Pope St. Evaristus

Pope St. Evaristus governed the Roman Church in the early second century, reigning by tradition from about 99 to 107, in the age of the Emperor Trajan. He stands very near the beginning of the line of the successors of St. Peter, in a time when the Church of Rome was still small and the historical record scant, so that little can be said of him with certainty.

An ancient tradition, recorded in the papal lists, credits him with organizing the Roman Church by assigning titular churches to the presbyters of the city and appointing deacons to assist the bishop, an early ordering of the Church's ministry. He is venerated as a martyr, in keeping with the perilous condition of Christians under Trajan, though the details of his death are not securely known. He is remembered as one of the earliest shepherds who guarded the faith handed down from the Apostles, and is celebrated on 26 October.