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

Telesphorus is traditionally considered the eighth Bishop of Rome in succession after Peter.

Biography

Telesphorus was of Greek ancestry and born in Thurii (today Terranova da Sibari, 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). 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 later (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.

Patronage

Until the 17th century, the Carmelites venerated 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.

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

See also

  • List of popes

References

Further reading

  • Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. The Penguin Dictionary of Saints. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. .
  • Kelly, J.N.D. Oxford Dictionary of Popes. (1986). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
  • Benedict XVI. The Roman Martyrology. Gardners Books, 2007. .
  • Chapman, John. Studies on the Early Papacy. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1971. .
  • Fortescue, Adrian, and Scott M. P. Reid. The Early Papacy: To the Synod of Chalcedon in 451. Southampton: Saint Austin Press, 1997. .
  • Loomis, Louise Ropes. The Book of Popes (Liber Pontificalis). Merchantville, NJ: Evolution Publishing.
  • The Works of Pope Telesphorus (from Documenta Catholica Omnia)