Pope Hyginus
Head of the Catholic Church from c. 138 to c. 142
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pope Hyginus (Greek: Υγίνος) was the bishop of Rome from c. 138 to his death in c. 142.[1][2] Tradition holds that during his papacy he determined the various prerogatives of the clergy and defined the grades of the ecclesiastical hierarchy.
Hyginus | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Rome | |
Statue of Pope Hyginus in St. Peter's Basilica | |
| Church | Catholic Church |
| Papacy began | c. 136 |
| Papacy ended | c. 142 |
| Predecessor | Telesphorus |
| Successor | Pius I |
| Personal details | |
| Born | |
| Died | 142 |
| Sainthood | |
| Feast day | 11 January |
Hyginus instituted baptismal parents at baptism to assist the baptised during their Christian life. He also decreed that all churches be consecrated. He is said to have died a martyr, though no records verify this. The chronology of the early bishops of Rome cannot be determined with any degree of exactitude today.[3][4]
History
According to the Liber Pontificalis, Hyginus was a Greek by birth.[3] Irenaeus says that the gnostic Valentinus came to Rome in Hyginus' time, remaining there until Anicetus became pontiff.[5]
Cerdo, another Gnostic and predecessor of Marcion of Sinope, also lived at Rome in the reign of Hyginus; by confessing his errors and recanting, he succeeded in obtaining readmission into the Church but eventually fell back into heresy and was expelled from the Church.[6][7][8][9][10] The Liber Pontificalis also relates that this pope organized the hierarchy and established the order of ecclesiastical precedence (Hic clerum composuit et distribuit gradus).[3] This general observation recurs also in the biography of Pope Hormisdas. According to Louis Duchesne, the writer probably referred to the lower orders of the clergy.[3]
The ancient sources contain no information as to his having died a martyr. At his death he was buried on the Vatican Hill, near Saint Peter's tomb. His feast is celebrated on 11 January.[11][12]
His feast day in the Eastern Orthodox Church is also 11 January.[13]
