Today's saintAll livesOctober saints
E

Devotional card

St. Evaristus

Saint-specific image not yet available.

This devotional card is shown because a saint-specific image is not yet available.

Saints and feasts

St. Evaristus

Pope and Martyr

Evaristus was an early bishop of Rome, honoured as a martyr in the older pontificals and martyrologies. Butler connects his memory with the care of the Roman churches.

Sources

The life below remains the existing Butler-based reading, with its edition citation. The profile preserves the feast date and source title already listed in the library. Additional personal dates and historical details are shown only when separately documented.

Church served: Rome
The source identifies him among the early bishops of Rome; detailed administrative traditions are attributed to the older pontifical.

Butler sourceAlban Butler, The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, Volume X (October), Thomas Richardson and Son, Derby, for the Catholic Book Society, 1846; October 26, “St Evaristus, Pope and Martyr,” pp. 636-637.

Butler’s Lives of the Saints (1846)Alban Butler, The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, Volume X (October), Thomas Richardson and Son, Derby, for the Catholic Book Society, 1846; October 26, “St Evaristus, Pope and Martyr,” pp. 636-637.

The reading

ⓘ Butler source

Alban Butler, The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, Volume X (October), Thomas Richardson and Son, Derby, for the Catholic Book Society, 1846; October 26, “St Evaristus, Pope and Martyr,” pp. 636-637.

Evaristus belongs to the early succession of bishops of Rome. Butler places his pontificate in the reign of Trajan and records the title of martyr given to him in the pontificals and many martyrologies. The brief notice does not supply a detailed account of his trial or death.

Drawing on the older pontifical tradition, Butler attributes to him the assignment of priests to the Roman church titles and the appointment of seven deacons to assist the bishop. The notice also associates him with ordinations during Advent and with burial near the tomb of St. Peter. These particulars are presented as the traditions transmitted by the sources Butler names.

Butler’s concluding reflection turns to the spiritual life of the earliest Christian pastors. Their work among the faithful was sustained by prayer and hope of eternal life. The remembrance of Evaristus invites the reader to consider that union of care for the Church with a heart directed toward God.

Historical note

An original Novena Regina reading adapted and summarized from the cited 1846 edition of Alban Butler. This is not a transcription of Butler’s words.

The early pontifical traditions are attributed rather than treated as contemporary administrative records. Exact pontificate dates and circumstances of martyrdom are not asserted in this adaptation.

Carry this reading into prayer

Act of Charity

Ask God for love of Him and your neighbor, and carry this reading into your own life.

Pray now →

Keep reading

Nearby saint lives

Move through the calendar without leaving the saint library. These nearby feast-day lives help keep the reading trail connected.

Previous feast

St. Cedd

October 26

Next feast

Ss. Lucian and Marcian

October 26

Browse October saintsBrowse all saint livesGo to today's feast
More prayers, novenas and litanies

More devotions

Continue in prayer

Choose a connected devotion or a clearly labeled general prayer.

Choose a novena

Find a novena for your intention

Browse existing novenas by the need you want to bring to prayer.

Choose a novena

Pray with all the saints

Litaniae Sanctorum

Invoke the communion of saints with the traditional Latin Litany of the Saints.

Pray the Latin litany

Keep learning

What is prayer?

Read question 1099 and its complete answer in the Baltimore Catechism.

Read the Beatitudes in Matthew 5