Before Clement left us the first great letter from Rome, two almost silent figures held the Roman community together. Their documentation is thin — but it is the foundation for everything that follows.
For the second and third bishops of Rome there are no writings of their own and no contemporary biographies. Everything we know is retrospective, preserved in the succession lists drawn up a century later to prove continuity from the apostles. This is expected: Rome at that time was not yet led by a single monarchical bishop, but by a college of presbyters(12).
The Biblical hint: A Linus is mentioned as being with Paul in Rome near the end of Paul's life — "Eubulus greets you, as do Pudens and Linus and Claudia" (2 Tim 4:21). Irenaeus believed this was the same Linus who became bishop(13).
Irenaeus of Lyons, AD. 180: Our earliest witness. In Adversus Haereses 3.3.3 he writes that "the blessed apostles, then, having founded and built up the Church, committed into the hands of Linus the office of the episcopate"(13). According to the earliest succession lists passed down by Irenaeus and Hegesippus and attested by Eusebius, Linus was entrusted with his office by the apostles Peter and Paul(13).
Eusebius of Caesarea, AD. 325: Following Irenaeus, he states: "After the martyrdom of Paul and of Peter, Linus was the first to obtain the episcopate of the church at Rome"(14) and that "Linus, who had been bishop of the church of Rome for twelve years, delivered his office to Anencletus"(15). Jerome later called him "the first after Peter to be in charge of the Roman Church" and Eusebius calls him "the first to receive the episcopate after the martyrdom of Paul and Peter"(13).
The Liberian Catalogue described Peter as the first bishop and Linus as his successor(13), and the Liber Pontificalis also enumerated Linus as the second bishop after Peter, noting Peter consecrated Linus and Anacletus for priestly service while devoting himself to preaching(13). His length of service is itself uncertain — Eusebius gives 12 years, his Chronicle gives 14, Jerome gives 11(15).
This figure is more complex because of a name. Anacletus in Greek means "blameless" and its shortened form is Cletus. Irenaeus, Eusebius, Augustine and Optatus use both names indifferently as one person(16). Later, the Catalogus Liberianus and Liber Pontificalis split him into two — Cletus and Anacletus — creating the familiar list: Linus, Cletus, Clement, Anacletus(17).
What little is recorded:
Of Anencletus, or Cletus, as he is also called, we know nothing more than that he was one of the traditional first three bishops of Rome(15).
The oldest tradition is that given by Irenaeus and followed by Eusebius, according to which the order was Linus, Anencletus, Clement(18). Eusebius notes Anencletus held office for twelve years(15). That he ordained a certain number of priests is nearly all we have of positive record about him(16).
It is at least certain that Rome at that early date had no monarchical bishop, and therefore the question as to the order of these first three so-called bishops is not a question as to a fact, but simply as to which is the oldest of various unfounded traditions(12). The documentation is the succession list itself — proof that by AD 180, Christians in Rome and Gaul believed the apostles had entrusted the community to these men.
With Clement, the silence breaks. He is the first successor of Peter of whom anything definite is known, and the bridge from the apostles to the 2nd-century church.
Identity: Clement was bishop of Rome in the late 1st century. Catholic tradition lists him as the 4th pope, after Peter, Linus, and Anacletus. He is considered to be the first of the Apostolic Fathers of the Church(1).
Early church lists place him as the second or third bishop of Rome after Saint Peter, but other ancient, reliable authorities state that Clement was preceded by two other successors to Peter (Linus and Anacletus) and thus was the fourth bishop of Rome(2).
According to Tertullian, Clement was consecrated by Saint Peter(3), and he is known to have been a leading member of the church in Rome in the late 1st century. Tertullian claimed that Clement was ordained by Saint Peter(1).
Dates: Born around AD 35-50, traditionally in Rome. Died around AD 99-101, also listed as died c. 100(1). The chronology is uncertain, but his episcopate is usually dated AD 88-99. Pope Clement I (fl. 96) is how he is often dated(3).
Connection to the Apostles: Early writers identify him as a disciple of Peter and Paul. Many scholars think he is the Clement mentioned by Paul in Philippians 4:3 as a fellow worker. Irenaeus, writing around AD 180, says Clement "had seen the blessed apostles and had been conversant with them." Clement's fame rests on both his designation as the first known Apostolic Father and his authorship of the epistle to the Corinthian church(2).
His only authentic surviving work is The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, written around AD 95-96. Clement of Rome lived in the first century AD and his writings give insights to the church and its issues during its infancy(4). The roles of priests, deacons, and bishops are detailed by Clement in his First Letter(4).
The church in Corinth was in turmoil — younger members had deposed their presbyters. The church in Rome, writing as a community but in Clement's voice, intervenes:
1 Clement is a letter from the church of Rome to the church of Corinth that objects at length to its recent coup of leadership, urging the rival leaders to yield power back to the duly appointed original elders out of humility and obedience, for the health of the church.(5)
The letter is extremely lengthy — twice as long as the Epistle to the Hebrews — and includes many references to the Old Testament(6).
The letter was so highly regarded it was included with the New Testament in some early manuscripts, like Codex Alexandrinus.
2 Clement is not actually by him — an anonymous homily, AD 120-140, mistakenly attributed to Clement.
A large body of later pseudonymous works are attributed to him — the Clementine Homilies and Recognitions, Christian romance novels presenting Clement as a companion of Peter debating Simon Magus, and the Apostolic Constitutions. They are not by him, but they show how central his name became.
There is no contemporary evidence of how he died. According to apocryphal acta dating to the 4th century at earliest, Clement was banished from Rome to the Chersonesus during the reign of the Emperor Trajan and was set to work in a stone quarry(10).
The most famous legend: He performed a miracle finding water, converted so many that Trajan ordered him drowned with an anchor tied around his neck in the Black Sea. Because of this, his iconographic symbol is an anchor, and he is the patron of sailors, stonecutters, and marble workers.
His relics were allegedly brought to Rome by Saints Cyril and Methodius in the 9th century and now rest in the Basilica of San Clemente al Laterano.