Saint Télesphore
Pape (8 ème) de 125 à 136 et martyr (✝ 136)
Originaire de la Grande Grèce, il
nous est peu connu. Il aurait décrété que le "Gloria" soit chanté à
la messe de la nuit de Noël. Selon la Tradition rapportée par saint Irénée et Eusèbe, il fut le premier
pape, après saint Pierre, à avoir été martyrisé. Les Églises d'Orient le fêtent
le 22 février. Sa mémoire est célébrée le 5 janvier dans l'Église catholique
romaine.
Martyrologe romain au 2 janvier: À Rome, vers 136, la mise au tombeau de saint Télesphore, pape. Au témoignage de saint Irénée, il fut institué septième évêque de cette ville depuis les Apôtres, et rendit un glorieux témoignage.
Martyrologe romain
Saint
Télésphore (125-136)
Naquit en Calabre au sein
d’une famille grecque.
Pendant de longues années
il vécut en ermite.
Il prescrivit le jeûne
et la pénitence pendant les sept semaines qui précèdent Pâques.
St Télesphore, pape et martyr
Le Liber Pontificalis
donne le 2 janvier pour la déposition de St Télesphore, attesté par St Irénée.
C’est à cette date qu’il été fêté avant qu’une confusion s’installe avec un
martyr homonyme du Martyrologe Hiéronymien fêté le 5.
Jusqu’à 1955, le 5
janvier étant le jour de la Vigile de l’Épiphanie, St Télesphore n’était
que commémoré. Sa fête a gardé ce degré et n’a donc pas de lectures à Matines.
Il
faut noter que la fête est inscrite dans le Temporal du Missel et non au
Sanctoral, comme toutes les fêtes de saints tombant entre la Nativité du
Seigneur et l’Octave de l’Épiphanie (du 25 décembre au 13 janvier).
Textes de la Messe
die
5 ianuarii
|
le
5 janvier
|
S. Telesphori
|
S. Télesphore
|
Papæ
et Mart.
|
Pape
et Martyr
|
Commemoratio
|
Commémoraison
|
Post 1942
|
|
Ante 1942
|
|
Missa Sacerdótes Dei, de Communi unius Martyris
2 loco.
|
|
Après 1942 |
|
Messe Si díligis me, du Commun des Souverains
Pontifes.
|
|
Avant 1942
|
|
Messe Sacerdótes Dei, du Commun d’un Martyr 2.
|
Dom
Guéranger, l’Année Liturgique
La sainte Église
Romaine fait mémoire en ce jour d’un de ses Papes Martyrs, saint Télesphore. Ce
Pontife monta sur le Siège Apostolique l’an 127 ; et parmi les décrets
qu’il rendit, on remarque celui par lequel il établissait l’usage de célébrer
la Messe durant la nuit de Noël, pour honorer l’heure de là Naissance du
Christ, et un autre dans lequel il décrète que l’Hymne Angélique Gloria in excelsis
Deo serait chantée ordinairement au commencement du saint Sacrifice. Cette
piété du saint Pape envers le grand mystère que nous célébrons en ces jours,
rend sa mémoire plus vénérable encore à l’époque de l’année où elle tombe.
Télesphore souffrit un glorieux martyre, selon l’expression de saint Irénée, et
fut couronné de la gloire céleste, l’an 138.
Bhx
Cardinal Schuster, Liber Sacramentorum
Aujourd’hui le
Martyrologe Hiéronymien commémore un martyr du nom de Télesphore, mais en
Afrique. Par la suite, l’homonymie a fait mentionner le pape Télesphore, et
c’est ainsi que sa mémoire en ce jour a pénétré dans le calendrier romain
durant le bas moyen âge.
De Télesphore, successeur
de Sixte Ier dans le pontificat romain, nous ne savons avec certitude que ce
qui nous est rapporté par saint Irénée. Tandis que celui-ci, relatant la liste
des premiers papes, ne dit absolument rien de leur mort sanglante, quand il
arrive à Télesphore, il atteste : ‘qui subit glorieusement le
martyre’ [1].
Par conséquent vers le
milieu du IIe siècle, Télesphore gloriose martyrium fecit, et son corps
fut déposé en paix dans la nécropole vaticane, près de la tombe de saint
Pierre.
Aujourd’hui, la messe
étant celle de la vigile de l’Épiphanie, on y ajoute la simple commémoraison du
martyr.
[1]
Contr. Haer., III, c. II, P. G., VII, col. 851.
