St clement i biography samples

But the ancients never suggest this, and the pope is said to have lived on till the reign of Trajan. It is unlikely that he was a member of the imperial family. The continual use of the Old Testament in his Epistle has suggested to Lightfoot, Funk, Nestle, and others that he was of Jewish origin. We know that there were Christians in the household of Nero Phil.

Flavia Domitillawife of the Martyrwas a granddaughter of Vespasianand niece of Titus and Domitian ; she may have died a martyr to the rigours of her banishment. The catacomb of Domitilla is shown by existing inscriptions to have been founded by her. The consul and his wife had two sons, Vespasian and Domitianwho had Quintilian for their tutor.

Of their life nothing is known. The elder brother of the martyr Clemens was T. Flavius Sabinus, consul in 82, put to death by Domitianwhose st clement i biography samples he had married. Pope Clement is represented as his son in the Acts of Sts. Nereus and Achilleus, but this would make him too young to have known the Apostles. Clement nothing is known.

They relate how he converted Theodora, wife of Sisinnius, a courtier of Nerva, and after miracles Sisinnius himself and four hundred and twenty-three other persons of rank. Trajan banishes the pope to the Crimea, where he slakes the thirst of two thousand Christian confessors by a miracle. The people of the country are converted; seventy-five churches are built.

Trajanin consequence, orders Clement to be thrown into the sea with an iron anchor. This story is not older than the fourth century. It is known to Gregory of Tours in the sixth. About St. Cyril, when in the Crimea on the way to evangelize the Chazars, dug up some bones in a mound not in a tomb under the seaand also an anchor. These were believed to be the relics of St.

They were carried by St. Ignatius of Antioch in the high altar of the basilica of St. Clement in Rome. The history of this translation is evidently quite truthful, but there seems to have been no tradition with regard to the mound, which simply looked a likely place to be a tomb. The anchor appears to be the only evidence of identity, but we cannot gather from the account that it belonged to the scattered bones.

See Acta SS. Clement is first mentioned as a martyr by Rufinus c. Pope Zozimus in a letter to Africa in relates the trial and partial acquittal of the heretic Celestius in the basilica of St. Clement; the pope had chosen this church because Clement had learned the Faith from St. Peter, and had given his life for it Ep. He is also called a martyr by the writer known as Praedestinatus c.

Modern critics think it possible that his martyrdom was suggested by a confusion with his namesake, the martyred consul. But the lack of tradition that he was buried in Rome is in favor of his having died in exile. Clement at Rome lies in the valley between the Esquiline and Coelian hills, on the direct road from the Coliseum to the Lateran.

It is now in the hands of the Irish Province of Dominicans. With its atrium, its choir enclosed by a wall, its ambos, it is the most perfect model of an early basilica in Romethough it was built as late as the first years of the twelfth century by Paschal II, after the destruction of this portion of the city by the Normans under Robert Guiscard.

Paschal II followed the lines of an earlier church, on a rather smaller scale, and employed some of its materials and fittings. The marble wall of the present choir is of the date of John II In the older church was unearthed, below the present building, by the PriorFather Mulooly, O. Still lower were found chambers of imperial date and walls of the Republican period.

The lower church was built under Constantine d. It is mentioned in inscriptions of Damasus d. De Rossi thought the lowest chambers belonged to the house of Clement, and that the room immediately under the altar was probably the original memoria of the saint. These chambers communicate with a shrine of Mithras, which lies beyond the apse of the church, on the lowest level.

De Rossi supposed this to be a Christian chapel purposely polluted by the authorities during the last persecution. Lightfoot has suggested that the rooms may have belonged to the house of T. Flavius Clemens the consul, being later mistaken for the dwelling of the pope; but this seems quite gratuitous. In the sanctuary of Mithras a statue of the Good Shepherd was found.

The Greek originals are lost.

