![\"St.](\"http:\/\/stclement-ottawa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/St-Clement.png\")
Pope\u00a0Clement\u00a0I[…], is the first of the\u00a0successors\u00a0of\u00a0St. Peter\u00a0of whom anything definite is\u00a0known, and he is the first of the “Apostolic Fathers”. His\u00a0feast\u00a0is celebrated 23 November. He has left one genuine writing, a letter to the\u00a0Church\u00a0of\u00a0Corinth, and many others have been attributed to him.<\/p>\n
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Of the\u00a0life\u00a0and death of\u00a0St,\u00a0Clement\u00a0nothing is known. The\u00a0apocryphal\u00a0Greek\u00a0Acts\u00a0of his\u00a0martyrdom\u00a0were printed by\u00a0Cotelier\u00a0in his “Patres\u00a0Apost.” (1724, I, 808; reprinted in\u00a0Migne, P.G., II, 617, best edition by\u00a0Funk, “Patr. Apost.”, II, 28). They relate how he\u00a0converted\u00a0Theodora, wife of\u00a0Sisinnius, a courtier of Nerva, and (after\u00a0miracles)\u00a0Sisinnius\u00a0himself and four hundred and twenty-three other\u00a0persons\u00a0of rank.\u00a0Trajan\u00a0banishes the\u00a0pope\u00a0to the Crimea, where he slakes the thirst of two thousand\u00a0Christian\u00a0confessors\u00a0by a\u00a0miracle. The people of the country are\u00a0converted, seventy-five\u00a0churches\u00a0are built.\u00a0Trajan, in consequence,\u00a0orders\u00a0Clement\u00a0to be thrown into the sea with an iron\u00a0anchor. But the tide every year recedes two miles,revealing\u00a0a Divinely built shrine which contains the\u00a0martyr’s\u00a0bones. This story is not older than the fourth century. It is known to\u00a0Gregory of Tours\u00a0in the sixth. About 868\u00a0St. Cyril, when in the Crimea on the way to evangelize the\u00a0Chazars, dug up some bones in a mound (not in a\u00a0tomb\u00a0under the sea), and also an\u00a0anchor. These were\u00a0believed\u00a0to be the\u00a0relics\u00a0of St. Clement. They were carried by\u00a0St. Cyril\u00a0to\u00a0Rome, and deposited by\u00a0Adrian II\u00a0with those of\u00a0St. Ignatius of Antioch\u00a0in the\u00a0high altar\u00a0of the\u00a0basilica\u00a0of St. Clement in\u00a0Rome. The\u00a0history\u00a0of this translation is evidently quite\u00a0truthful, but there seems to have been no\u00a0tradition\u00a0with regard to the mound, which simply looked a likely place to be a\u00a0tomb. The\u00a0anchor\u00a0appears to be the only evidence of identity but we cannot gather from the account that it belonged to the scattered bones. (See\u00a0Acta\u00a0SS., 9 March, II, 20.) St. Clement is first mentioned as a\u00a0martyr\u00a0by\u00a0Rufinus\u00a0(c. 400).\u00a0Pope Zozimus\u00a0in a letter to\u00a0Africa\u00a0in 417 relates the trial and partial acquittal of the\u00a0heretic\u00a0Caelestius in the\u00a0basilica\u00a0of St. Clement; the\u00a0pope\u00a0had chosen this\u00a0church\u00a0because\u00a0Clement\u00a0had learned the\u00a0Faith\u00a0from St. Peter, and had given his life for it (Ep. ii). He is also called a\u00a0martyr\u00a0by the writer known as\u00a0Praedestinatus\u00a0(c. 430) and by the\u00a0Synod\u00a0of\u00a0Vaison\u00a0in 442. Modern\u00a0critics\u00a0think it possible that his\u00a0martyrdom\u00a0was suggested by a confusion with his namesake, the\u00a0martyred\u00a0consul. But the lack of\u00a0tradition\u00a0that he was\u00a0buried\u00a0in\u00a0Rome\u00a0is in favour of his having died in exile.<\/p>\n
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