vendredi 26 avril 2013

Saint CLET (ANACLET), Pape et martyr



Saint Anaclet ou Clet.

Pape (3 ème) de 76? à 88 (+ 88)

Son nom se trouve sur la liste des Papes, mais on ne sait rien de lui. Il est considéré comme le successeur de saint Lin. En raison de l'ignorance des actes de sa vie historique, son culte a été supprimé lors de la réforme de 1969, mais il est toujours cité dans la première prière eucharistique.

Il figure au martyrologe romain à la date du 26 avril:

À Rome, commémoraison de saint Clet, pape, qui gouverna l’Église romaine, le second après saint Pierre.

Martyrologe romain

SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/7554/Saint-Anaclet.html


„Papst Anaklet“. Imago clipeata des Klosters S. Paolo fuori le mura, Rom, 6. Jh, Lexikon der christlichen Ikonographie, Band 5, Freiburg im Breisgau 1968, Spalte 128


Saint Clet ou Anaclet (76-88)

Il naquit à Rome. Ce fut sous son pontificat que l‘empereur Domitien déclencha la deuxième persécution contre les chrétiens.

Il fit construire une chapelle sur la sépulture de saint Pierre.

Martyrisé en 88 il fut inhumé à côté du Prince des Apôtres.

SOURCE : http://eglise.de.dieu.free.fr/liste_des_papes_01.htm

Saint Anaclet

Pape et martyr

Saint Anaclet, grec de nation, était originaire de la fameuse ville d'Athènes. Les bonnes qualités de cet adolescent frappèrent vivement saint Pierre qui le convertit lorsqu'il prêcha à Athènes. Charmé de sa piété exemplaire, de son zèle pour la religion, de l'intégrité de ses moeurs et des rares talents dont le Seigneur l'avait doué, le vicaire du Christ admit Anaclet dans le clergé, le reçut diacre, et lui conféra la dignité sacerdotale.

Revêtu de ce caractère sacré, saint Anaclet servit généreusement saint Pierre dans les fonctions de son apostolat et devint le compagnon inséparable de ses travaux et de ses voyages. Ange par la pureté de sa vie et par son zèle indéfectible au service de Dieu, Anaclet devint vite un des plus saints ministres de l'Église naissante.

Après que saint Pierre eut couronné son apostolat par un glorieux martyre, son fidèle disciple Anaclet se dévoua sous le pontificat de saint Lin et de saint Clet, avec le même empressement et le même succès. Il coopéra pour une large part aux merveilleux progrès que connut l'Eglise de Rome en ces temps si difficiles. L'excellence et la sainteté d'Anaclet devenait de jour en jour plus manifeste aux yeux de tous, lorsqu'en l'an 83, sous l'empire de Domitien, les voix des fidèles se réunirent à l'unanimité pour l'élire au souverain pontificat. Son élévation sur le trône de saint Pierre causa une joie universelle dans la chrétienté.

Dans ces premiers jours de l'Eglise, tout était à craindre: la puissance, la cruauté et la multitude des ennemis du Sauveur, la fureur des païens, la rage des Juifs, la timidité et le relâchement des fidèles. Durant la troisième persécution que Trajan excita contre l'Eglise en l'an 107, saint Anaclet constata avec douleur les ravages causés dans le troupeau de Jésus-Christ. Quoique Trajan n'avait porté aucune loi officielle contre les chrétiens, une guerre sournoise d'extermination sévissait contre les fidèles et surtout les évêques. Le sang des martyrs coulait avec abondance dans l'Orient et dans l'Occident.

Au sein de la tourmente, Anaclet encourageait les uns et confondait les autres. Comme la violence de la persécution augmentait de jour en jour, ce pasteur vigilant n'oublia rien pour animer les fidèles à témoigner de leur foi en Jésus-Christ. Il publia de belles ordonnances pour retenir ses ouailles dans leur devoir. Il regardait comme chrétiens à demi vaincus ceux qui ne recevaient que rarement la divine Eucharistie.

Pour donner quelque marque de sa dévotion et de sa reconnaissance au prince des apôtres auquel il était redevable de sa conversion, saint Anaclet fit bâtir et orner une église à son sépulcre. Par une providence toute particulière, elle se conserva intacte au milieu des persécutions.

Ce digne représentant de Jésus-Christ sut conserver intact le dépôt sacré de la foi. Il travailla avec succès à établir la discipline de l'Eglise, conserva le bon règlement dans les affaires temporelles de l'Eglise et s'opposa aux désordres qui s'y étaient glissés. Ce saint pape ne pouvait échapper longtemps aux recherches du tyran qui envoyait chaque jour une multitude de condamnés au martyre. L'année précédent sa mort, en prévision du sort qui l'attendait, saint Anaclet conféra l'ordination épiscopale au prêtre Evariste qui devait lui succéder dans la charge du souverain pontificat. Après avoir gouverné l'Eglise neuf ans, trois mois et dix jours, saint Anaclet remporta la palme du martyre et fut enseveli au Vatican.

Les Petits Bollandistes, Paris, 1874, tome VIII, p. 273-274 -- l'Abbé Jouve, 1886, 2e éd. tome 3, p. 69-71

SOURCE : https://sanctoral.com/fr/saints/saint_anaclet.html

Anaclet ou Clet (76-88)

3e Pape de l'Eglise Catholique

Anaclet (en latin : Anacletus) ou Clet (Cletus) ou Anenclet est, selon la tradition catholique, le troisième évêque de Rome, et pour les orthodoxes, le troisième presbytre de l'Église de Rome. Il succède à Lin vers début octobre 79.

Dans les listes épiscopales romaines transmises par Eusèbe, Hégésippe et Irénée, il apparaît après Lin. "Clet" est une abréviation d'Anaclet, ou plutôt Anencletos, ce qui signifie en grec l' "irréprochable"). Comme Saint Paul demande que l'évêque soit "irréprochable" (Tt I,7) certains ont été amenés à douter sans motif de son existence. Le terme était assez fréquent comme nom des esclaves et c'est peut-être là un indice de son origine sociale. Il figure après les deux Apôtres et Lin dans le premier Canon de la messe. Il serait d'origine grecque, né à Rome. Il est mort vers 91 sous Domitien (81-96); mais il n'y a pas des preuves qu'il ait été martyrisé. Il est vénéré comme saint.

SOURCE : https://www.touteslesprieres.com/pape-3-anaclet-ou-clet.html

Pope Anacletus in the Sistine Chapel


Sts Clet et Marcellin, papes et martyrs

Le Liber Pontificalis indique le 26 avril comme jour martyr de Clet, il est repris en cela par les martyrologes du IXe siècle. Malgré son inscription au Canon de la Messe, sa fête n’eut pas de grande diffusion avant son inscription dans les calendriers des basiliques romaines au XIIe siècle.

Le même jour, au Latran, on célébrait la mémoire de saint Marcellin. Le Liber Pontificalis indique aussi le 26 avril comme jour de sa déposition. Comme pour saint Clet, la réception de la fête fut tardive.

Le catalogue libérien contenu dans le Chronographe de 354 dédouble Clet et Anaclet (le 6 ou 13 juillet), chacun comme pape et martyr. C’est l’usage qui prévalut jusqu’en 1960 où Jean XXIII supprima la fête de juillet consacrée à Saint Anaclet.

Leçons des Matines avant 1960

Quatrième leçon. Clet, fils d’Émilien, était de Rome, de la cinquième région et du quartier de Patricius. Il gouverna l’Église sous les empereurs Vespasien et Titus. Conformément au précepte du prince des Apôtres, il ordonna vingt-cinq Prêtres pour la ville de Rome. Il est le premier qui, dans ses lettres, se servit de ces mots : Salut et bénédiction apostolique. Il fit d’excellentes organisations dans l’Église, et l’ayant administrée douze ans, sept mois et deux jours, il reçut la couronne du martyre sous l’empereur Domitien, dans la persécution qui est la seconde après celle de Néron ; il fut enseveli au Vatican, près du corps du bienheureux Pierre.