Dom Pius
Parsch, le Guide dans l’année liturgique
Saint Télesphore
(127-137). — « A Rome, le pape saint Télesphore. Il souffrit sous Antonin
le Pieux, après de nombreux tourments, la mort glorieuse du martyre pour la foi
chrétienne. » — La fête du premier pape martyr, dans l’année nouvelle, nous
rappelle que beaucoup de vicaires de Jésus-Christ ont rendu à Notre Seigneur le
témoignage du sang. Recommandons-nous à tous les saints papes martyrs.
Pope Saint Telesphorus
Pope St. Telesphorus (ca. 125 – 138 AD) was a
Greek who had been an anchorite. He ruled the Church in the time of Emperor
Antoninus Pius. To St. Telesphorus are attributed some church practices which
endure down to this day. According to the “Liber Pontificalis” St. Telesphorus
ordered a fast for seven weeks before Easter. That the Lenten fast goes back
even before the time of Telesphorus, St. Irenaeus gives testimony. But the
length of the fast varied considerably in those early days. It is probable
enough that Pope St. Telesphorus did make some regulation as to the length of
the Lenten fast.
A custom much loved even today is also attributed to
St. Telesphorus. He is said to have ordered that although Mass was not
celebrated before the hour of tierce (i.e., 9 to 12 o’clock in the morning) at
Christmas time Mass should be celebrated at night. This is the first mention of
the beloved midnight Mass. However, scholars doubt whether this decree actually
does go back to the time of St. Telesphorus.
St. Telesphorus is said also to have decreed that
the Gloria in excelsis should be sung at the Christmas Mass and only at the
Christmas Mass. This magnificent hymn of praise is not said at all Masses even
today. As late as the eleventh century, though the Pope could say it oftener,
priests were not allowed to say it except at Easter.
St. Telesphorus died a martyr as is known not only
from the “Liber Pontificalis” but also from the earlier testimony of St.
Irenaeus. He was buried near St. Peter on the Vatican. His feast is kept on
January 5 in the Roman liturgy and February 22 in the Greek.
Pope St. Telesphorus
(Lived about 125-136.)
St. Telesphorus was the
seventh Roman bishop in succession from the Apostles, and, according to the testimony of St. Irenæus (Against Heresies III.3.3), suffered a glorious martyrdom. Eusebius (Church History IV.7, IV.14) places the beginning of his pontificate in
the twelfth of Hadrian's reign
(128-129), his death in the first year of the reign of Antoninus Pius (138-139). These statements, however, should
be compared with Lightfoot, "The Apostolic Fathers", I (London,
1899), 201 sq., section on "Early Roman Successions", and Harnack,
"Geschlichte der alchristl. Literatur", pt. II, "Die
Chronologie", I (Leipzing, 1879), 70 sq. In the fragment of the letter of Irenæus
of Lyons to Pope Victor concerning the celebration of Easter (Eusebius, Church History V.24), Telesphorus is mentioned as one of the Roman
bishops who always celebrated Easter on Sunday, without, however, abandoning church
fellowship with those communities that did not follow this custom. None of the
statements in the "Liber pontificalis" and other authorities of a later
date as to liturgical and other decisions of this pope are genuine. In the Roman
Martyrology his feast is given under 5 January; the Greek Church celebrates it on 22 February.
Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope St. Telesphorus." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company,1912. 23 Dec. 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14477b.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for
New Advent by Christine J. Murray.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of
New York.
SAINT TELESPHORUS A.D. 12
SAINT TELESPHORUS was a Greek by birth, though some
authors say that he was born in Terranova, in Calabria. It is by some affirmed
that his father was an anchorite, and that Telesphorus himself was Roman by
birth. Some say that by his decrees he confirmed the observance of Lent; and
others affirm that the quadragesimal fast came down by tradition, as stated by
Saint Ignatius, Saint Jerome, and Theophilus. At any rate, he is credited with
having introduced the "Gloria in Excelsis"; in the Mass. This holy
pope suffered martyrdom, A.D. 139. In his four ordinations Telesphorus created
thirteen bishops, fifteen priests, and eight deacons. Some pious Christians
removed his body after execution, and placed it near that of Saint Peter, in
the Vatican. It is said that this pope ordered that all priests should
celebrate three Masses on Christmas day. However, this observance was followed
under Saint Gregory the Great. Saint Telesphorus presided over the Holy See
during eleven years, eight months, and eighteen days.
St.
