St. Hegesippus

St. Hegesippus was a Christian writer of the second century, most likely of Jewish origin and from the eastern part of the empire, who lived in the generation after the apostles and traveled widely through the churches, including to Corinth and Rome, to learn and record the tradition handed down in each. He is regarded as one of the earliest historians of the Church.

He composed a work in five books, often called the Memoirs or Hypomnemata, which set out to demonstrate the unbroken succession and unity of true doctrine in the churches founded by the apostles, as a defense against the Gnostic heresies of his time. The work is now lost, but important fragments survive in the later history of Eusebius, preserving valuable early traditions, including an account of the martyrdom of St. James the Just, the first bishop of Jerusalem, and lists of the early bishops. His concern to trace the apostolic succession as a guarantee of the true faith left a lasting mark. He is venerated as a saint, his memory kept on 7 April.