Saints Cletus & Marcellinus, Popes & Martyrs
Ss. Cleti et Marcellini Paparum et Martyrum
On this day the Church honours together two of the early Bishops of Rome who are venerated as martyrs: Saint Cletus, who governed the Roman Church in the first century among the immediate successors of Saint Peter, and Saint Marcellinus, who ruled at the dawn of the fourth century in the time of the last great persecution.
The Roman Church keeps on the twenty-sixth of April the joint memory of Saints Cletus and Marcellinus, two of her early shepherds whose names are inscribed among the Popes who sealed the Faith with their blood. Of both, as of so many of the first successors of Saint Peter, little detail has come down to us with certainty; what the Church holds and honours is that they bore the burden of governing the flock of Christ in an age of trial, and are reckoned among her martyrs.
Saint Cletus
Saint Cletus, called also Anacletus, is named in the ancient lists among the first Bishops of Rome after Saint Peter, succeeding Saint Linus and preceding Saint Clement. His pontificate falls in the latter part of the first century, within living memory of the Apostles. The particulars of his governance have not been preserved, but the venerable tradition of the Roman Church numbers him among those who confessed Christ unto death in the early persecutions. His name is recited to this day in the Canon of the Mass, a witness to the unbroken line of pastors reaching back to the Apostles.
Saint Marcellinus
Saint Marcellinus governed the Roman Church from about the year 296 until 304, in the reign of the Emperor Diocletian, when the most violent of all the persecutions fell upon the Christians. He died in that time of fierce trial and has long been venerated as a martyr. The exact circumstances of his death are not recorded with assurance, and the Church speaks of them with the reserve that befits so distant an age; but his memory has been kept with honour from antiquity, and he too is named in the ancient martyrologies of Rome.
The shepherds of the early Church
In honouring these two Popes the faithful look upon the cost at which the Faith was handed down in the first centuries. To hold the See of Peter in those days was to stand most exposed to the fury of persecution. That so many of the early Bishops of Rome are numbered among the martyrs is a silent testimony to their fidelity. The Church, naming them in her prayers, asks that the same constancy may be granted to her own day.
The Collect
May the precious confession of Thy blessed Martyrs and Bishops Cletus and Marcellinus sustain us, O Lord, and may their loving intercession ever protect us. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
Beatórum Mártyrum, paritérque Pontíficum Cleti et Marcellíni nos, Dómine, fóveat pretiósa conféssio: et pia iúgiter intercéssio tueátur. Per Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum Fílium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.
In the Modern Calendar
These two Popes are no longer kept together on this day in the modern General Roman Calendar; Saint Marcellinus is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology, and the name Cletus (Anacletus) likewise endures there.
Common Questions
When is the feast of Saints Cletus and Marcellinus?
In the 1962 Roman Missal their joint feast is kept on 26 April as a Third-Class feast.
Who were Saints Cletus and Marcellinus?
They were two early Bishops of Rome venerated as martyrs: Saint Cletus, among the first successors of Saint Peter in the first century, and Saint Marcellinus, who governed the Roman Church during the persecution of Diocletian and died about the year 304.
Why is little known about them?
Both belonged to the earliest centuries of the Church, of whose Popes few details survive. The Church honours with certainty their office as shepherds of Rome and their witness as martyrs, while speaking with due reserve where the historical record is silent.
See where this feast falls in the Church’s year on the liturgical calendar, or find a Traditional Latin Mass near you.
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