Saint of the Day Online - St Cletus

Saint of the day - Wednesday, 26 April, 2017

St. Cletus was the third bishop of Rome and succeeded St. Linus, which circumstance alone shows his eminent virtue among the first disciples of St. Peter in the West.

He sat twelve years, from 76 to 89. The canon of the Roman mass, (which Bossuet and all others agree to be of primitive antiquity,) Bede, and other Martyrologists, style him a martyr.

The name "Cletus" in Ancient Greek means "one who has been called," and "Anacletus" means "one who has been called back." Also "Anencletus" 

St. Cletus/Anacletus was traditionally understood to have been a Roman who served as pope for twelve years. The Annuario Pontificio states, "For the first two centuries, the dates of the start and the end of the pontificate are uncertain." It gives the years 80 to 92 as the reign of Pope Cletus/Anacletus. Other sources give the years 77 to 88.

According to tradition, Pope Anacletus divided Rome into twenty-five parishes. One of the few surviving records concerning his papacy mentions him as having ordained an uncertain number of priests.

He was buried near St. Linus, on the Vatican, and his relics still remain in that church. He died and was buried next to his predecessor, Saint Linus, near the grave of St. Peter's, in what is now Vatican City.

His name (as Cletus) is included in the Roman Canon of the Mass.