Saint Hippolytus

The life

Hippolytus, Saints, Martyrs.—I. St. Hippolytus of Rome, presbyter and antipope; date of birth unknown; d. about 236. Until the publication in 1851 of the recently discovered "Philosophumena", it was impossible to obtain any definite authentic facts concerning Hippolytus of Rome and his life from the conflicting statements about him, as follows:

The discovery of the "Philosophumean" has now made it possible to clear up the most important period of the life of St. Hippolytus through his own evidence, and at the same time to test and correct the conflicting accounts contained in the old authorities. We proceed on the assumption that Hippolytus was really the author of the aforesaid work, an hypothesis almost universally accepted by investigators to-day.

From the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), article “Sts. Hippolytus”, in the public domain. Some details may since have been revised by later research. Read the whole article on Wikisource.