Sts. Cletus/Marcellinus, Popes/Martyrs

ST. CLETUS
Pope and Martyr  (†89)

ST. MARCELLINUS
Pope and Martyr  (†304)

Pope, St Cletus, Martyr

Two Popes of the early Church sit on opposite corners of the portico ceiling of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Today, we celebrate their feast days (They died on the same day in different years). The two men served as Popes two centuries apart. What they share is that their pontificates occurred during times of great torture and persecution for professing Christians under Roman rule. Reflecting on the lives of Popes Cletus and Marcellinus puts into perspective the trials the faithful now are facing.

 

To be a Pope in the first three centuries after Christ was to face the prospect of death by Roman authorities. Pope Cletus was the third pope and reigned from 76 to 88. Marcellinus was Pope from 296 to 304. Cletus, like St. Peter before him, was martyred. Marcellinus himself was not martyred; instead he died a natural death in an era when scores of Christians, including St. George, were murdered for their faith. Thanks be to God, we live in a world where, with a few notable exceptions , Christians are not being killed for their beliefs. But the Church still faces enemies, both in the secular world, as well as from sinners within our own ranks.

 

The first persecutions of Christians happened in Rome, a generation after Christ, under the reign of Nero. This was several years before Cletus became Pope. The tyrant, who killed his own mother and eventually committed suicide, arrested and tortured Christians in Rome. Some were crucified. Others were burned alive. Their bodies were eaten by dogs. It is stunning to consider that just six years before Cletus became pope, a new Emperor, Titus, destroyed the City of Jerusalem, then the hub of Christianity. Until then, Christians were considered a sect of the Jews. Cletus was a Greek ordained by St. Peter. As Pope, St. Cletus ordained at least 25 priests. Here was a man of great faith who knew the dangers he faced by leading the Church.

Pope, St Marcellinus I, Martyr

As for St. Marcellinus, he died in 304, one year after St. George was martyred during the great Diocletian persecution. During this persecution, Roman authorities confiscated the Callistus Catacomb, which for 100 years had been the official cemetery of the Church of Rome. Martyrs and Popes had been buried there. Christians blocked the main entrances to the catacomb to protect the tombs. It is hard to imagine living and dying in such a time.

 

Sts. Cletus and Marcellinus’s lives tell us that, as improbable as it seems, the Church is indestructible, no matter the filth within the Church or the attacks from outside Her. We must continue to pray for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, and for the current one Francis (That's a weird deal there, isn't it?); and for children damaged by priest-criminals, and, yes, for the souls of their predators, too.

 

By Frank Weathers patheos.com

 

More on these two:
 

St. Cletus was a disciple of St. Peter, and became the third Bishop of Rome, succeeding to St. Linus, which circumstance alone commends his eminent virtue among the first disciples of St. Peter in the West. He was the first Pope who in his letters used the words 'Health and Apostolic benediction'. A church and a hospital founded by him, though ruined and rebuilt several times, survived until the 18^th century, and the memory of his charity was so well conserved by the Romans, that the Crucifers ( The term "crucifer" comes from the Latin crux (cross) and ferre (to bear, carry). It thus literally means "cross-bearer"), who then were still serving in his hospice, considered him their founder.  He served twelve years, seven months, and two days.

St. Cletus was martyred after the peaceful reign of the Emperor Titus, when Domitian replaced him; the date was April 26^th of the year 89. He was buried near Saint Peter in the Vatican, where his relics are still.

St. Marcellinus, who was of Roman origin, succeeded St. Caius as bishop of Rome in 296, about the time that Diocletian set himself up for a deity, impiously claiming divine honors. In those stormy times of persecution, seventeen thousand Christians of all ages and both sexes were put to death in the various provinces, churches were destroyed, and heaven was populated with martyrs.

St. Marcellinus was beheaded with three others, Claudius, Cyrinus, and Antonius, and their bodies remained without burial in the forum for thirty-six days, to strike fear into the hearts of their fellows. It was on the 26^th of April in the year 304 that a priest named Marcellus came at night, with other priests and deacons of Rome, to gather up their relics, which they laid to rest in the Priscilla catacomb.  Marcellus had received an admonition in his sleep from St. Peter himself, to take care of the body of this Pope.

Reflection. It is a fundamental maxim of Christian morality, and a truth which Christ has established in the clearest terms by innumerable passages of the Gospel, that the cross, sufferings and mortification are the road to eternal happiness. Our Lord Himself, our model and our Head, walked on that path, and His great Apostle reminds us that He entered into bliss only by His blood and His Cross. (Heb. 9:12)




PRAYER:

Lord,  hear the prayers of the martyrs   Sts. Cletus and Marcellinus
and give us courage to bear witness to your Truth.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
One God, for ever and ever.  Amen.