St Clement of Rome: Pope St Clement I, Life and Feast

St Clement of Rome, Pope St Clement I, was the bishop of Rome at the end of the first century, the third successor of St Peter after Linus and Cletus, a man who had known the Apostles and whose Letter to the Corinthians is among the oldest Christian writings we possess after the New Testament. The Church names him every day in the Canon of the Mass and honours him as a martyr; tradition tells that he was exiled to the Crimea and thrown into the sea with an anchor round his neck. His feast is kept on 23 November in the calendar of 1962; here is what is certain about him, what belongs to tradition, and the prayers of his Mass.

Who was St Clement of Rome?

The chief early witness is St Irenaeus of Lyons, writing in the second half of the second century. Listing the bishops of Rome, he places Clement third after the Apostles, and says that he "saw the blessed apostles and talked with them; their preaching was still in his ears and their tradition before his eyes". This is the order the Roman Canon still follows: Lini, Cleti, Clementis, Linus, Cletus, Clement.

The lessons of his feast in the Roman Breviary call him a Roman, the son of Faustinus, from the region of the Caelian hill, and a disciple of St Peter. They identify him, as Origen and other ancient writers did, with the Clement whom St Paul names among his fellow workers:

"And I entreat thee also, my sincere companion, help those women who have laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement and the rest of my fellow labourers, whose names are in the book of life" (Philippians iv. 3, Douay).

That identification is accepted in the proper of his Mass and Office, which read this very passage on his feast; Butler, with the caution of a historian, notes that it is possible but doubtful. He was certainly not the consul Clement, of the imperial family of the Flavii, put to death in the year 95, though the two are sometimes confused; he may have been a freedman of that household, perhaps of Jewish descent. Of his life before he became bishop of Rome, nothing is known for certain.

The Breviary adds that he divided Rome into seven regions and gave each to a notary charged with carefully collecting and writing down the sufferings and deeds of the martyrs, and that he wrote much "to the profit of the Christian religion". His pontificate, according to the same lessons, lasted nine years, six months and six days; Butler places his death about the year 99.

The Letter of St Clement to the Corinthians

What has made his name famous is a single letter. "Under this Clement," writes St Irenaeus, "no small sedition took place among the brethren at Corinth, and the church of Rome sent a most sufficient letter to the Corinthians, establishing them in peace and renewing their faith."

The letter opens by apologizing for its delay, caused by the trials the Church of Rome was then suffering, generally understood as the persecution under Domitian, which dates it to the last years of the first century. It then calls the Corinthians back to humility and peace. A few lines show its tone, as Butler renders them:

"Let every one be subject to another according to the order in which he is placed by the gift of God. Let not the strong man neglect the care of the weak; let the weak see that he respect the strong. Let the rich man distribute to the necessity of the poor, and let the poor bless God who gives him one to supply his want. Let the wise man show forth his wisdom not in words but in works ... In our body, the head without the feet is nothing, neither the feet without the head."

The letter teaches that bishops and deacons were instituted for the good order of the Church and that obedience is due to them, and it speaks with an authority that a bishop of Rome addressing another Church did not need to justify: "If certain persons should be disobedient to the words spoken by Him through us, let them understand that they will involve themselves in no trifling transgression and danger." Even the Anglican scholar J. B. Lightfoot, quoted by Butler, called this passage a "noble remonstrance" and "the first step towards papal domination". For Catholics it is an early witness to what Our Lord founded when He said to Peter, "Thou art Peter"; see our page on St Peter, the Apostle and first Pope.

The letter was so esteemed that it was read publicly in the churches, and it was copied in the fifth-century biblical manuscript known as the Codex Alexandrinus, from which it was first printed at Oxford in 1633. Other writings, known as the Pseudo-Clementines, were later wrongly attributed to him, among them a "second letter" to the Corinthians; they are not his.

With St Ignatius of Antioch and St Polycarp, Clement is counted first among the Apostolic Fathers, the writers who stood in direct or very close contact with the Apostles. Our page on St Ignatius of Antioch tells the story of another of them.

How did St Clement die? The anchor and the Crimea

Here history and tradition must be kept apart, as the Church's own scholars have always done.

What tradition tells. The lessons of his feast in the Breviary, drawn from acts written in the fourth century, relate that Clement, having converted many to the faith, was banished by the emperor Trajan across the Black Sea to the wilderness near the city of Chersonesus, in the Crimea. There he found two thousand Christians condemned to work in the marble quarries, who suffered from want of water.

Clement prayed, climbed a nearby hill, and saw a Lamb touching with its right foot a spring of fresh water that gushed from the ground; all drank, and many pagans were converted. Trajan then sent men who threw Clement into the sea with an anchor tied to his neck. As the Christians prayed on the shore, the sea drew back three miles, and they found a little marble shrine in the form of a temple, with a stone coffin in which the martyr's body lay.

What history can say. Butler, whose Lives are the reference for this app, calls those acts "entirely apocryphal". The earliest writers who speak of Clement do not mention his martyrdom, and the place of his death is unknown; it may well have been in exile, even in the Crimea. The Church honours him as a martyr, names him among the martyrs of the Roman Canon and celebrates his Mass in red; the details of the anchor and the sea belong to the pious tradition, not to certain history.

