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 | |
Church | Early Church |
Papacy began | c. 136 |
Papacy ended | c. 142 |
Predecessor | Telesphorus |
Successor | Pius I |
Personal details | |
Born | Hyginus |
Died | 142 Rome, Roman Empire |
Sainthood | |
Feast day | 11 January |
Hyginus instituted godparents 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]
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]