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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
More about the Statue of S. Clement
