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Patron Saints of the Parish,
Saint Clement of Rome, Pope & Martyr
aint
Clement was the disciple of S. Peter and S.
Paul, and the third Pope. He is also considered as one of the Fathers of
the Church, and the same person to whom S. Paul alludes in his epistle to
the Philippians (Chapter 4.3), “I entreat thee, true yokefellow, help
those women which laboured with me in the gospel; with Clement also, and
with other my fellow-labourers, whose names are in the book of life.”
According to the legendary story of S. Clement, he presided over the church
at Rome for many years, converting numbers of people to the true faith,
and amongst others Domitilla, the niece of the Emperor Domitian, and another
noble Roman lady whose name was Theodora. Through the protection of Domitilla,
his wife was secure during the reign of Domitian. In the year 100, under
Trajan, began the third general persecution, which was the more afflicting
because this emperor was in other respects famous for his humanity and his
justice.
The prefect who governed Rome, during the absence of Trajan on his expedition
against the Dacians, commanded Clement to be brought before him, and on
his refusal to sacrifice to the false gods he ordered him to be banished
to an island whither many convicts were sent and obliged to work in the
quarries of stone. There did many Christians already sigh in chains, and
several voluntarily accompanied the good bishop, willing to partake of his
banishment. Clement found the unhappy prisoners not only condemned to hard
labour, but suffering cruelly from the want of water, which they had to
bring from a distance of ten miles. The saint, moved with compassion, knelt
down and prayed; and, raising his eyes, he suddenly saw a lamb standing
upon the summit of a rising ground, which, remaining invisible to all beside
himself, he knew could be none other than the Lamb of God; therefore S.
Clement took up a pickaxe, and went before the people to the hill, and,
digging there, a clear and abundant stream gushed forth, to the great consolation
of the people. This miracle only the more incensed his enemies, and they
ordered him to be bound to an anchor and cast into the sea. But short was
their triumph; for, at the prayer of the Christian disciples, the sea withdrew
for the space of three miles, and they discovered a little ruined temple
which had been formerly buried by the waters: and, wonderful to relate,
within it was found the body of S. Clement with the anchor round his neck;
and, as it is related by credible witnesses, this miracle did not happen
only once, but every year at the anniversary of his martyrdom the sea retired
during seven days, leaving a dry path for those who went to honour the relics
of the saint in this new species of submarine tomb. And this lasted for
many years; and many authors, who affirm this miracle, also relate, that
a certain woman, accompanied by her son, being at prayer within the temple,
her child fell asleep, and the sea rising suddenly the mother fled, leaving
him behind in her fear, and when she reached the shore she wrung her hands,
weeping bitterly, and passed that year in great affliction. The next year,
returning to pay her devotions at the shrine, to her joyful surprise she
found her son there, sleeping, just as she had left him.
S. Clement, in the devotional pictures, appears habited as Pope, sometimes
with the tiara, but generally without it; an anchor at his side, or a small
anchor suspended round his neck. In the ancient mosaic in his church at
Rome (12th century) he is thus represented seated by S. Peter and holding
the anchor in his hand. In the frescoes of the little chapel on the wall
opposite to the life of S. Catherine, Masaccio or one of his scholars painted
a series of the life of S. Clement, now in a most ruined state; we can distinguish
the scene of the flood, and S. Clement discovering the fountain of living
waters to his thirsty and fainting disciples. The other subjects are scarcely
to be recognised. In England there are forty-seven churches dedicated to
S. Clement.
—from Sacred & Legendary Art, Volume II,
by Mrs. Jameson
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