17 APRIL – SAINT ANICETUS (Pope and Martyr)

Anicetus, a Syrian by birth, governed the Church during the reign of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. He passed a decree which forbade clerics to nourish their hair. The ordinations which he held in five Decembers gave 17 Priests, 4 Deacons and 9 Bishops. His Pontificate lasted 8 years, 8 months and 24 days. He was crowned with martyrdom for the Christian faith and was buried on the fifteenth of the Calends of May (April 17th), in the Cemetery afterwards called the Cemetery of Callixtus, which is on the Via Appia.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

A Pope and Martyr of the second century appears on the Calendar today. The Martyrs stand in clusters near our Risen Lord. They are the eagles of which He speaks in His Gospel, as gathering together around their longed-for object (Matthew xxiv. 28). Anicetus is not the only Pope whose Martyrdom has to be celebrated during Paschal Time. Others will come, adding to our Easter joy. The Saint who claims our attention today is one of those whose holy actions are shrouded in the venerable gloom of the Church, and yet his memory will be held in veneration to the end of time, not only as being the eleventh successor of Saint Peter in the See of Rome, but as having imitated him also in holiness of life. Saint Polycarp, whose feast we kept on the twenty-sixth of January, came from Smyrna to Rome in order to visit him and receive his advice. There have also been transmitted to us one or two instances of the zeal with which he defended the Church against the heresiarchs Valentine and Marcion. In a word, we know that he was a Martyr, and that is enough to immortalise his name.

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Holy Pontiff who so many long ages ago was made partaker of the glory of Him whose Vicar and Martyr you had the privilege to be, we this day celebrate your blessed memory with filial affection. In you we venerate one of the pillars of the early Church. And though your name has been handed down to us without the history of those holy deeds which merited for you a martyr’s palm, we at least know that it was dear to the faithful of the age in which you lived. Now that you are in Heaven your zeal for the glory of God is greater than it was when you were on this Earth. Pray, then, for the Church of these sad times. Upwards of two hundred Pontiffs have followed you on the Chair of Peter, and Christ has not yet come to judge the world. Assist your Successor who is our Father. Assist the Flock entrusted to his charge, for the dangers that now threaten us are extreme. Your Pontificate was during a stormy period. Pray to our Risen Jesus that He would quell the tempest that is now howling round the Barque of Peter. Beseech Him to give us perseverance and courage. Obtain for us that we may fix our hearts on our heavenly country so that when God calls us hence, we may be prepared as you were. We are the descendants of the Martyrs. Their faith is ours. The hope that cheered them must be our consolation.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

In Africa, the birthday of blessed Mappalicus, and many others who were crowned with martyrdom, as is related by St. Cyprian in his Epistle to the Martyrs and Confessors.

In the same country, the holy martyrs Fortunatus and Marcian.

At Antioch, the holy martyrs Peter, a deacon, and Hermogenes, his servant.

At Cordova, the holy martyrs Elias, a priest, Paul and Isidore, monks.

At Vienne, St. Pantagathus, bishop.

At Tortona, St. Innocent, bishop and confessor.

At Citeaux in France, the abbot St. Stephen who was the first to live in the desert of Citeaux, and who joyfully welcomed St. Bernard and his companions when they came there.

In the monastery of Chaise-Dieu in the diocese of Clermont, St. Robert, confessor, founder and first abbot of that monastery.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.