EVARISTO, POPE, saint. — The information concerning his pontificate is uncertain or false; nevertheless, he governed the Church between the end of the 1st century and the beginning of the 2nd (97–105).
According to the anonymous author of the Liber Pontificalis, he was Greek, born in Bethleem to a Jewish father. He is said to have assigned the priests of Rome to the various urban titles and established that seven deacons should assist the bishop during the sacred liturgy. Pseudo-Isidore attributes four decretals to him. The report that he died a martyr and was buried in St Peter’s is likewise doubtful. The day of his death seems to be established, according to the martyrologies and the testimony of Eusebius, as 26 October; but the year remains unknown.
BIBLI: Acta SS. Octobr. XI, Parigi 1870, pp. 799-804; Jaffé-Wattenbach, I, p. 4; Lib. Pont., I, p. 126.