13 JULY – SAINT ANACLETUS (Pope and Martyr)

Anacletus, a native of Athens, was ordained a priest by Saint Peter and succeeded Linus to the Holy See. He decreed that a bishop should be consecrated by no fewer than three bishops, that clerics should be publicly admitted to Holy Orders by their own bishop, and that at Mass all should communicate after the Consecration. He adorned the tomb of blessed Peter, and set aside a place for the burial of the Pontiffs. He held two ordinations in the month of December, and made 5 priests, 3 deacons, and 6 bishops. He was martyred in about 91 AD during the reign of Trajan. He was buried alongside Pope Saint Linus in the Vatican cemetery where Saint Peter himself was laid to rest.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The name of Anacletus sounds like a lingering echo of the solemnity of June 29th. Linus, Clement and Cletus, the immediate successors of Saint Peter, received from his hands the pontifical consecration. Anacletus had a less but still inestimable glory of being ordained priest by the Vicar of the Man-God. Whereas the feasts of most of the martyr Pontiffs who came after him are only of simple rite, that of Anacletus is a semi-double because of his privilege of being the last Pope honoured by the imposition of hands of the Prince of the Apostles. It was also during his pontificate that the Eternal City had the glory of receiving within its walls the beloved disciple who had come to fulfil his promise and drink of his Master’s chalice. “O happy Church,” exclaims Tertullian, “into whose bosom the Apostles poured not only all their teaching, but their very blood; where Peter imitated his Lord’s Passion by dying on the cross; where Paul, like John the Baptist, received his crown by means of the sword; from which the Apostle John, after coming forth safe and sound from the boiling oil, was sent to the isle of his banishment.”

By the almighty power of the Spirit of Pentecost, the progress of the faith in Rome was proportionate to the bountiful graces of our Lord. Little by little the great Babylon, drunk with the blood of the martyrs, was being transformed into the Holy City. This new-born race, so full of promise for the future, could already reckon among its members representatives of every class of society. Beside the boiling cauldron where the Prophet of Patmos did homage to the New Jerusalem by offering within her walls his glorious confession, two consuls, one representing the ancient patrician rank, the other the more modern nobility of the Caesars, Acilius Glabrio and Flavius Clemens, together fell by the sword of martyrdom. Anacletus adorned the tomb of the Prince of the Apostles, and provided a burial place for the other pontiffs. Following his example, the distinguished families of Rome opened galleries for subterranean cemeteries all along the roads leading to the imperial city. There rest innumerable soldiers of Christ, victorious by their blood. And there, too, sleep in peace with the anchor of salvation beside them, the most illustrious names of earth.

GLORIOUS Pontiff, your memory is so closely linked with that of Peter that many reckon you under a somewhat different name, among the three august persons raised by the Prince of the Apostles to the highest rank in the hierarchy. Nevertheless, in distinguishing you from Cletus, who appeared on the sacred cycle in the month of April, we are justified by the authority of the holy Liturgy which appoints you a separate feast, and by the constant testimony of Rome itself, which knows better than any the names and the history of its pontiffs. Happy are you in being thus, as it were, lost sight of among the foundations on which rest forever the strength and beauty of the Church! Give us all a special love for the particular positions assigned to us in the sacred building. Receive the grateful homage of all the living stones who are chosen to form the eternal temple, and who will all lean on you for evermore.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYOLOGY:

The holy prophets Joel and Esdras.

In Macedonia, blessed Silas, one of the first Christians. By the Apostles he was destined for the churches of the Gentiles with the blessed Apostles Saints Paul and Barnabas. Filled with the grace of God, he zealously discharged the office of preaching, and after glorifying Christ by his sufferings rested in peace.

Also St. Serapion, martyr, who obtained the crown of martyrdom by fire in the time of the emperor Severus and the governor Aquila.

On the island of Chio, in the time of the emperor Decius and the governor Numerian, the martyr St. Myrops. Being clubbed to death, he went to Our Lord.

In Africa, the holy confessors Eugenius, the faithful and virtuous bishop of Carthage, and all the clergy of that church, to the number of about five hundred or more, among whom were many small children employed as lectors. In the persecution of the Vandals under the Arian king Hunneric, they were subjected to scourging and starvation, and driven into a most painful banishment which they bore with joy for God’s sake.

In their number were also two distinguished personages, the archdeacon Salutaris, and Muritta, occupying the second rank among the ministers of the church. Both had three times confessed the faith, and were illustrious by their sturdy perseverance in Christianity.

In Bretagne, St. Turian, bishop and confessor, a man of admirable simplicity and innocence.

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

Thanks be to God.