Cinquième leçon. Marcellin était romain, et gouverna l’Église, de l’an deux cent quatre-vingt-seize à l’an trois cent quatre, pendant la terrible persécution de l’empereur Dioclétien. Il eut à souffrir de nombreuses vexations, par suite de l’injuste sévérité de ceux qui lui reprochaient sa grande indulgence envers les fidèles tombés dans l’idolâtrie, et c’est à cause de cela qu’il fut calomnieusement diffamé, comme ayant offert de l’encens aux idoles. Ce bienheureux Pontife subit la peine capitale pour la confession de la foi avec trois autres Chrétiens : Claudius, Cyrinus et Antoninus. Leurs corps, laissés sans sépulture, devaient en être privés durant trente-six jours, par ordre de l’empereur ; mais le bienheureux Marcel, averti en songe par saint Pierre, prit soin de les inhumer honorablement dans le cimetière de Priscille, sur la voie Salaria ; il était accompagné de Prêtres et de Diacres qui portaient des flambeaux et chantaient des hymnes. Saint Marcellin avait gouverné l’Église pendant sept ans, onze mois et vingt-trois jours, et pendant ce temps, i ! fit au mois de décembre deux ordinations, dans lesquelles il ordonna quatre Prêtres et sacra cinq Évêques pour divers lieux.

Dom Guéranger, l’Année Liturgique

Deux astres jumeaux se lèvent aujourd’hui sur le Cycle, à la gloire de Jésus vainqueur de la mort. Pour la seconde fois, ce sont deux Pontifes, et deux Pontifes martyrs. Clet, disciple de Pierre, et son successeur presque immédiat sur la chaire romaine, nous reporte à l’origine de l’Église ; Marcellin a vu les jours de la grande persécution de Dioclétien, à la veille du triomphe de la Croix. Inclinons-nous devant ces deux pères de la chrétienté qui l’ont nourrie de leur sang, et présentons leurs mérites à Jésus qui les a soutenus par sa grâce, et leur a donné la confiance qu’un jour ils auraient part à sa résurrection.

On trouve dans le récit de la vie de saint Marcellin un fait qui a été rejeté comme une fable par de savants critiques, et défendu par d’autres non moins érudits. Il est rapporté que le saint Pape fléchit un moment devant les persécuteurs, et qu’il eut la faiblesse d’offrir de l’encens aux idoles. Plus tard, il aurait réparé sa faute dans une nouvelle et courageuse confession qui lui assura la couronne du martyre. Notre plan ne comporte pas les discussions critiques ; nous ne chercherons donc pas à éclaircir ce point d’histoire ; il nous suffit que tout le monde soit d’accord sur le martyre du saint Pape. A l’époque où furent rédigées les Légendes du Bréviaire, on ne doutait pas de la chute de Marcellin, et elle ne fut point omise au récit de la vie du Pontife ; dans la suite, ce fait a été attaqué par des arguments qui ne manquent pas de force ; l’Église cependant n’a jugé que très tard à propos de modifier la rédaction première, et avec d’autant plus de raison que les faits de cette nature n’intéressent en rien la foi. Il n’est pas besoin, sans doute, d’avertir le lecteur que la chute de Marcellin, si elle a eu lieu, ne compromet en rien l’infaillibilité du Pontife romain. Le Pape ne peut enseigner l’erreur quand il s’adresse à l’Église ; mais il n’est pas impeccable dans sa conduite personnelle.

Priez pour nous, saints Pontifes, et jetez un regard paternel sur l’Église de la terre qui fut si agitée en vos temps, et qui est si loin de jouir du calme en ceux où nous vivons. Le culte des idoles a reparu, et si elles ne sont pas aujourd’hui de pierre ou de métal, la violence de ceux qui les adorent n’est pas moindre que celle dont étaient animés les païens des premiers siècles. Les dieux et les déesses devant lesquels on veut voir le monde entier se prosterner, on les appelle Liberté, Progrès, Civilisation moderne. Pour établir le culte de ces nouvelles divinités, on décrète la persécution contre ceux qui refusent de les adorer, on renverse la constitution chrétienne des États, on altère les principes de l’éducation de l’enfance, on rompt l’équilibre des éléments sociaux, et un grand nombre de fidèles sont entraînés par l’attrait de ces nouveautés funestes. Préservez-nous de cette séduction, bienheureux martyrs ! Ce n’est pas en vainque Jésus a souffert ici-bas et qu’il est ressuscité d’entre les morts. Sa royauté était à ce prix ; mais nul n’échappe à son sceptre souverain. C’est afin de lui obéir que nous ne voulons d’autre Liberté que celle qu’il a fondée par son Évangile, d’autre Progrès que celui qui s’accomplit dans la voie qu’il a tracée, d’autre Civilisation que celle qui résulte de l’accomplissement des devoirs qu’il a établis entre les hommes. C’est lui qui a créé l’humanité, qui en a posé les lois et les conditions ; c’est lui qui l’a rachetée et rétablie sur ses bases. Devant lui seul nous fléchissons le genou ; ne permettez pas, bienheureux martyrs, que jamais nous ayons le malheur de nous abaisser devant les rêves de l’orgueil humain, quand bien même ceux qui les exploitent auraient la force matérielle à leur service.

Bhx Cardinal Schuster, Liber Sacramentorum

Au témoignage de saint Irénée, Clet ne ferait qu’un avec Anaclet qui gouverna l’Église après Lin et avant Clément. De sa vie nous ne savons rien, sauf ce que nous dit la notice du Liber Pontificalis : qu’il embellit les tombes des Princes des Apôtres, et qu’il fut enseveli au Vatican. Le fait que Clet fut élevé au suprême pontificat alors que des disciples immédiats de Pierre et de Paul vivaient encore, témoigne de ses grands mérites, prophétisés par son nom même.

Plus obscure est l’histoire du pape Marcellin, sur le compte duquel coururent dès l’antiquité les plus bizarres légendes. Selon quelques écrits apocryphes de l’époque des contestations qui suivirent l’élection du pape Symmaque, il aurait d’abord offert de l’encens aux idoles, puis aurait expié comme Pierre cette apostasie, en affrontant spontanément le martyre.

Dans la liste des depositiones episcoporum son nom, il est vrai, est omis, mais cette absence, qu’il ne faut pas se hâter d’expliquer par une damnatio memoriae, peut simplement être attribuée au copiste du laterculum philocalien. En effet, le pape Marcellin non seulement eut une honorable sépulture au cimetière de Priscille près du martyr Crescention, mais sa tombe était pieusement visitée par les pèlerins, si bien qu’il a le titre de Saint dans le livre De cotis Sanctorum Martyrum. Les mêmes apocryphes qui lui attribuent le martyre attestent indirectement la vénération dont au Ve siècle le pape Marcellin était l’objet à Rome, car, dans l’intérêt de la cause du pape Symmaque, ils cherchent à l’exploiter, en proposant le pontife Marcellin comme un premier exemple de la chute d’un pape et de sa réhabilitation postérieure. Une certaine obscurité sur le compte de Marcellin demeure toujours, mais l’antiquité de son culte est bien démontrée par les itinéraires des Catacombes.

