Saint Clement I, Pope & Martyr
S. Clementis I Papae et Martyris
Saint Clement I, the third successor of Saint Peter in the See of Rome, is honoured among the earliest Popes and martyrs, and is remembered above all for his ancient letter to the Church at Corinth.
On the twenty-third of November the Church keeps the feast of Saint Clement I, Pope and Martyr, who governed the Roman Church near the close of the first century. He is reckoned among the very first successors of Saint Peter, and the early Christian writers held him in great honour. Saint Paul appears to name a fellow-worker called Clement in his Epistle to the Philippians, and ancient tradition has often identified him with this Pope, though the connection cannot be established with certainty.
The Epistle to the Corinthians
Saint Clement is chiefly known to history through a letter which he wrote, in the name of the Roman Church, to the Church at Corinth, where divisions had arisen. This Epistle, composed about the year ninety-six, is one of the most precious monuments of the age that immediately followed the Apostles. In it Clement exhorts the Corinthians to peace, humility, and obedience, and recalls them to the order which the Apostles had established. The letter was so revered that for a time it was read publicly in some churches alongside the Sacred Scriptures, and it bears early witness to the care which the Roman Church showed for the peace of the faithful in distant places.
His martyrdom and veneration
Later accounts relate that Clement was exiled and put to death for the faith, and a celebrated legend tells that he was cast into the sea bound to an anchor. These particulars belong to a later age and cannot be confirmed with the certainty of history; what the Church proposes for our veneration is that Clement is numbered among the holy Popes and martyrs of the first century. His name is honoured in the Roman Canon of the Mass, where it is spoken among the great martyrs, a sign of the esteem in which the Roman Church has always held him. At Rome the ancient and beautiful Basilica of San Clemente preserves his memory to this day.
The Collect
O God, who dost gladden us by the yearly festival of blessed Clement, Thy Martyr and Bishop: mercifully grant that we who keep his heavenly birthday may also rejoice in his protection. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
Deus, qui nos annua beati Clementis Martyris tui atque Pontificis solemnitate laetificas: concede propitius; ut, cuius natalitia colimus, virtutem quoque passionis imitemur. Per Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum, Filium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum.
Patronage
Saint Clement is invoked as a patron of mariners and is named among the martyrs in the Roman Canon of the Mass; in Christian art he is often shown with an anchor.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar this feast is observed on the same day, 23 November, as an optional memorial.
Common Questions
When is the feast of Saint Clement I?
His feast is kept on 23 November in the calendar of the 1962 Roman Missal, as a Third Class feast.
Who was Saint Clement I?
He was one of the earliest Popes, the third successor of Saint Peter, who governed the Roman Church near the end of the first century and is honoured as a martyr. He is best known for his letter to the Church at Corinth.
Why is his Epistle to the Corinthians important?
Written about the year 96, it is among the earliest Christian writings outside the New Testament. In it Clement, in the name of the Roman Church, called the divided Corinthians back to peace and order, and it bears early witness to the Roman Church’s solicitude for the faithful elsewhere.
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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