Pope St. Alexander

Pope St. Alexander I governed the Roman Church in the early second century, by tradition from about 107 to 115, in the reign of the Emperor Trajan. Standing among the earliest successors of St. Peter, he belongs to an age from which reliable records are few, and much of what later tradition ascribed to him cannot be confirmed from early sources.

A tradition preserved in the papal lists credits him with introducing certain elements into the Church's worship, such as the blessing of water mixed with salt and the commemoration of the Lord's Passion within the celebration of the Eucharist, though these attributions are uncertain. He is venerated as a martyr, in keeping with the dangers faced by Christians of his time, and is remembered as a faithful guardian of the apostolic tradition in the infant Roman Church. He is celebrated on 3 May.