Une congrégation religieuse née sous Célestin III vers 1197 et désormais éteinte depuis plusieurs siècles, se vantait d’avoir été instituée par saint Clet ; ses membres portaient une croix à la main à titre d’insigne. A Rome, ils habitaient près de l’église de Sainte-Marie in Xenodochio ou in Trivio où, jusqu’au siècle dernier, était un autel dédié à saint Clet. Aujourd’hui encore, la place voisine s’appelle dei Crociferi.

Le nom de Clet fait partie de la liste primitive des diptyques épiscopaux romains qu’on récite toujours durant la prière de la grande intercession (Communicantes). Sa fête n’apparaît en ce jour que dans le Calendrier de la basilique vaticane du XIIe siècle ; Marcellin le suit, mais n’entre qu’un siècle plus tard environ dans le Bréviaire de la Curie papale.

La tombe primitive de Marcellin a été retrouvée dans le cimetière de Priscille in cubiculo claro, selon l’expression du Liber Pontificalis, près de celle du martyr Crescention. La crypte est ornée de peintures, parmi lesquelles on voit la scène, très rarement représentée, des trois enfants de Babylone refusant d’adorer la statue d’or de Nabuchodonosor. Les pèlerins y ont tracé de nombreux graffiti.

Marcellin est mentionné aussi dans une inscription gravée sur la balustrade (transenna) de marbre d’une crypte du cimetière de Callixte. Il s’agit d’un cubiculum duplex cum arcisoliis et luminare iussu papae sui Marcellini diaconus iste Severus fecit mansionem in pace quietam sibi suisque.

La messe est celle du Commun des Martyrs au temps pascal : Sancti tui.

La secrète est la suivante : « Accueillez, ô Dieu, les prières que nous vous adressons à l’occasion de la fête de vos saints ; et puisque nous ne pouvons avoir aucune confiance en nos mérites, que nous assistent au moins ceux des saints qui vous furent agréables. ». Pour plaire à Dieu, la prière doit être humble, comme celle du pauvre publicain dans le temple. A l’inverse du pharisien orgueilleux qui mettait toute confiance dans ses mérites et méprisait son prochain, l’humilité chrétienne ne connaît qu’un mépris : celui de soi-même. Elle ne voit chez les autres que les dons de Dieu, et invoque les immenses mérites de la Communion des Saints pour suppléer à ses propres insuffisances spirituelles.

Dieu garde et venge jalousement la réputation de ses serviteurs, conformément à ce qui est écrit au sujet de Joseph : Sapientia... mendaces ostendit qui maculaverunt illum. Ainsi des personnes intéressées ont pu émettre les plus étranges jugements sur le compte de Marcellin ; cependant sa tombe, au cimetière de Priscille, est en vénération de toute antiquité, et l’Église, qui est certainement assistée par le Saint-Esprit, se recommande aujourd’hui à ses pieuses prières en le proposant à la vénération des fidèles.

Dom Pius Parsch, le Guide dans l’année liturgique

L’Église nous crie : « Filles de Jérusalem, venez et voyez les martyrs avec leurs couronnes ; le Seigneur les en a couronnés dans un jour de solennité et de joie, Alléluia, Alléluia. »

Saint Clet — Clet, d’après saint Irénée, est le même que saint Anaclet qui fut pape entre saint Lin et saint Clément (78-90). Il connut encore des disciples de saint Pierre et de saint Paul. Nous savons à son sujet qu’il orna les tombeaux des princes des Apôtres. Il aurait été le premier à se servir dans ses lettres de ces mots : Salut et bénédiction Apostolique. Il reçut la couronne du martyre sous l’empereur Domitien et fut enterré au Vatican près de saint Pierre.

Saint Marcellin gouverna l’Église (260-304) pendant la persécution de Dioclétien. Avec une sage prévoyance, il fit construire dans les catacombes de vastes chambres qui servirent pour la célébration du culte pendant les persécutions. Une de ces chambres dans le cimetière de saint Callixte a été conservée en souvenir du saint pape. On affirmait autrefois (sans doute à tort) que ce pape, au temps de la persécution, avait brûlé de l’encens devant les idoles, mais qu’il avait racheté cette faiblesse par un glorieux martyre. Son tombeau se trouvait dans la catacombe de Priscille où il était très honoré.

Pratique : Saint Marcellin fit construire de vastes chambres pour la célébration du culte liturgique, des salles cachées et souterraines. Cela nous fait penser aux églises provisoires des missions. Transportons-nous par la pensée au milieu de la communauté liturgique dans ces églises de fortune.

La messe (Si diligis). — Messe du commun des Souverains Pontifes, avec les oraisons au pluriel.

SOURCE : http://www.introibo.fr/26-04-Sts-Clet-et-Marcellin-papes


Palma le Jeune (1592-1593). Le pape Clet. Fresque de la sacristie de l’église Santa Maria Assunta. Venise.


Pope Saint Cletus

Also known as

Anacletus

Anacletus I

Cleto

Memorial

26 April

formerly 13 July

Profile

Convert, brought to the faith by Saint Peter the Apostle, who ordained him. Third pope. He ordained an undetermined number of priests during his reign, but almost nothing else is known about him. Martyred in the persecutions of Domitian. May have been the Cletus that Saint Augustine of Hippo wrote about. He is mentioned in the Canon of the Mass.

Born

Greek

Papal Ascension

76

Died

c.89

relics in Saint Linus Church, Vatican City

Canonized

Pre-Congregation

Additional Information

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MLA Citation

“Pope Saint Cletus“. CatholicSaints.Info. 17 July 2022. Web. 26 April 2023. <https://catholicsaints.info/pope-saint-cletus/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/pope-saint-cletus/

Cletus, Pope M (RM)

(also known as Anacletus)

Died c. 91. The Roman Cletus, elected pope in the year 76, was the second successor to Saint Peter after Saint Linus. Like Peter, he was fated to be a martyr. He divided Rome into 25 parishes, and was put to death under the Emperor Domitian around 91 AD. He was buried near Saint Linus on the Vatican, where his relics remain. His name is mentioned in the Canon of the Mass (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth).

SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0426.shtml

ANACLETUS (CLETUS), ST. POPE

Pontificate, c. 80 to 92. Anacletus appears in the Liber pontificalis and the Roman martyrology as two popes, both martyrs, with feasts on April 26 and July 13. St. Irenaeus (Adv. haer. 3.3) and the liturgy of the Mass make him the second successor of Peter. The Greek form of his name, Anencletus, was common for slaves and may point to his social status. The third form of his name Cletus, was simply a shortened form of the other two but is the one found in the ancient canon of the mass. (see popes, list of). Eusebius (Hist. 3.13, 15, 21; 5.6) says that he died in the 12th year of Domitian's reign after a 12-year episcopate. The Liber pontificalis probably mistakes Anacletus for anicetus as the builder of a burial monument for Peter. Modern excavations show that Anacletus was not buried near Peter in the Vatican.

Bibliography: Liber pontificalis, ed. L. Duchesne (Paris 1886–92) 1:xix–xx, 52–53. J. P. Kirsch, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques 2:1407–08. E. Caspar, Geschichte de Papsttums von den Anfängen bis zur Höhe der Weltherrschaft (Tübingen 1930–33) 1:8–16. L. Koep, Reallexikon für Antike Christentum, ed. T. Klauser [Stuttgart 1941 (1950)] 2: 410–415. E. Kirschbaum, Tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul, tr. J. Murray (New York 1959). G. Schwaiger, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. J. Hofer and K. Rahner (Freiberg 1957–65) 1:524. J. N. D. Kelly, Oxford Dictionary of Popes, p.7

[E. G. Weltin]

New Catholic Encyclopedia

SOURCE : https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/anacletus-cletus-st-pope

Saints of the Canon – Saint Cletus

Saint Cletus, (sometimes called Anacletus) succeeded Saint Linus and became the third Pope. He was martyred about 90 A.D.

