Pope Telesphorus

For other uses of the term, see Telesphorus.

Saint Telesphorus
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Birth name	Telesphorus
Papacy began	126
Papacy ended	137
Predecessor	Sixtus I
Successor	Hyginus
Born	??? Greece
Died	137 Rome, Italy

Styles of Pope Telesphorus
Reference style	His Holiness
Spoken style	Your Holiness
Religious style	Holy Father
Posthumous style	Saint

Pope Saint Telesphorus was pope from 126 or 127 to 137 or 138, during the reigns of Roman Emperors Hadrian and Antoninus Pius. He was Greek by birth.

The writer St. Irenaeus of Lyons said that St. Telesphorus suffered martyrdom. In the Roman Martyrology his feast is celebrated on 2 January; the Greek Church celebrates it on 22 February.

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, but some historians doubt that such attributions are accurate.

The Carmelites venerate Telesphorus as a patron saint of the order since some sources depict him as a hermit living on Mount Carmel.

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

Roman Catholic Popes
Preceded by: Sixtus I	Bishop of Rome Pope 125–136	Succeeded by: Hyginus

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. The Penguin Dictionary of Saints. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 0140513124.
• Kelly, J.N.D. Oxford Dictionary of Popes. (1986). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

External links

• Opera Omnia
• Catholic Encyclopedia: Pope St. Telephorus