Pope St. Anacletus

Pope St. Anacletus, also called Cletus, governed the Roman Church in the late first century, reigning by tradition from about 79 to 92, and is counted as the third pope, following St. Peter and St. Linus. He belongs to the earliest and most obscure age of the papacy, from which almost no historical record survives, so that scarcely anything can be affirmed of his life with certainty.

An ancient tradition holds that he was a Roman by birth, ordained by St. Peter himself, and that he arranged the burial place of the popes near the tomb of St. Peter on the Vatican hill and ordained a number of priests. So revered was his memory that his name was enrolled among the martyrs commemorated in the Roman Canon of the Mass. Venerated as a martyr under the Emperor Domitian, he is celebrated on 26 April.