If the interesting tradition that Cletus was a slave is true, it indicates that the Church’s teaching on the spiritual equality of all men, be they bond or free, was put into practice within the first century of her history.

– from The Saints of the Canon, by Monsignor John T. McMahon, M.A., Ph.D; Australian Catholic Truth Society, 1958

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saints-of-the-canon-saint-cletus/

Liber Pontificalis – Cletus

Article

Cletus, by nationality a Roman, from the precinct Vicus Patricius, son of Emilianus, occupied the see 7 years, 1 month and 20 days.

He was bishop in the time of Vespasian and Titus from of Domitian until the year when Domitian was consul for the 9th time and Rufus was consul with him (a.d. 83).

He was crowned with martyrdom.

He, by direction of the blessed Peter, ordained 25 priests in the city of Rome in the month of December.

He also was buried near the body of the blessed Peter in the Vatican, April 26.

And the bishopric was empty 20 days.

MLA Citation

Louise Ropes Loomis, PhD., translator. “Cletus”. Liber Pontificalis, 1916. CatholicSaints.Info. 23 November 2015. Web. 26 April 2023. <https://catholicsaints.info/liber-pontificalis-cletus/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/liber-pontificalis-cletus/

Pope Anacletus, illustration from The Lives and Times of the Popes by Chevalier Artaud de Montor, New York: The Catholic Publication Society of America, 1911. It was originally published in 1842.


The Lives and Times of the Popes – Saint Anacletus

Article

The Diario maintains that Cletus and Anacletus are one and the same person; Novaes asserts that they were not; and he says that Saint Cletus was the son of Emilian, and was created pope on the 24th of September, A.D. 80. During the life and by the order of Saint Peter, he divided Rome into twenty-five parishes, and placed them under the direction of the same number of priests. From that statement it has been inferred that Cletus was a coadjutor of Saint Peter in the suburban cities. We must not give implicit credence to those authors who hold that Saint Cletus was the first pontiff who, in the apostolic letters, used the formula “salutem et apostolicam benedictionem.” That formula is not to be found before the time of John V, who was created pope in 685. Saint Cletus is said to have originated those pilgrimages to the churches of Rome which have since been called Stations; and he is also said to have converted into a church his own house, situated near the baths of Philip in the Rione de’ Monti. He is said to have suffered martyrdom, during the second persecution of the Church, on the 26th of April, in the year 93; and Novaes adds that he was interred at the Vatican. It is stated, also, that the Holy See remained vacant for twenty days after his decease.

Saint Anacletus was a Greek, born at Athens, and, according to Novaes, was the son of Antiochus. Under Saint Peter, he was deacon, priest, and subsequently bishop. He was elected pontiff on the 3d of April, A.D. 78. He finished and dedicated the basilica which was built on the spot where Saint Peter was martyred. Many authors maintain that Cletus and Anacletus are but one and the same person – neglecting to notice that the birthplace, the parentage, the works, and the festivals appointed by the Church for each of these saints, quite clearly show they are different. Panvini maintains this; nevertheless, the very learned Father Lazzari, who was especially learned in sacred antiquity, read before the Roman College, in 1755, a fine dissertation in which he maintained that Cletus and Anacletus were one and the same person. He cited, in support of that opinion, the authority of Papebrock. Cletus would have been pontiff in 73, but, being exiled with the other Christians, he must have renounced the pontificate, and was replaced by Clement I, up to the year 83. Then, Clement himself being exiled, he, in his turn, renounced the pontificate in favor of the same Cletus, his predecessor. Cletus, on being called to Rome, would quite naturally be named Anacletus, that is to say, Revocato, the Recalled, or iterum Cletus. In this manner Lazzari reconciles the authority of the ancient Fathers and the ancient catalogues, which speak of Cletus and of Anacletus, while others mention first Cletus and then Anacletus. For the opinion which confounds Cletus and Anacletus, Papebrock, Dupin, Tillemont, Pearson, Baillet, Father Holloix, and Natalis Alexander may be consulted; for the contrary opinion, the two Pagis, Schelstrate, and Sandini.

Anacletus was distinguished for a rare integrity and great learning. According to the authors of the Art de Verifier les Dates, and the Diario, he died A.D. 91. Novaes says that some decretals attributed to this pope are suspected by modern critics.

He belonged to the order of regular canons, according to those who make that order coeval with Saint Peter.

MLA Citation

Alexis-François Artaud de Montor. “Saint Anacletus”. The Lives and Times of the Popes1911. CatholicSaints.Info. 22 July 2022. Web. 26 April 2023. <https://catholicsaints.info/the-lives-and-times-of-the-popes-saint-anacletus/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/the-lives-and-times-of-the-popes-saint-anacletus/

Pope St. Cletus (Anacletus)

Pope from 76-88 A.D.

Died: 88 A.D.

aka "St. Anacletus"

How do we know he was pope?

Like St. Linus before him, St. Cletus is identified by St. Irenaeus in his work Adversus haeresis ("Against Heresy").

Give me the scoop on Cletus.

Pope St. Cletus was pope for 12 years. Early Church writers sometimes used more than one name to identify him -- Cletus, Anacletus, or Anencletus -- perhaps like one today would use "Jimmy" and "James" interchangeably for the same person. His feast day is celebrated on April 26, and he is traditionally remembered as having been martyred for the faith.

What was he known for?

The tradition of the Church says that St. Cletus was known for ordaining 25 priests during his rule, and was buried near St. Peter in Rome after his death. You can hear his name mentioned in the Roman Canon at Mass between "Linus" and "Clement".

What else was going on in the world at the time?

Right around the beginning of St. Cletus' papacy, the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were destroyed and buried after the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius (79 A.D.).

Coming tomorrow....Pope St. Clement I

SOURCES:

- "Pope St. Cletus" - http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04054a.htm

- "Pope St. Anacletus" - http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01446a.htm

- "Pope Anacletus" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Anacletus

SOURCE : https://projects.flocknote.com/note/694406

Calcografia in Giovan Battista Cavalieri  (1525–1601), Pontificum Romanorum effigies, Roma, Basa Domenico\Zanetti Francesco, 1580, Copper engraving, 11,5 x 8,1, Biblioteca comunale di Trento


Pictorial Lives of the Saints – Saints Cletus and Marcellinus, Popes, Martyrs

Article

Saint Cletus was the third Bishop of Rome, and succeeded Saint Linus, which circumstance alone shows his eminent virtue among the first disciples of Saint Peter in the West. He sat twelve years, from 76 to 89. The canon of the Roman mass, Bede, and other martyrologists style him a martyr. He was buried near Saint Linus, on the Vatican, and his relics still remain in that church.

Saint Marcellinus succeeded Saint Caius in the Bishopric of Rome in 296, about the time that Diocletian set himself up for a deity, and impiously claimed divine honors. In those stormy times of persecution, Marcellinus acquired great glory. He sat in Saint Peter’s chair eight years, three months, and twenty-five days, dying in 304, a year after the cruel persecution broke out, in which he gained much honor. He has been styled a martyr, though his blood was not shed in the cause of religion.

Reflection – It is a fundamental maxim of the Christian morality, and a truth which Christ has established in the clearest terms, and in innumerable passages of the Gospel, that the cross or sufferings and mortification are the road to eternal bliss. They, therefore, who lead not here a crucified and mortified life, are unworthy ever to possess the unspeakable joys of His kingdom. Our Lord himself, our model and our head, walked in this path, and His great Apostle puts us in mind that he entered into bliss only by his blood and by the cross.

