The Martyrdom of Saint Clement.
Date: Circa 1480.
Source: Painting.
Author: Fungai.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Text from “The Liturgical Year”.
By: Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
Volume 15.
Time After Pentecost.
Book VI.
The memory of Pope Saint Clement I has been surrounded with a peculiar glory from the very beginning of The Roman Church.
After the death of the Apostles, he seems to eclipse Pope Linus and Pope Cletus, although these preceded him in the Pontificate.
We pass, as it were, naturally from Saint Peter to Saint Clement; and the East celebrates his memory with no less honour than the West.
English: Church of Pope Saint Clement. Moscow.
Saint Clement is one of the few Roman Popes to
have a Russian Orthodox Church Dedicated in his name.
Русский: Храм Священномученика Климента,
Папы Римского, в Москве.
Date: 14 January 2016.
Source: Own work.
Author: A.Savin
(Wikimedia Commons)
He was in truth the universal Pontiff, and his acts, as well as his writings, are renowned throughout the entire Church.
This widespread reputation caused numbers of apocryphal writings to be attributed to him, which, however, it is easy to distinguish from his own.
But it is remarkable that all the falsifiers who have thought fit to put his name to their own works, or to invent stories concerning him, agree in declaring that he was of imperial descent.
With only one exception, all the documents which attest Clement’s intervention in the affairs of distant Churches have perished with time; but the one that remains shows us in full action the monarchical power of the Bishop of Rome at that primitive epoch.
The Church of Corinth was disturbed with intestine quarrels caused by jealousy against certain Pastors. These divisions, the germ of which had appeared even in Saint Paul’s time, had destroyed all peace, and were causing scandal to the very pagans.
The Corinthians at last felt the necessity of putting an end to a disorder which might be prejudicial to the extension of the Christian Faith; and for this purpose it was requisite to seek assistance from outside.
English:
“Vision Of The Trinity Appearing To Saint Clement”.
Deutsch: Vision des heiligen Clemens.
Italiano: Visione di papa Clemente I.
Artist: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696–1770).
Date: 1730 - 1735.
Collection: National Gallery.
Source/Photographer: The Yorck Project (2002)
10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei (DVD-ROM),
distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Apostles had all departed this life except Saint John, who was still the Light of The Church. It was no great distance from Corinth to Ephesus where the Apostle resided: Yet, it was not to Ephesus but to Rome that the Church of Corinth turned.
Pope Saint Clement I examined the case referred to his judgement by that Church, and sent to Corinth five Commissaries to represent the Apostolic See.
They were bearers of a Letter, which Saint Irenæus calls “Potentissimas Litteras”. It was considered at the time so beautiful and so apostolic, that it was long read in many Churches as a sort of continuation of the Canonical Scriptures.
Its tone is dignified but paternal, according to Saint Peter’s advice to Pastors. There is nothing in it of a domineering spirit; but the grave and solemn language bespeaks the universal Pastor, whom none can disobey without disobeying God, Himself.
These words so solemn and so firm wrought the desired effect: Peace was re-established in the Church of Corinth, and the messengers of the Roman Pontiff soon brought back the happy news.
A Century later, Saint Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, expressed to Pope Saint Soter the gratitude still felt by his flock towards Saint Clement for the service he had rendered.
Brought up in the school of the Apostles, Saint Clement had retained their style and manner. These are visible in his two “Letters to Virgins”, which are mentioned by Saint Epiphanius and Saint Jerome, and were found in the 18th-Century translated into Syriac, in a manuscript brought from Aleppo.
As Saint Cæcilia reminded us yesterday, the principle of vowing Chastity to God was, from the very beginning, one of the bases of Christianity, and one of the most effectual means for the transformation of the World.
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