Pope St. Anicetus

Pope St. Anicetus governed the Roman Church in the middle of the second century, from about 155 to 166. His reign is remembered for a famous and gracious encounter: the aged St. Polycarp of Smyrna, a disciple of the Apostle John, came to Rome to confer with him over the differing customs for dating Easter, the churches of Asia keeping it on the fourteenth day of the Jewish month, and Rome on the following Sunday.

The two bishops could not agree on a common practice, yet they parted in peace and charity, Anicetus inviting Polycarp to celebrate the Eucharist in his own church as a sign of communion, so that their disagreement over a discipline did not break the unity of faith, a model of Christian forbearance long remembered. Anicetus is also recorded as opposing the errors of the early Gnostics. Venerated as a martyr in tradition, he is celebrated on 17 April.