St clement i biography samples

Many critics have believed them genuine, for they were known in the fourth century to St. It was not until that the building reverted to the Russian Orthodox Church. He was martyred by tying his neck to an anchor and casting him into the sea. The record of the 29th of the Coptic month of Hatour states that this saint was born in Rome to an honorable father whose name was Fostinus and also states that he was a member of the Roman senate and that his father educated him and taught him Greek literature.

Besides relics venerated in Rome and Kyiv see abovein the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in Spainthe shinbone of Clement is kept. Historically, this was a highly revered relic in the city. In workings of art, Clement can be recognized by having an anchor at his side or tied to his neck. He is most often depicted wearing papal vestmentsincluding the pallium, and sometimes with a papal tiara but more often with a mitre.

He is also sometimes shown with papal symbols such as the papal cross and the Keys of Heaven. In reference to his martyrdom, he often holds the palm of martyrdom. Clement can be seen depicted near a fountain or springrelating to the incident from his hagiographyor st clement i biography samples in a temple in the sea. Clement's Cross, in reference to the way he was martyred.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Herbermann, Charles, ed. Clement I ". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikisource Wikidata item.

Head of the Catholic Church from 88 to 99 AD. Pope Saint. RomeItaliaRoman Empire. Papal vestments Mariner's cross Anchor tied to the side Palm of martyrdom. Angono, Rizal Mariners Stone-cutters [ 1 ]. Life [ edit ]. Death and legends of final days [ edit ]. Writings [ edit ]. Epistle of Clement [ edit ]. Main article: First Epistle of Clement.

Theology [ edit ]. Writings formerly attributed to Clement [ edit ]. Second Epistle of Clement [ edit ]. Main article: Second Epistle of Clement. Epistles on Virginity [ edit ]. False Decretals [ edit ]. Main article: Pseudo-Isidore. Clementine literature [ edit ]. Main article: Clementine literature. Recognition as a saint [ edit ]. Relics [ edit ].

Symbolism [ edit ]. See also [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Notes [ edit ]. Ancient sources are contradictory, and modern scholarship is divided. All four sources give Peter an episcopate of 25 years in Rome, and the Liber Pontificalis even records that Peter died 38 years after Jesus' death, that is, AD 67— The author thus "gives two incompatible traditions.

Libreria Editrice Vaticanap. Clement Iperhaps, correctly, with the Clement whom St. Paul mentions Phil as a fellow worker. Bishop St. Irenaeus of Lyon lists him as a contemporary of the Apostles and witness of their preaching. Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea dates his pontificate from 92 to It is, however, probable that the Church at Rome had at first two successions, one Petrine, the other Pauline, but that they speedily merged into one; and this will account for the confusion in the lists of the first bishops of Rome.

Clement probably was Petrine, and Cletus Pauline bishop, the former ruling the converted Jews, the latter the Gentile converts. We know nothing of the events of his pontificate, except that there was a schism at Corinth, which drew forth a letter from him which is preserved. Jerome and S. Irenaeus do not say that he died a martyr's death, but Rufinus and Zosimus give him the title of martyr; but this title by no means implies that he had died for the faith; it had anciently more extended signification than at present, and included all who had witnessed a good confession, and suffered in any way for their faith.

This is all that we know of S. But imagination has spun a web of romance about his person. The Clementine Recognitions and Homilies are an early romance representing the disputation of S. Peter and Simon Magus; they have a story running through them to hold the long disquisitions together, of which S. Clement is the hero. It is, however, pure romance, with, perhaps, only this basis of truth in it, that Clement is represented as the devoted adherent and disciple of S.

The Clementines are thoroughly anti-Pauline, as are also the Apostolic Constitutions, in which again S. Clement appears prominently. The legend of the martyrdom of S. Clement relates that, in the reign of Trajan, when Mamertinus was prefect of the city, and Toractianus count of the offices, a sedition arose among the rabble of Rome against the Christians, and especially against Clement, bishop of Rome.

Mamertinus interfered to put down the riot, and having arrested Clement, sent him to the emperor, who ordered his banishment to Pontus, where he was condemned to work in the marble quarries. He found many Christians among his fellow-convicts, and comforted and encouraged them.