St. Telesphorus Pope of Rome
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. He is also a martyr according to the ancient testimony of St. Irenaeus.
Telesphorus is traditionally considered as being the eighth Roman bishop. The Liber Pontificalis mentions that he had been an anchorite (or hermit) monk prior to assuming office. According to the testimony of Irenæus (Against Heresies III.3.3), 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 St. Irenaeus, writing considerably earlier, gives this title.
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).
A fragment of a letter from Irenæus to Pope Victor I during the Pascha controversy in the late 2nd century, also preserved by Eusebius, testifies that Telesphorus was one of the Roman bishops who always celebrated Pascha on Sunday, rather than on other days of the week according to the calculation of the Jewish Passover.
