Saint Anacletus

Pope and Martyr
(died c. 92)

Saint Anacletus, also known as Cletus, was the third Bishop of Rome, succeeding Saint Linus and preceding Saint Clement I. The ancient lists of Roman bishops place him immediately after Linus, and he is believed to have governed the Roman Church from around 76 to 88, or by other reckonings from around 80 to 92. His name is of Greek origin, suggesting that he, like many of the early Roman clergy, came from the Greek-speaking community of Rome, which in the first century was considerably larger than the Latin-speaking one.

Almost nothing is known with certainty about the historical Anacletus, and the various documents attributed to him by later tradition are generally regarded by scholars as pseudonymous. What the ancient tradition preserves is the memory of a man who governed the Roman Church in a period of great difficulty, when the memory of the Neronian persecution was still fresh and when the community lived under the constant possibility of renewed official hostility.

The Liber Pontificalis credits him with dividing the city of Rome into parishes for pastoral administration, a measure that, if historical, would be one of the earliest examples of the territorial organisation of the Church. He is also said to have ordained twenty-five priests, a number that suggests the considerable size the Roman Christian community had attained by the end of the first century.

He is venerated as a martyr by ancient tradition, though the exact circumstances of his death are unknown. His name appears in the ancient Roman Canon of the Mass, in the commemoration of martyrs, alongside the other early popes, a testimony to the esteem in which the early Roman community held his memory. His feast is observed on April 26th in some calendars, but he also appears in July martyrologies. He is one of the succession of holy men through whom the faith of the Apostles was transmitted to subsequent generations.