MLA Citation

John Dawson Gilmary Shea. “Saints Cletus and Marcellinus, Popes, Martyrs”. Pictorial Lives of the Saints1889. CatholicSaints.Info. 8 March 2014. Web. 26 April 2023. <https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saints-cletus-and-marcellinus-popes-martyrs/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saints-cletus-and-marcellinus-popes-martyrs/

Short Lives of the Saints – Saint Cletus, Pope and Martyr

Entry

Saint Cletus, called also Anacletus, displayed during his whole life a great zeal for the construction of churches, and the conferring of Holy Orders upon worthy subjects. While still a simple priest he founded a church dedicated to Saint Peter, who is supposed to have converted and trained him to the sacred ministry. Saint Cletus became the second successor of the Prince of the Apostles in the papal charge in the year 76, and suffered martyrdom under the emperor Diocletian in 89. Little is known of the details of his life and death, except what is recorded in the Pontificale of Damasus.

A sacred burden is this life ye bear;
Look on it, lift it, bear it solemnly;
Stand up and walk beneath it steadfastly.
Fail not for sorrow, falter not for sin,
But onward, upward, till the goal ye win.
    – Anon

Favorite Practice – To have a true zeal for the glory of the house of God.

MLA Citation

Eleanor Cecilia Donnelly. “Saint Cletus, Pope and Martyr”. Short Lives of the Saints1910. CatholicSaints.Info. 14 April 2021. Web. 26 April 2023. <https://catholicsaints.info/short-lives-of-the-saints-saint-cletus-pope-and-martyr/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/short-lives-of-the-saints-saint-cletus-pope-and-martyr/

Chiesa di San Cleto, a Roma, nel quartiere San Basilio, in via Bernardino Bernardini. Statua di papa (Ana)Cleto.


April 26

SS. Cletus and Marcellinus, Popes and Martyrs


ST. CLETUS was the third bishop of Rome, and succeeded St. Linus, which circumstance alone shows his eminent virtue among the first disciples of St. Peter in the West. He sat twelve years, from 76 to 89. The canon of the Roman mass, (which Bossuet 1 and all others agree to be of primitive antiquity,) Bede, and other Martyrologists, style him a martyr. He was buried near St. Linus, on the Vatican, and his relics still remain in that church. 2

St. Marcellinus succeeded St. Caius in the bishopric of Rome, in 296, about the time that Dioclesian set himself up for a deity, and impiously claimed divine honours. Theodoret says, 3 that in those stormy times of persecution, Marcellinus acquired great glory. He sat in St. Peter’s chair eight years, three months, and twenty-five days, dying in 304, a year after the cruel persecution broke out, in which he gained much honour. He has been styled a martyr, though his blood was not shed in the cause of religion, as appears from the Liberian Calendar, which places him among those popes that were not put to death for the faith. 4

It is a fundamental maxim of the Christian morality, and a truth which Christ has established in the clearest terms, and in innumerable passages of the gospel, 5 that the cross, or sufferings and mortification, are the road to eternal bliss. They, therefore, who lead not here a crucified and mortified life, are unworthy ever to possess the unspeakable joys of his kingdom. Our Lord himself, our model and our head, walked in this path, and his great apostle puts us in mind 6 that he entered into bliss only by his blood and by the cross. Nevertheless, this is a truth which the world can never understand, how clearly soever it be preached by Christ, and recommended by his powerful example, and that of his martyrs and of all the saints. Christians still pretend, by the joys and pleasures of this world, to attain to the bliss of heaven, and shudder at the very mention of mortification, penance, or sufferings. So prevalent is this fatal error, which self-love and the example and false maxims of the world strongly fortify in the minds of many, that those who have given themselves to God with the greatest fervour, are bound always to stand upon their guard against it, and daily to renew their fervour in the love and practice of penance, and to arm themselves with patience against sufferings, lest the weight of the corruption of our nature, the pleasures of sense, and flattering blandishments of the world, draw them aside, and make them leave the path of mortification, or lose courage under its labours, and under the afflictions with which God is pleased to purify them, and afford them means of sanctifying themselves.

Note 1. Espos. de la Messe. [back]

Note 2. Certain French critics think Cletus and Anacletus to have been one and the same person; but Orsi (t. 1, l. 2, n. 29, p. 282,) shows them to have been distinct popes. Eusebius, indeed, confounds them, as he did Novatus and Novatian, and the popes Marcellus and Marcellinus; mistakes to which, from the likeness of names, the Greeks were the most liable, as they wrote at so great a distance. But the Latins who had authentic records by them, could not be mistaken; especially the author of the first part of the Liberian Calendar, which appears, in most particulars, to be copied from the public registers of the Roman church: which authorities make it appear that Cletus sat the third, and Anacletus the fifth bishop of Rome. The church sometimes honours the same saint on several days; but the most authentic monuments distinguish these saints. On St. Cletus, and that he is not the same person with St. Anacletus, called by some Anencletus, see A. Sandini, in Dissert. 4, ad Hist. Pontif. Berti. Chron. Hist. Eccl. primi. sæc. t. 1, Orsi, &c. Some modern pontificals tell us that he divided the city of Rome into twenty-five parishes, and first built St. Peter’s church. The faithful celebrated the divine mysteries in the catacombs, or vault, where the remains of the apostles were deposited, and over their tomb St. Cletus might add some embellishments, or enlarge this sacred place. See Bianchini, Notes on Anastasius’s Pontifical, t. 2, p. 61. [back]

Note 3. Theodoret, b. 2, c. 2. [back]

Note 4. Petilian, the Donatist bishop, objected to the Catholics, that Marcellinus had sacrificed to idols, and had delivered up the holy scriptures to the persecutors; also that his priests, Melchiades, Marcellus, and Sylvester, were guilty of the same apostacy; but St. Austin entirely denied the charge, (l. de unico bapt. contra Petilian. c. 16, t. 9, p. 541,) which was a mere calumny of the Donatists. Yet upon this slander some others built another fictitious history of his repentance in a pretended council of Sinuessa. The author discovers himself to have been a barbarous half-Latin Goth, says Coutant. (Append. ad ep. decretales, p. 27.) His forgery contradicts the histories, customs, and language of that age. See Pagi ad an. 303. Natalis Alexander, Tillemont, t. 5; Orsi, t. 3, &c. [back]

Note 5. Matt. v. 5, 10xvi. 24x. 38xi. 12; Luke vi. 25ix. 23, &c. [back]

Note 6. Hebr. ix. 12. [back]

Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73).  Volume IV: April. The Lives of the Saints.  1866.

SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/4/261.html

Pope St. Cletus

St. Cletus (sometimes Anacletus), the third Pope, governed the Roman Church from about 76 to about 88 during the reigns of the Emperor Vespasian and of Domitian.

St. Cletus has given earlier historians some trouble because of his name. Two of the early lists of the popes, the so-called “Liberian Catalogue” and the “Poem Against Marcion” list an Anacletus as well as a Cletus. Most ancient lists, however, give the papal succession as Peter, Linus, Cletus, Clement; and modern scholars agree that this is the correct listing. Anacletus is a variant of Cletus, and this seems to have caused the difficulty.

The “Liber Pontificalis” says that his father was Emelianus and that Cletus was a Roman by birth, and belonged to the quarter known as the Vicus Patrici. It also tells us that he ordained twenty-five priests, and was buried in Vaticano near the body of St. Peter. St. Cletus’ feast is celebrated along with that of St. Marcellinus on the twenty-sixth of April.

SOURCE : http://www.ucatholic.com/saints/pope-saint-cletus/

Cletus, Pope M (RM)

(also known as Anacletus)

Died c. 91. The Roman Cletus, elected pope in the year 76, was the second successor to Saint Peter after Saint Linus. Like Peter, he was fated to be a martyr. He divided Rome into 25 parishes, and was put to death under the Emperor Domitian around 91 AD. He was buried near Saint Linus on the Vatican, where his relics remain. His name is mentioned in the Canon of the Mass (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth).

SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0426.shtml

Pope St. Cletus

This name is only another form for Anacletus, the second successor of St. Peter. It is true that the Liberian Catalogue, a fourth-century list of popes, so called because it ends with Pope Liberius (d. 366), contains both names, as if they were different persons. But this is an error, owing evidently to the existence of two forms of the same name, one an abbreviation of the other. In the aforesaid catalogue the papal succession is: Petrus, Linus, Clemens, Cletus, Anacletus. This catalogue, however, is the only authority previous to the sixth century (Liber Pontificalis) for distinguishing two popes under the names of Cletus and Anacletus.

The "Carmen adv. Marcionem" is of the latter half of the fourth century, and its papal list probably depends on the Liberian Catalogue. The "Martyrologium Hieronymianum" mentions both "Aninclitus" and "Clitus" (23 and 31 December), but on each occasion these names are found in a list of popes; hence the days mentioned cannot be looked on as specially consecrated to these two persons. Apart from these lists, all other ancient papal lists, from the second to the fourth century, give as follows the immediate succession of St. Peter:Linos, Anegkletos, Klemes (Linus, Anencletus, Clemens), and this succession is certainly the right one. It is that found in St. Irenæus and in the chronicles of the second and third centuries. Both Africa and the Orientadhered faithfully to this list, which is also given in the very ancient Roman Canon of the Mass, except that in the latter Cletus is the form used, and the same occurs in St. EpiphaniusSt. Jerome, Rufinus, and in many fifth- and sixth-century lists. This second successor of St. Peter governed the Roman Church from about 76 to about 88. The "Liber Pontificalis" says that his father was Emelianus and that Cletus was a Roman by birth, and belonged to the quarter known as the Vicus Patrici. It also tells us that he ordained twenty-five priests, and was buried in Vaticano near the body of St. Peter.

There is historical evidence for only the last of these statements. The feast of St. Cletus falls, with that of St. Marcellinus, on 26 April; this date is already assigned to it in the first edition of the "Liber Pontificalis". (See POPE SAINT CLEMENT I.)

Sources

LIGHTFOOT, Apostolic Fathers, Pt. I: St. Clement of Rome (2nd ed., London, 1890), 201-345; DUCHESNE, Liber Pontificalis, I, LXIX-LXX, 2-3, 52-53; HARNACK, Gesch. der alt-christl. Lit. bis Eusebius, II-I, 144-202; Acta SS., April, III, 409-11; DE SMEDT, Dissertationes selectæ in hist. eccles. (Ghent, 1876), 300-04.

Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope St. Cletus." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 25 Apr. 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04054a.htm>.

Copyright © 2021 by Kevin Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04054a.htm

Pope St. Anacletus

The second successor of St. Peter. Whether he was the same as Cletus, who is also called Anencletus as well as Anacletus, has been the subject of endless discussion. IrenaeusEusebius, Augustine, Optatus, use both names indifferently as of one personTertullian omits him altogether. To add to the confusion, the order is different. Thus Irenaeus has Linus, Anacletus, Clement; whereas Augustine and Optatus putClement before Anacletus. On the other hand, the "Catalogus Liberianus", the "Carmen contra Marcionem" and the "Liber Pontificalis", all most respectable for their antiquity, make Cletus and Anacletus distinct from each other; while the "Catalogus Felicianus" even sets the latter down as a Greek, the former as aRoman. Among the moderns, Hergenröther (Hist. de l'église, I 542, note) pronounces for their identity. So also the Bollandist De Smedt (Dissert. vii, 1). Döllinger (Christenth. u K., 315) declares that "they are, without doubt, the same person" and that "the 'Catalogue of Liberius' merits little confidence before 230." Duchesne, "Origines chrétiennes", ranges himself on that side also but Jungmann (Dissert. Hist. Eccl., I, 123) leaves the question in doubt. The chronology is, of course, in consequence of all this, very undetermined, but Duchesne, in his "Origines", says "we are far from the day when the years, months, and days of the Pontifical Catalogue can be given with any guarantee of exactness. But is it necessary to be exact about popes of whom we know so little? We can accept the list of Irenaeus — Linus, Anacletus,Clement, Evaristus, Alexander, XystusTelesphorusHyginusPius, and Anicetus. Anicetus reigned certainly in 154. That is all we can say with assurance about primitive pontifical chronology." That he ordained a certain number of priests is nearly all we have of positive record about him, but we know he died a martyr, perhaps about 91.

Campbell, Thomas. "Pope St. Anacletus." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907.25 Apr. 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01446a.htm>.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Gerard Haffner.

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.

Copyright © 2021 by Kevin Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01446a.htm

Cletus. Anacleto, santo e papa. Cromolitografia, 26 x 17,7,  in L. Tripepi, Ritratti e biografie dei romani pontefici: da S. Pietro a Leone 13, Roma, Vaglimigli Davide, 1879. Biblioteca comunale di Trento, Trento


San Cleto (Anacleto) Papa

26 aprile

m. 88

Terzo papa dopo Pietro e Lino, Anacleto ebbe un singolare destino: sdoppiato in due persone distinte, Cleto e Anacleto, aveva due feste diverse nel Martirologio Romano, una quella odierna, l'altra il 13 luglio. L'errore sembra sia dovuto a un antico copista che stilando una lista dei papi inserì entrambi i nomi. Cleto in realtà è solo un abbreviativo. Studi moderni, poi, hanno chiarito l'equivoco. Sulla base degli studi del Duchesne, infatti, l'orientamento attuale è che Anacleto e Cleto siano una sola persona: perciò la Congregazione dei riti nel 1960 abolì la festa del 13 luglio, lasciando solo quella del 26 aprile. Pochi i dati biografici di questo pontefice (ritratto qui a alto con il Pallio nella forma antica, la stessa usata domenica da Benedetto XVI durante la Messa di inizio pontificato). Di origine ateniese, fu papa dal 79 al 90, e si rese benemerito per aver edificato una «memoria», un sepolcro a san Pietro, presso il quale fu poi sepolto egli stesso. Altro personaggio con cui in passato si è confuso Anacleto è anche Marcellino, che però fu papa quasi due secoli più tardi e il cui martirio sembra fu aggiunto per motivi apologetici. (Avvenire)

Etimologia: Anacleto = invocato, chiamato, dal greco

Martirologio Romano: A Roma, commemorazione di san Cleto, papa, che resse la Chiesa di Roma per secondo dopo l’apostolo Pietro.

Ma sono uno o due? A lungo si è pensato a due papi distinti, nei primi secoli: Anacleto e Cleto. Poi è risultato che il secondo nome è solo un’abbreviazione familiare del primo. Ed esso, infatti, è ora registrato nella successione cronologica dei capi della Chiesa di Roma: Anacleto è il terzo, dopo Pietro e Lino (e pare che con Lino sia stato da giovane un collaboratore dell’Apostolo). Terzo, dunque, nella serie dei papi, e primo come romano, dopo il Pescatore di Galilea e il toscano Lino. Ma ci sono incertezze anche qui: forse la famiglia di Anacleto (nome chiaramente ellenico) era di origine ateniese. 

Memorie assai antiche attribuiscono a lui la costruzione di una edicola sepolcrale, detta “memoria”, sul luogo della sepoltura di Pietro negli Orti vaticani: un territorio allora appartenente al demanio imperiale e formato da horti (giardini), da campi e da terreni incolti. Ad Anacleto si attribuisce anche la disposizione che vietava agli uomini di Chiesa di andare in giro con i capelli lunghi: un primo esempio di “tonsura ecclesiastica”. 

