Pope Anacletus (died ), also known as Cletus, was the

bishop of Rome A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or offic ...

, following

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

and Linus. Anacletus served between and his death, . Cletus was a Roman who, during his tenure as pope, ordained a number of priests and is traditionally credited with setting up about twenty-five parishes in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. Although the precise dates of his pontificate are uncertain, he "...died a martyr, perhaps about 91". Cletus is mentioned in the Roman Canon of the mass; his feast day is April 26.

Name and etymology

The name "Cletus" ( grc, Κλητος, Klētos) means "one who has been called", and "Anacletus" ( grc, Ἀνάκλητος, Anaklētos) means "one who has been called back". Also "Anencletus" ( grc, Ἀνάγκλητος) means "unimpeachable" or "blameless". The

Roman Martyrology The ''Roman Martyrology'' ( la, Martyrologium Romanum) is the official martyrology of the Catholic Church. Its use is obligatory in matters regarding the Roman Rite liturgy, but dioceses, countries and religious institutes may add duly approved ...

mentions the pope as "Cletus". The ''

Annuario Pontificio The ''Annuario Pontificio'' (Italian for ''Pontifical Yearbook'') is the annual directory of the Holy See of the Catholic Church. It lists the popes in chronological order and all officials of the Holy See's departments. It also provides names ...

'' gives both forms as alternatives.

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Chris ...

Irenaeus Irenaeus (; grc-gre, Εἰρηναῖος ''Eirēnaios''; c. 130 – c. 202 AD) was a Greek bishop noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France and, more widely, for the dev ...

, Augustine of Hippo and

Optatus Saint Optatus, sometimes anglicized as St. Optate, was Bishop of Milevis, in Numidia, in the fourth century, remembered for his writings against Donatism. Biography and context Optatus was a convert, as we gather from St. Augustine: "Do we not s ...

all suggest that both names refer to the same individual.Campbell, Thomas. "Pope St. Anacletus." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 27 September 2017

Papacy

Cletus/Anacletus was traditionally understood to have been a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

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

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

es. One of the few surviving records concerning his papacy mentions him as having ordained an uncertain number of

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

s. Anacletus was buried next to his predecessor, Linus, near the grave of Peter, in what is now

Vatican City Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—' * german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ') * pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—' * pt, Cidade do Vati ...

. His name (as Cletus) is included in the

Roman Canon The Canon of the Mass ( la, Canon Missæ), also known as the Canon of the Roman Mass and in the Mass of Paul VI as the Roman Canon or Eucharistic Prayer I, is the oldest anaphora used in the Roman Rite of Mass. The name ''Canon Missæ'' was used i ...

of the

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

Veneration

The Tridentine Calendar reserved 26 April as the feast day of Saint Cletus, who the church honoured jointly with

Pope Marcellinus Pope Marcellinus was the bishop of Rome from 30 June 296 to his death in 304. A historical accusation was levelled at him by some sources to the effect that he might have renounced Christianity during Emperor Diocletian's persecution of Christia ...

, and 13 July for solely Saint Anacletus. In 1960,

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...

, while keeping the 26 April feast, which mentions the saint under the name given to him in the Canon of the Mass, removed 13 July as a feast day for Saint Anacletus. The 14 February 1961 Instruction of the Congregation for Rites on the application to local calendars of

motu proprio In law, ''motu proprio'' (Latin for "on his own impulse") describes an official act taken without a formal request from another party. Some jurisdictions use the term ''sua sponte'' for the same concept. In Catholic canon law, it refers to a ...

''Rubricarum instructum'' of 25 July 1960, decreed that "the feast of 'Saint Anacletus', on whatever ground and in whatever grade it is celebrated, is transferred to 26 April, under its right name, 'Saint Cletus'". Priests who celebrate Mass according to the

General Roman Calendar of 1954 This article lists the feast days of the General Roman Calendar as they were at the end of 1954. It is essentially the same calendar established by Pope Pius X (1903–1914) following his liturgical reforms, but it also incorporates changes that w ...

keep the July 13th feastday; but the feast has been removed from the

General Roman Calendar The General Roman Calendar is the liturgical calendar that indicates the dates of celebrations of saints and mysteries of the Lord (Jesus Christ) in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, wherever this liturgical rite is in use. These cele ...

since 1960, and as such is not kept even in the 1962 Missal.Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 1969), p. 121 Although the day of his death is unknown, Saint Cletus continues to be listed in the

among the saints of 26 April.

Literature

In the

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature ...

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian people, Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', origin ...

mentions him as being placed in the "Heaven of the Fixed Stars" (Paradiso 27.41).Richard Lansing, "The Dante Encyclopedia" p. 178, 2010

Notes

References

Donald Attwater Donald Attwater by Eric Gill, 1929, private collection. Donald Attwater (24 December 1892 – 30 January 1977) was a British Catholic author, editor and translator, and a visiting lecturer at the University of Notre Dame. Life Attwater was born ...

and Catherine Rachel John, ''The Penguin Dictionary of Saints'', 3rd edition, New York: Penguin Books, 1993. . *Louise Ropes Loomis, ''The Book of Popes'' (''Liber Pontificalis''). Merchantville, NJ: Evolution Publishing. (Reprint of the 1916 edition. (Ends with Pope Pelagius, who reigned from 579 until 590. English translation with scholarly footnotes, and illustrations). *Richard P. McBrien, ''Lives of the Popes'', (Harper, 2000).

External links

''Writings attributed to Pope Anacletus/Cletus''''The Society of Pope Saint Anacletus''
an

Independent Catholic Independent Catholicism is an independent sacramental movement of clergy and laity who self-identify as Catholic (most often as Old Catholic or as Independent Catholic) and form "micro-churches claiming apostolic succession and valid sacramen ...

association in the United States {{DEFAULTSORT:Anacletus 1st-century deaths 1st-century Christian saints 1st-century Romans Ancient Greeks in Rome Burials at St. Peter's Basilica Italian popes Greek popes Papal saints Popes Year of birth unknown 1st-century popes