Holy See / Papa Hyginus (Pope Hyginus)

Pope Hyginus was the Bishop of Rome from c. 138 to c. 142. Tradition holds that during his papacy he determined the various prerogatives of the clergy and defined the grades of the ecclesiastical hierarchy.

He also decreed that all churches be consecrated. He is said to have died a martyr under the persecution of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, though no records verify this. The chronology of the early bishops of Rome cannot be determined with any degree of exactitude today.