Il suo pontificato si svolge per alcuni anni in pace, sotto l’imperatore Vespasiano (che regna dall’anno 69 al 79) e sotto il suo primo figlio Tito (7981). Al tempo di quest’ultimo, l’Italia conosce una delle più tremende sciagure della sua storia: la micidiale eruzione del Vesuvio nell’agosto 79, che distrugge Ercolano e Pompei. E poco dopo Roma vede sorgere il monumentale edificio destinato a diventare il suo emblema: l’Anfiteatro Flavio per i giochi pubblici, sede di lotte mortali tra gladiatori e di supplizi per i cristiani; il Colosseo, che dopo 19 secoli accoglierà ogni anno i successori di Pietro, di Lino e di Anacleto in preghiera nella Settimana santa. 

Finisce presto il regno di Tito, e con l’arrivo di suo fratello Domiziano giunge pure la persecuzione. Ma non solo contro i cristiani. Anzi, le sue prime vittime sono gli ebrei, forzati a versare allo Stato il tributo dovuto al Tempio di Gerusalemme (distrutto da Tito). Una persecuzione per ragioni di bilancio, perché le grandi opere pubbliche hanno dissanguato le finanze imperiali; anche gli ebreocristiani devono pagare. Poi la persecuzione va a colpire i cristiani in genere, e non solo con sequestri e confische: contro di loro si lancia l’accusa di “ateismo” (ossia rifiuto di adorare le divinità romane tradizionali, “di Stato”). E quest’accusa comporta la pena capitale. 

Non sappiamo come sia morto papa Anacleto. La persecuzione di Diocleziano ha infierito sui cristiani ancora dopo la sua scomparsa. Pure il luogo della sua sepoltura ci è sconosciuto, anche se si ritiene che sia nella zona degli Orti vaticani.

Autore: Domenico Agasso

SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/50800

ANACLETO/CLETO, santo

di Francesco Scorza Barcellona - Enciclopedia dei Papi (2000)

Nella lista dei vescovi romani fornita da Ireneo di Lione il successore di Lino e predecessore di Clemente è A. ('ΑνέγκλητοϚ). Eusebio di Cesarea conferma la notizia, dicendo che A. fu il secondo vescovo di Roma dopo Lino, che questi trasmise il ministero della Chiesa romana ad A. nell'80 (Historia ecclesiastica III, 13; cfr. Chronicon, ad a. 80), e che A. nel dodicesimo anno di Domiziano, dopo dodici anni di episcopato, fu sostituito da Clemente (Historia ecclesiastica III, 15; cfr. Chronicon, ad a. 92). Dalla metà del sec. IV, in documenti di origine romana come il Catalogo Liberiano, le liste episcopali poi confluite nel Martyrologium Hieronymianum e il Liber pontificalis, comincia a distinguersi un Clitus da Anaclitus, l'uno dopo l'altro, in ordine cronologico, subito dopo Lino e Clemente, come nel Catalogo Liberiano, oppure nell'ordine Lino-Cleto-Clemente-Anacleto ma con una cronologia che di fatto pone Cleto e Anacleto dopo Clemente. Rispetto a queste elaborazioni tardive meritano maggior credito le liste episcopali di Ireneo di Lione e di Eusebio di Cesarea, che ammettono un unico vescovo di nome Anacleto: questo assunto trova conferma in altri dati, come la notizia dell'anonimo autore del trattato contro Artemone agli inizi del sec. III, che nella sua lista contava Vittore come il tredicesimo vescovo di Roma a partire da Pietro (Eusebio di Cesarea, Historia ecclesiastica V, 28, 3), secondo una serie che non ammetterebbe lo sdoppiamento di A. se non a costo di considerare Vittore il quattordicesimo a partire da Pietro. Le liste episcopali romane di Ottato di Milevi e di Agostino - che pure nel porre Anacleto dopo Clemente si ricollegano alle tradizioni poi confluite nel Liber pontificalis - confermano la presenza del solo A., e così anche Epifanio (ΚλῆτοϚ) e Girolamo (Anen>cletus). Le forme ΚλῆτοϚ/Cletus/Clitus sarebbero rispettivamente varianti di 'ΑνέγκλητοϚ /Anacletus/Anaclitus/Aneclitus, e come tali avrebbero dato origine allo sdoppiamento del personaggio, forse già agli inizi del sec. IV, se non precedentemente.

Secondo il Catalogo Liberiano, che pone Cleto e Anacleto dopo Clemente, l'episcopato del primo sarebbe durato sei anni, due mesi e dieci giorni dal 77 all'83. L'episcopato di Anacleto sarebbe durato dodici anni, dieci mesi e tre giorni sotto Domiziano, dall'84 al 95.

Il Liber pontificalis presenta la serie Cleto-Clemente-Anacleto, mantenendo per ognuno di essi la cronologia del Catalogo Liberiano. A Cleto il Liber pontificalis, nr. 3, attribuisce, con evidente contraddizione, un episcopato di dodici anni, un mese e undici giorni, dal 77 all'83, aggiungendo che Cleto sarebbe stato di origine romana, della regione del "Vicus Patricii" (l'attuale zona di via Urbana nel rione Monti), figlio di Emiliano, che sarebbe morto martire, che per ordine di Pietro avrebbe proceduto all'ordinazione di venticinque presbiteri in Roma e che sarebbe stato sepolto nel cimitero vaticano presso l'apostolo alla data del 26 aprile: alla sua morte sarebbero seguiti venti giorni di vacanza dell'episcopato. Il numero dei venticinque presbiteri ordinati da Cleto è forse da mettersi in rapporto con quello dei venticinque tituli esistenti a Roma alla fine del sec. V. Anche per Cleto, come per Lino cui è associato, dove nel Liber pontificalis si afferma che il papa avrebbe proceduto alle ordinazioni "ex praecepto beati Petri", si intenderebbe confermare l'opinione che egli avrebbe operato in quanto vicario di Pietro ancora in vita, contraddicendo con ciò le cronologie che lo stesso Liber pontificalis attribuisce a Pietro e a Cleto.

Quanto ad A., posto dopo Clemente, il Liber pontificalis, nr. 5, gli attribuisce nove anni di episcopato (ma più correttamente rispetto alla cronologia adottata, dodici nella prima redazione, come nel Catalogo Liberiano), dall'84 al 95, aggiungendo che sarebbe stato greco di nascita, figlio di Antioco, che quando era stato ordinato presbitero da Pietro avrebbe costruito una memoria di Pietro e altri luoghi per la sepoltura dei vescovi, dove lui stesso sarebbe poi stato sepolto "iuxta corpus beati Petri" alla data del 10 luglio (nella prima redazione si doveva parlare di un'unica memoria). Avrebbe proceduto a due ordinazioni, per un totale di cinque presbiteri, tre diaconi e sei vescovi, e alla sua morte si sarebbe avuta una vacanza di tredici giorni (quindici nella prima redazione). La scarsa storicità di queste notizie del Liber pontificalis su Cleto e Anacleto si conferma tanto più in considerazione del fatto che, come si è detto, i nomi dei due papi vanno ricondotti ad un unico personaggio.

Il solo Cleto è citato dopo Lino e prima di Clemente nel Communicantes del canone romano della messa: ciò conferma l'opinione che egli rientrasse nella categoria dei martiri, secondo quanto affermato anche dal Liber pontificalis. La mancanza della menzione di A. tra i vescovi romani ivi citati non costituisce di per sé la prova che A. fosse escluso dalla lista tenuta presente dal suo redattore, in quanto dopo Lino, Cleto e Clemente la lista dei vescovi di Roma non è citata nella sua completezza.

