| Saint Telesphorus |
 |
| Papacy began | 126 |
| Papacy ended | 137 |
| Predecessor | Sixtus I |
| Successor | Hyginus |
| Personal details |
| Birth name | Telesphorus |
| Born | ???
Greece |
| Died | 137
Rome, Italy |
Papal 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.[1] In the Roman Martyrology his feast is celebrated on 2 January;[2] 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.
[edit] References
- Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. The Penguin Dictionary of Saints. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 0-140-51312-4.
- Kelly, J.N.D. Oxford Dictionary of Popes. (1986). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
[edit] External links
