Pope Clement I

Saint Clement I
Saint Clement I
	File:StClement1.jpg
Birth name	Unknown
Papacy began	circa 88
Papacy ended	99
Predecessor	Anacletus
Successor	Evaristus
Born	Unknown; Rome, Italy
Died	circa 99; Crimea
	Other popes named Clement

Previous (Pope Callixtus I)

Next (Pope Cornelius)

Styles of Pope Clement I

Reference style	His Holiness
Spoken style	Your Holiness
Religious style	Holy Father
Posthumous style	Saint

Saint Clement I was the Bishop of Rome from 88 to 99 C.E. Also called Clement of Rome and Clemens Romanus, he was the fourth pope according to Catholic tradition. In his own lifetime, however, the term "Pope" itself and the attributes presently associated with the term did not yet exist.

Saint Clement I is considered one of the Apostolic Fathers, and his name is in the Roman Canon of the Mass. Saint Clement I is commemorated on November 23 as pope and martyr in the Roman Catholic Churchas well as the Anglican Communion and the Lutheran church. The Syriac Orthodox and Malankara Orthodox Church, as well as the Syriac Catholic and Syro-Malankara Catholic Churches commemorate St. Clement of Rome (called Mor Clemis) on November 24.

Identity

Sacred Tradition identifies him as the Clement mentioned in Philippians 4:3 ^[1]. He may have been a freedman of Titus Flavius Clemens, who was consul with his cousin, the Emperor Domitian. The Shepherd of Hermas (Vision II. 4. 3) mentions a Clement whose office it is to communicate with other churches; this function has been adduced to support Clement's authorship of the letter to the church at Corinth, Greece, ascribed to him: full details are at the entry Epistles of Clement.

Liber Pontificalis documents the fact that Clement of Rome had personally known Saint Peter, and states that he wrote two letters (the second letter, 2 Clement is no longer ascribed to Clement) and that he died in Greece in the third year of Trajan's reign, or 100. Earlier sources say he died a natural death. The Holy See's Annuario Pontificio (2003) cites a reign from 92 to 99.

Martyrdom

A 9th-century tradition says that St. Clement was exiled from Rome by the Emperor Trajan to a prison camp in Chersonesus, where he was sentenced to work in a stone quarry. In retaliation for having converted large numbers of the local pagans to Christianity, St. Clement was martyred by being tied to an anchor and thrown from a boat into the Black Sea in the year 102.

According to tradition, St. Cyril brought relics of St. Clement to Rome in 868 where they are now enshrined at the Basilica di San Clemente. Other relics of St. Clement, including his head, are claimed by the Kiev Monastery of the Caves in the Ukraine.

Symbolism

Saint Clement, by Tiepolo

Mariner's Cross/St. Clement's Cross.

In art, Saint Clement can be recognized as a pope with an anchor or fish. Sometimes there is an addition of a millstone; keys; a fountain, which sprung forth while he said Mass; or with a book. He might be shown lying in a temple in the sea.

The Mariner's Cross is also referred to as St. Clement's Cross in reference to the way he was martyred.

Writings

Clement is perhaps best known by a letter to the Catholic Church in Corinth, often called 1 Clement. The history of 1 Clement clearly and continuously shows Pope Clement I as the author of this letter.

A second epistle, better described as a homily and written in the second century, has been traditionally ascribed to Clement. However recent, albeit in some cases questionable scholarship suggests someone else wrote this letter.^[2]

Clement is also the hero of an early Christian romance or novel that has survived in at least two different versions, known as the Clementine literature, where he is identified with Domitian's cousin Titus Flavius Clemens.

References
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↑ "Writers of the 3rd and 4th cents., like Origen, Eusebius, and Jerome, equate him [St. Clement I], perhaps, correctly, with the Clement whom St. Paul mentions (Phil. 4:3) as a fellow worker."—Kelly (1985). The Oxford Dictionary of Popes. Oxford University Press, p. 7.
↑ "A second letter attributed to him (2 Clement) is not authentic"—based on the opinion of one questionable source. McBrien (2000). Lives of The Popes. Harper, p. 35.

External links

Roman Catholic Popes
Preceded by: Anacletus	Bishop of Rome Pope 88–98	Succeeded by: Evaristus

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[1] "Writers of the 3rd and 4th cents., like Origen, Eusebius, and Jerome, equate him [St. Clement I], perhaps, correctly, with the Clement whom St. Paul mentions (Phil. 4:3) as a fellow worker."—Kelly (1985). The Oxford Dictionary of Popes. Oxford University Press, p. 7.

[2] "A second letter attributed to him (2 Clement) is not authentic"—based on the opinion of one questionable source. McBrien (2000). Lives of The Popes. Harper, p. 35.

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