Pope Saint Telesphorus

Pope from 126 or 127 to 136 or 137 or 138, during the reigns of Roman Emperors Hadrian and Antoninus Pius. He was of Greek.

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 (or hermit) monk prior to assuming office. According to the testimony of Ireneus (Against Heresies III.3.3), he suffered a "glorious" martyrdom. Although most early popes are called martyrs by sources such as the Liber Ponificalis, Telesphorus is the first to whom Ireneus, 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).

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.