Pope Telesphorus

Who was Pope Telesphorus?

Pope Telesphorus was the Bishop of Rome from c. 126 to his death c. 137, during the reigns of Roman Emperors Hadrian and Antoninus Pius. He was of Greek ancestry and born in Terranova da Sibari, Calabria, Italy.

Telesphorus is traditionally reckoned as being the seventh Roman bishop in succession after Saint Peter. The Liber Pontificalis mentions that he had been an anchorite monk prior to assuming office. According to the testimony of Irenæus, he suffered a "glorious" martyrdom. Although most early popes are called martyrs by sources such as the Liber Pontificalis, Telesphorus is the first to whom Ireneaus, writing considerably earlier, gives this title.

Eusebius places the beginning of his pontificate in the twelfth year of the reign of Emperor Hadrian and gives the date of his death as being in the first year of the reign of Antoninus Pius.

In Roman Martyrology, his feast is celebrated on 5 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.