontificalis). Merchantville, NJ: Evolution Publishing. ISBN 1-889758-86-8

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Telesphorus.

• The Works of Pope Telesphorus (from Documenta Catholica Omnia) (in Latin)