Pope St. Linus

Pope St. Linus governed the Roman Church in the first century as the immediate successor of St. Peter, reigning by tradition from about 67 to 79, and so stands second in the unbroken line of popes. The early witness of St. Irenaeus names him as the one to whom the Apostles Peter and Paul entrusted the ministry of the Roman Church, and he is widely identified with the Linus whom St. Paul mentions in his Second Letter to Timothy, sending greetings from Rome.

Belonging to the very dawn of the Church's history, little else is known of him with certainty. Tradition holds that he was of Italian origin and governed the Roman flock in the difficult years after the martyrdoms of Peter and Paul under Nero. His name too was enrolled among the martyrs in the Roman Canon of the Mass. Venerated as a martyr, he is celebrated on 23 September.