The relics of St Clement and the basilica of San Clemente

In the ninth century St Cyril, the apostle of the Slavs, brought from the Crimea to Rome relics believed to be those of St Clement, which were laid under the altar of the church of San Clemente on the Caelian. Butler judges it most unlikely that they were really his. On the brothers who brought them, see our page on Sts Cyril and Methodius.

The present basilica of San Clemente stands on a fourth-century church, which itself stands on Roman buildings of the imperial age. The archaeologist de Rossi believed these were the house of Pope Clement himself; but, Butler notes, it is not known who was the Clement who first gave his name to this church, the titulus Clementis.

St Clement in the Canon of the Mass

Every priest who offers the traditional Mass names St Clement in the prayer Communicantes, before the Consecration, among the Apostles and the early martyrs: "... Lini, Cleti, Clementis, Xysti, Cornelii, Cypriani ...". Few of the Catholic saints are remembered so often. You can follow this prayer in the Order of the Tridentine Mass.

The Mass and prayer of St Clement (Missal of 1962)

The Mass of St Clement has its own Introit, from the prophet Isaias: "The Lord saith: My words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth, and thy gifts shall be accepted upon My altar." The Epistle is Philippians iii. 17 to iv. 3, with the verse that names Clement; the Gospel is the confession of St Peter, Matthew xvi. 13-19. The collect is that of the holy Popes:

Collect, 23 November

Gregem tuum, Pastor ætérne, placátus inténde: et, per beátum Cleméntem Mártyrem tuum atque Summum Pontíficem, perpétua protectióne custódi; quem totíus Ecclésiæ præstitísti esse pastórem. Per Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum, Fílium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.

O eternal Shepherd, look graciously upon Thy flock, and keep it with perpetual protection through blessed Clement, Thy Martyr and Sovereign Pontiff, whom Thou didst set as shepherd over the whole Church. 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.

On the same day the Missal adds a commemoration of St Felicitas, a Roman martyr:

Commemoration of St Felicitas

Præsta, quǽsumus, omnípotens Deus: ut, beátæ Felicitátis Martyris tuæ sollémnia recenséntes, méritis ipsíus protegámur et précibus. Per Dóminum nostrum.

Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that we who keep the solemnity of blessed Felicitas, Thy Martyr, may be protected by her merits and her prayers. Through our Lord.

What is St Clement the patron saint of?

The Church has issued no formal list of patronages for St Clement. Butler records that he is the titular and patron saint of the ancient London guild of mariners known as Trinity House. Because of the anchor of his legend, he has long been honoured by sailors and mariners, and, because of the quarries of his exile, by stonecutters and marble workers. His emblems in art are the papal vestments, the anchor, and sometimes the spring of water or the Lamb of the Breviary story. These patronages come from the tradition of his martyrdom, and that is how they should be understood.

St Clement's feast day

St Clement is honoured on 23 November. In the calendar of 1962 it is a feast of the third class, with red vestments, and a commemoration of St Felicitas. It falls in the last days of the liturgical year, a few days before Advent; see our traditional Catholic calendar of 1962.

The reform of 1969 kept St Clement on 23 November, as an optional memorial, and placed St Columban on the same day; the commemoration of St Felicitas no longer appears in the General Roman Calendar.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was St Clement of Rome?

He was the bishop of Rome at the end of the first century, the third successor of St Peter after Linus and Cletus, a disciple of the Apostles, the author of the Letter to the Corinthians, and the first of the Apostolic Fathers. The Church honours him as Pope St Clement I, martyr.

How did St Clement die?

According to the tradition read in the Breviary, he was exiled by Trajan to the Crimea and thrown into the sea with an anchor tied to his neck. Butler calls these acts apocryphal: the earliest sources do not describe his death, and its place is unknown. The Church venerates him as a martyr.

When was St Clement born?

The date and place of his birth are unknown. He was a Roman, according to the Breviary, and a contemporary of Saints Peter and Paul; he died about the year 99.

What is St Clement the patron saint of?

There is no official list. Butler names him patron of Trinity House, the London guild of mariners; popular tradition makes him a patron of sailors (from the anchor) and of stonecutters and marble workers (from the quarries of his exile).

Is St Clement in the Bible?

St Paul names a Clement among his fellow workers in Philippians iv. 3. The Missal and Breviary of his feast identify him with Pope Clement, as Origen did; historians consider this possible but not certain.

Why is St Clement shown with an anchor?

Because of the tradition that he was drowned with an anchor tied to his neck. The anchor became his emblem and the reason sailors took him as their patron.

Where is St Clement buried?

The relics brought from the Crimea by St Cyril in the ninth century were laid under the altar of the basilica of San Clemente in Rome. Whether they are truly his cannot be proved.

The Iter Fidei app follows the calendar of 1962 day by day, with the Roman Missal and the Breviary in Latin and English, so you can pray the Mass of St Clement on 23 November. Join early access here.

Sources. Alban Butler, Lives of the Saints, 23 November (St Clement I, Pope and Martyr). Roman Breviary (edition before 1960), 23 November, lessons of the second nocturn (in the Breviary of 1962 this third-class feast has a single, contracted lesson). Roman Missal (1962), Proper of Saints, 23 November, and the Canon of the Mass. Holy Bible, Douay-Rheims version, Philippians iv. 3.