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 L...
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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.
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