St. Clement of Rome

Third Successor of St. Peter

St. Clement of Rome was bishop of Rome at the close of the first century, reckoned by ancient tradition as the third successor of St. Peter, after Linus and Anacletus. Some early writers identified him with the Clement whom St. Paul calls a fellow worker in his Letter to the Philippians, though this cannot be established with certainty. He is counted among the Apostolic Fathers — Christian writers of the generation that knew the apostles.

The Letter to the Corinthians

His enduring monument is his Letter to the Corinthians, written about the year 96, when a faction in the church of Corinth had deposed its lawful presbyters. Writing in the name of the church of Rome, Clement appealed for humility, order, and charity, grounding the Church's ministry in the will of Christ handed down through the apostles. The letter is among the oldest surviving Christian documents outside the New Testament, was read publicly in Corinth for generations, and offers precious evidence of the Roman church's early concern for other churches.

Exile, the Anchor, and His Relics

Of his death, little can be said with historical confidence. According to later hagiographical accounts, Clement was exiled under the emperor Trajan to the Crimea, where he ministered to fellow Christians condemned to the quarries, and was martyred by being thrown into the sea with an anchor tied to his neck. The anchor became his emblem. In the ninth century Sts. Cyril and Methodius recovered relics venerated as his in the Crimea and solemnly carried them to Rome, where they were enshrined in the Basilica of San Clemente — a church whose lower levels, still visitable today, reach back to ancient Rome.

Roman Canon and Patronages

Clement is named in the Roman Canon of the Mass, and his memorial is kept on November 23. He is honored as a patron of mariners and of marble and stone workers, trades linked to the traditions of his exile and martyrdom.

Significance

Writing to a church torn by division, this early bishop of Rome called a quarreling community back to humility, good order, and love, and his letter remains one of the oldest Christian texts outside the New Testament. It offers a precious glimpse of a Church that already cared for communities beyond its own city. Tradition also honors him as a martyr, and mariners and stone workers still claim him as their patron.