Telesphorus, Pope and Martyr
HE
was a Grecian by birth, and the seventh bishop of Rome. Towards the end of the
year 128, he succeeded Saint Sixtus I. sat eleven years, and saw the havoc
which the persecution of Adrian made in the church. “He ended his life by an
illustrious martyrdom,” says Eusebius; 1 which is also confirmed by St. Irenæus. 2
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume I:
January. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
Telesphorus, Pope M (RM)
Died 136. Saint Telesphorus was born in Greece, followed Pope Saint Sixtus I to the papacy, and reigned for ten years. Of the fourteen bishops who succeeded Saint Peter, to the end of the 2nd century, every one is listed as a martyr. In the case of some of them, martyrdom is historically improbable, and for none of them does good historical evidence for the correctness of the tradition still exist, with one exception: Saint Telesphorus. Even for him the circumstances are not known; Saint Ireneaus (c. 125-203) simply says that he suffered a glorious martyrdom under the Emperor Hadrian. Saint Telesphorus is commemorated in both the Greek and Latin churches (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney). In art, Saint Telesphorus is shown as a pope with a chalice, over which three Hosts hover, there might also be a club nearby (Roeder).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0105.shtml
Da poco abbiamo celebrato la Messa della notte di Natale. La sua introduzione si deve proprio a Papa Telesforo, settimo successore di Pietro, che governò la Chiesa dal 125 al 136. Di origine greca e nato in Calabria, prima di giungere a Roma era stato anacoreta in Egitto e Palestina. Forse fu tra gli eremiti del Monte Carmelo (l'ordine carmelitano tuttora lo annovera tra i suoi santi). Successe a Sisto I. Oltre alla Messa di Mezzanotte pare abbia istituito anche le altre due liturgie del Natale (all'aurora e all'ora terza), raccomandato l'osservanza del digiuno quaresimale e partecipato alla disputa d'Oriente sulla data di Pasqua.
Non si conosce assolutamente nulla del suo pontificato, tuttavia le poche notizie, senza fondamento storico, ci vengono tramandate dal Liber Pontificalis vol. I, 129 secondo cui Telesforo istituì il digiuno quaresimale e l’introduzione delle tre Messe notturne di Natale con il canto del “Gloria in excelsis Deo”.
Nel dare la serie dei primi papi, s. Ireneo asserisce nella sua nota opera Adversus haereses che Telesforo subì un ‘glorioso martirio’, affermazione ripetuta e confermata da Eusebio nella sua Historia ecclesiastica V, 6,4.
Morto a Roma, fu sepolto presso la tomba di s. Pietro in Vaticano.
Il Martirologio Romano e il Messale lo commemorano il 2 gennaio.
Una sua immagine si trova nella Cappella Sistina in Vaticano, dipinta nella cosiddetta Cerchia di Sandro Filipepi detto Botticelli.
Autore: Antonio Borrelli
San Telesforo
Papa e martire
m. 136
(Papa dal 125 al 136).
Da poco abbiamo celebrato la Messa della notte di Natale. La sua introduzione si deve proprio a Papa Telesforo, settimo successore di Pietro, che governò la Chiesa dal 125 al 136. Di origine greca e nato in Calabria, prima di giungere a Roma era stato anacoreta in Egitto e Palestina. Forse fu tra gli eremiti del Monte Carmelo (l'ordine carmelitano tuttora lo annovera tra i suoi santi). Successe a Sisto I. Oltre alla Messa di Mezzanotte pare abbia istituito anche le altre due liturgie del Natale (all'aurora e all'ora terza), raccomandato l'osservanza del digiuno quaresimale e partecipato alla disputa d'Oriente sulla data di Pasqua.
Emblema: Palma
Martirologio
Romano: A Roma, deposizione di san Telesforo, papa, che, come attesta
sant’Ireneo, nominato settimo vescovo dopo l’Apostolo, subì un glorioso
martirio.
Di
origine greca o nativo della Magna Grecia; Ottavo papa, succedette a Sisto I
nella sede di Roma e governò 11 anni, 3 mesi e 22 giorni, dal 125 al 136 d.C.
Non si conosce assolutamente nulla del suo pontificato, tuttavia le poche notizie, senza fondamento storico, ci vengono tramandate dal Liber Pontificalis vol. I, 129 secondo cui Telesforo istituì il digiuno quaresimale e l’introduzione delle tre Messe notturne di Natale con il canto del “Gloria in excelsis Deo”.
Nel dare la serie dei primi papi, s. Ireneo asserisce nella sua nota opera Adversus haereses che Telesforo subì un ‘glorioso martirio’, affermazione ripetuta e confermata da Eusebio nella sua Historia ecclesiastica V, 6,4.
Morto a Roma, fu sepolto presso la tomba di s. Pietro in Vaticano.
Il Martirologio Romano e il Messale lo commemorano il 2 gennaio.
Una sua immagine si trova nella Cappella Sistina in Vaticano, dipinta nella cosiddetta Cerchia di Sandro Filipepi detto Botticelli.
Autore: Antonio Borrelli