Cleto e Anacleto dovevano comparire come personaggi distinti nella lista episcopale romana introdotta nel Martyrologium Hieronymianum alla data del 23 dicembre, il solo Cleto in quella del 31 dicembre. Nel Martyrologium di Beda si commemora Cleto il 26 aprile, e così anche in un testimone della seconda recensione del Martyrologium Hieronymianum, il ms. Bernensis 289 (fine del sec. VIII). Alla stessa data nel Martyrologium di Floro ricorre la commemorazione di Anacleto, seguito in questo dal Martyrologium di Adone, che però introduce la commemorazione di Cleto alla data del 13 luglio. Nel Martyrologium Romanum Baronio pose la commemorazione di Cleto il 26 aprile (riprendendo l'elogio di A. secondo Floro alla stessa data), e al 13 luglio quella di Anacleto. La commemorazione di A. al 13 luglio fu soppressa nel 1960; successivamente, nel Calendarium Romanum promulgato nel 1969, è stata espunta anche la commemorazione di Cleto il 26 aprile, per l'incertezza del giorno della deposizione e della sua reale condizione di martire. Una tradizione priva di fondamento storico, attestata per la prima volta da F. Ughelli, fa di Cleto il primo vescovo di Ruvo di Puglia, appositamente inviatovi da Pietro. Il culto del santo è connesso alla cosiddetta cripta di S. Cleto posta sotto la chiesa del Purgatorio, probabile resto di una cisterna romana dell'età degli Antonini, se non dei Severi. Non sembra del resto che la città pugliese sia stata sede episcopale prima del sec. VI-VII. Sono falsi medievali le tre epistole attribuite ad A. nella raccolta delle Decretales pseudoisidoriane (sec. IX), che hanno per oggetto questioni di carattere disciplinare e giurisdizionale.

fonti e bibliografia

Ireneo di Lione, Adversus haereses III, 3, 3, a cura di A. Rousseau-L. Doutreleau, Paris 1974 (Sources Chrétiennes, 211), pp. 36-8.

Eusebio di Cesarea, Historia ecclesiastica III, 13; 15; 21; V, 6, 2; 28, 3, a cura di E. Schwartz, Leipzig 1903 (Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller. Eusebius Werke, II, 1), pp. 228, 236, 438, 500-02.

Id., Chronicon, ad aa. 80, 92, a cura di R. Helm, Berlin 1956 (Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller. Eusebius Werke, VII), pp. 189, 192.

Le Liber pontificalis, a cura di L. Duchesne, I, Paris 1886, pp. XC-XCI, CII, 52-5, 122 (Cletus), 125 (Aneclitus).

Catalogo Liberiano, ibid., pp. 2-3; Epifanio di Salamina, Panarion 27, 6, 2, a cura di K. Holl, Leipzig 1915 (Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller. Epiphanius Werke, I), pp. 308-09.

Ottato di Milevi, De schismate Donatistarum II, 3, a cura di M.Labrousse, Paris 1995 (Sources Chrétiennes, 412), pp. 244-46.

Rufino di Aquileia, Recognitiones, prologus 13-15, a cura di B. Rehm, Berlin 1965 (Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller, 51), pp. 4-5.

Constitutiones apostolorum VII, 46, a cura di M. Metzger, Paris 1986 (Sources Chrétiennes, 329), pp. 108-09.

Agostino, Epistula 53, 1.2, a cura di Al. Goldbacher, Pragae-Vindobonae-Lipsiae 1895 (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, 34, 1), pp. 153-54.

Martyrologium Hieronymianum, in H. Delehaye, Commentarius perpetuus in Martyrologium Hieronymianum [...], in Acta Sanctorum Novembris [...], II, pars posterior, Bruxellis 1931, pp. 16-8 (31 dicembre: Cleto), 210-11 (26 aprile: Cleto), 662-63 (23 dicembre: Cleto e Anacleto).

Martyrologium di Beda, Martyrologium di Floro, Édition pratique des Martyrologes de Bède, de l'Anonyme Lyonnais et de Florus, a cura di J. Dubois-G. Renaud, Paris 1976, p. 72 (26 aprile).

Le Martyrologe d'Adon. Ses deux familles. Ses trois recensions. Texte et commentaire, ivi 1984, p. 134.

Martyrologium Romanum [...] scholiis historicis instructum, in Propylaeum ad Acta Sanctorum Decembris, Bruxellis 1940, coll. 156-57 (26 aprile: Cleto), 284-85 (13 luglio: Anacleto).

Calendarium Romanum ex decreto sacrosancti oecumenici concilii Vaticani II instauratum auctoritate Pauli PP. VI promulgatum, In Civitate Vaticana 1969, p. 121.

Per le decretali falsamente attribuite ad A. v. l'edizione di P. Hinschius, Decretales pseudo-Isidorianae et Capitula Angilramni [...], Lipsiae 1863, pp. 66-87.

Studi

Ecclesiastica Historia [...] per aliquot studiosos et pios viros in urbe Magdeburgica, Centuria I, Liber II, Caput X, Basileae 1562, coll. 626-27.

C. Baronio, Annales ecclesiastici, I, Romae 1588, pp. 639, 684 (Cleto); II, ivi 1590, pp. 20, 48 (Anacleto).

F. Ughelli, Italia sacra, VII, Venetiis 1721, coll. 763-64; Acta Sanctorum [...], Aprilis, III, Antverpiae 1675, pp. 409-11 (Cleto).

[L.-S.] Lenain de Tillemont, Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire ecclésiastique des six premiers siècles, t. II, Venise 1732, pp. 151-54, 522, 546.

Acta Sanctorum [...], Iulii, III, Antverpiae 1733, pp. 479-81 (Anacleto).

V.L. Kennedy, The Saints of the Canon of the Mass, Città del Vaticano 1963, pp. 119-21; P. Testini, Le prime memorie cristiane e la cripta detta di san Cleto a Ruvo, "Vetera Christianorum", 4, 1967, pp. 185-210 (poi in Puglia Paleocristiana, I, Bari 1970, pp. 333-64, in partic. pp. 302-04); G. Otranto, Puglia e Italia Meridionale paleocristiane, Bari 1991, p. 138 e n. 50.

A Dictionary of Christian Biography, I, London 1877, s.v., p. 578.

Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, I, Paris 1930, s.v., coll. 1141-42.

Vies des Saints et des Bienheureux, IV, ivi 1946, s.v., pp. 655-56.

Catholicisme, I, ivi 1948, s.v., col. 1248.

E.C., I, s.v., col. 1126.

F. Caraffa-D. Valori, Anacleto, in B.S., I, coll. 1032-36.

Iconographie de l'art chrétien, III, 1, Paris 1958, s.v., p. 70.

New Catholic Encyclopaedia, I, Washington 1967, s.v., col. 1248.

Lexikon der christlichen Ikonographie, V, Rom 1973, s.v., col. 128.

Biographisch-bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon, I, Hamm 1975, s.v., col. 1155.

Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, I, Freiburg 1993³, s.v., coll. 573-74.

Il grande libro dei Santi. Dizionario enciclopedico, I, Cinisello Balsamo 1998, s.v., p. 115.

Per le fonti agiografiche tardive cfr. Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina [...], I, Bruxellis 1898-99, pp. 66 (Anacletus), 281 (Cletus); ibid., Novum Supplementum, a cura di H. Fros, ivi 1986, pp. 51 (Anacletus), 216 (Cletus).

SOURCE : https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/santo-anacleto-cleto_(Enciclopedia-dei-Papi)

Voir aussi : https://www.introibo.fr/13-07-St-Anaclet-Clet-pape-et

https://compilhistoire.pagesperso-orange.fr/Clet.htm

http://orthodoxievco.net/ecrits/vies/synaxair/avril/clet.pdf