Today the Church honors St. Anacletus, more commonly known as St. Cletus! St. Cletus served as the third Pope, from the year 80 AD to 92 AD, in between the reigns of Pope Linus and Pope Clement I. As is the case with many of the early popes, little is known about St. Cletus, but it is believed that he divided Rome into 25 parishes and that he ordained a number of priests during his papacy. His reign as pope ended with his martyrdom. He is named in the Roman Canon (Eucharistic Prayer I) of the Mass.
Today is a pastorate feast day; we send prayers and a shout-out to our St. Cletus Pastorate! Did you know that the pastorate is also named in honor of our Bishop Cletus O’Donnell? Bishop O’Donnell was our longest-serving bishop; he was installed on April 25, 1967 (the day before his namesake’s feast day!) and resigned in April 1992 after 25 years as our bishop. The crozier (staff) in the St. Cletus Pastorate’s logo is designed to look like Bishop O’Donnell’s crozier!
We also ask for St. Cletus’ prayers for the soul of Pope Francis, whose funeral was earlier today in Rome, and for his successor.
St. Cletus, pray for us!
