In all charitableness, I find it strange, with all the documents, some dated as early as 100 AD, that the records concerning the early Popes are very scetchy, and most nonexistant for at least 100 years.
:coffeeread:
That does not mean there were no written contemporaneous records, only that original documents were lost in times of persecution.
100 years is a very short time, you remember your family history of the last 100 years, their names. Its easy when you are visited by chroniclers who record everything.
St. Peter (32-67)
St. Linus (67-76)
St. Anacletus (Cletus) (76-88)
St. Clement I (88-97)
St. Evaristus (97-105)
St. Alexander I (105-115)
St. Sixtus I (115-125) Also called Xystus I
St. Telesphorus (125-136)
St. Hyginus (136-140)
St. Pius I (140-155)
Here is the list of the Popes for the first 100 years after the death of St. Peter.
You may well be wondering, we have the list of Popes, where is the original documents;
Hegesippus (chronicler)
Saint Hegesippus
Born 110 AD
Died April 7, 180 AD, Jerusalem, Palaestina
Venerated in Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church
Feast April 7
Saint Hegesippus (Ἅγιος Ἡγήσιππος) (c. 110 — c. April 7, 180 AD[1]), was a Christian chronicler of the early Church who certainly wrote against heresies of the Gnostics and of Marcion. Hegesippus came to Rome under Pope St. Anicetus.
Hegesippus’ works are now entirely lost, save eight passages concerning Church history quoted by Eusebius,[3] who tells us that he wrote Hypomnemata (Ὑπομνήματα; “Memoirs” or “Memoranda”) in five books, in the simplest style concerning the tradition of the Apostolic preaching. Through Eusebius Hegesippus was also known to
St. Jerome,[4] who is responsible for the idea that Hegesippus “wrote a history of all ecclesiastical events from the passion of our Lord down to his own period… in five volumes”, which has established the Hypomnemata as a Church history.[5] St. Hegesippus appealed principally to tradition as embodied in the teaching which had been handed down through the succession of bishops, thus providing for
Eusebius information about the earliest bishops that otherwise would have been lost.
Emperor Aurelian in 270.
A synod of bishops had condemned Paul of Samosata, Patriarch of Alexandria, on a charge of heresy, and had elected Domnus bishop in his place. Paul refused to withdraw, and appeal was made to the civil power. The emperor decreed that he who was acknowledged by the bishops of Italy and the Bishop of Rome, must be recognized as rightful occupant of the see. The incident proves that even the pagans themselves knew well that communion with the Roman See was the essential mark of all Christian Churches**. That the imperial Government was well aware of the position of the pope among Christians derives additional confirmation from the saying of St. Cyprian that Decius would have sooner heard of the proclamation of a rival emperor than of the election of a new pope to fill the place of the martyred Fabian (Ep. 55:9).
**Eusebius of Caesarea **(c 263 – 339?[1]) (often called Eusebius Pamphili, “Eusebius [the friend] of Pamphilus”) became the bishop of Caesarea Palaestina c 314.[1] He is often referred to as the Father of Church History because of his work in recording the history of the early Christian church, especially Chronicle and Ecclesiastical History[1].
St. Jerome
Born at Stridon, a town on the confines of Dalmatia and Pannonia, about the year 340-2; died at Bethlehem, 30 September, 420.
He went to Rome, probably about 360, where he was baptized, and became interested in ecclesiastical matters. From Rome he went to Trier, famous for its schools, and there began his theological studies. Later he went to Aquileia, and towards 373 he set out on a journey to the East. He settled first in Antioch, where he heard Apollinaris of Laodicea, one of the first exegetes of that time and not yet separated from the Church. From 374-9 Jerome led an ascetical life in the desert of Chalcis, south-west of Antioch. Ordained priest at Antioch, he went to Constantinople (380-81), where a friendship sprang up between him and St. Gregory of Nazianzus. From 382 to August 385 he made another sojourn in Rome, not far from Pope Damasus.
:hey_bud: **The Papacy was recognised by the pagan emperors in written records of 270 AD, Constantinople was not built and given a bishop until 325 AD.
shaw: