St. Clement of Rome (+101)
Commemorated November 24
St. Clement was said to have been consecrated by St. Peter, and he was a leading member of the church in Rome in the late 1st century. Early church records place him as the second or third bishop of Rome after St. Peter.
St. Clement’s only genuine writing is his epistle to the church in Corinth in which he asserts the apostolic authority of the bishops/presbyters as rulers of the church. His letter, which is one of the oldest Christian documents (other than the New Testament) was read in church.
According to tradition, during the reign of Emperor Trajan, St. Clement was banished from Rome and sent to work in a stone quarry. Upon arrival, where he found the prisoners were suffering from lack of water, he knelt down in prayer. As he looked up, he saw a lamb on a hill, went to where the lamb had stood and struck the ground with his pickaxe, which released a gushing stream of cool, clear water. Afterwards, many local pagans and his fellow prisons became Christians. As punishment, St. Clement was martyred by being tied to an anchor and thrown into the Black Sea from a boat.
