Pope Linus
Pope Saint Linus |
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Papacy began |
c. AD 67 |
Papacy ended |
c. AD 76 |
Predecessor |
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Successor |
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Orders |
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Ordination |
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Personal details |
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Born |
ca. AD 10 |
Died |
c. AD 76 |
Sainthood |
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Feast day |
23 September |
Venerated in |
Linus (/ˈlaɪnəs/ (listen); died c. AD 76) was the
second Bishop of Rome, and is listed by the Catholic Church as the second pope.
His papacy lasted from c.
AD 67 to his death. Among those to have held the position of pope, Peter, Linus and Clement are specifically mentioned in
the New Testament.[1]
Linus is mentioned in the
closing greeting of the Second Epistle to
Timothy as being with Paul in Rome near the end of Paul's life.
Contents
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2Life
Early Bishops of Rome[edit]
Patrobulus, Hermas,
Linus, Caius, Philologus of 70 disciples (Menologion of Basil II)
The earliest witness to
Linus's status as bishop was Irenaeus, who in about the year 180 wrote,
"The blessed apostles, then, having founded and built up the Church,
committed into the hands of Linus the office of the episcopate."[2] The Oxford
Dictionary of Popes interprets Irenaeus as classifying Linus as the
first bishop of Rome.[3] Linus is presented
by Jeromeas "the
first after Peter to be in charge of the Roman Church"[4] and by Eusebius as "the first to receive
the episcopate of the church at Rome, after the martyrdom of Paul and
Peter".[5] John Chrysostom wrote, "This Linus, some
say, was second Bishop of the Church of Rome after Peter",[6] while the Liberian Catalogue[7] presents Peter as
the first Bishop of Rome and Linus as his successor in the same office.
The Liber Pontificalis[8] also presents a
list that makes Linus the second in the line of bishops of Rome, after Peter,
while also stating that Peter consecrated two bishops, Linus and Anacletus,
for the priestly service of the community, devoting himself instead to prayer
and preaching, and that it was to Clement that he entrusted the Church as a
whole, appointing him as his successor. Tertullian too wrote of Clement as the
successor of Peter.[9] Jerome classified
Clement as "the fourth bishop of Rome after Peter" (i.e., fourth in a
series that included Peter), adding that, "most of the Latins think that
Clement was second after the apostle."[10]
The Apostolic
Constitutions[11] denote that Linus,
who was consecrated by Paul, was the first bishop of Rome and was
succeeded by Clement, who was ordained and consecrated by Peter. Cletus is
considered Linus's successor by Irenaeus, and the others cited above, who
present Linus either as the first bishop of Rome or, if they give Peter as the
first, as the second.
Life[edit]
The Liberian Catalogue and
the Liber Pontificalis date Linus's episcopate to
56–67, during the reign of Nero, but Jerome dates it to
67–78, and Eusebius puts the end of his episcopate at the second year of the
reign of Titus (80).
Linus is mentioned in the
closing greeting of the Second Epistle to
Timothy.[12] In that epistle,
Linus is noted as being with Paul in Rome near the end of Paul's life. Irenæus
stated that this is the same Linus who became Bishop of Rome, a view that is
generally still accepted.
According to the Liber
Pontificalis, Linus was an Italian born in Volterra in the Tuscany region. His father's name was
recorded as Herculanus. The Apostolic Constitutions name his
mother as Claudia (immediately after the name "Linus" in 2 Timothy
4:21 a Claudia is mentioned, but the Apostolic Constitutions does
not explicitly identify that Claudia was Linus's mother). According to Liber
Pontificalis, Linus issued a decree that women should cover their heads in
church, created the first fifteen bishops, and that he died a martyr and was
buried on the Vatican Hill next
to Peter. It gives the date of his death as 23 September, the date on which his
feast is still celebrated.[13] His name is
included in the Roman Canon of
the Mass.
With respect to Linus's
supposed decree requiring women to cover their heads, J. P. Kirsch commented
in the Catholic Encyclopedia:
"Without doubt this decree is apocryphal, and copied by the author of
the Liber Pontificalis from
Paul's First
Epistle to the Corinthians (11:5) and arbitrarily attributed to
the first successor of the Apostle in Rome. The statement made in the same
source, that Linus suffered martyrdom, cannot be proved and is improbable. For
between Nero and Domitian there is no mention of any persecution of the Roman
Church; and Irenaeus (1. c., III, iv, 3) from among the early Roman bishops
designates only Telesphorus as a glorious martyr."[1]
The Roman Martyrology does
not list Linus as a martyr. The entry about him is as follows: "At Rome,
commemoration of Saint Linus, Pope, who, according to Irenaeus, was the person
to whom the blessed Apostles entrusted
the episcopal care of the Church founded in the City, and whom blessed Paul the
Apostle mentions as associated with him."[13]
A tomb found in St. Peter's Basilica in
1615 by Torrigio was inscribed with the letters LINVS, and was once
taken to be Linus's tomb. However a note by Torrigio shows that these were
merely the last five letters of a longer name (e.g. Aquilinus or Anullinus). A
letter on the martyrdom of Peter and Paul was once attributed to him, but in
fact dates to the 6th century.[1]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:a b c Kirsch, Johann Peter (1910). "Pope
St. Linus". Catholic Encyclopedia. 9.
New York: Robert Appleton Company.
3. ^ J. N. D. Kelly, Oxford
Dictionary of Popes, 2005
4. ^ "Post Petrum
primus Ecclesiam Romanam tenuit
Linus" – Chronicon; 14g (p. 267)
6. ^ "Church
Fathers: Homily 10 on Second Timothy (Chrysostom)".
7. ^ The Chronography
of 354 AD Part 13: Bishops of Rome
8. ^ Liber Pontificalis 2
9. ^ "CHURCH
FATHERS: The Prescription Against Heretics (Tertullian)".
10. ^ "CHURCH
FATHERS: De Viris Illustribus (Jerome)".
11. ^ Apostolic
Constitutions 7.4
12. ^ 2 Timothy 4:21
13. ^ Jump up to:a b Martyrologium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2001 ISBN 88-209-7210-7)
Further reading[edit]
·
Louise Ropes Loomis, The Book of
Popes (Liber Pontificalis). Merchantville, New Jersey:
Evolution Publishing. ISBN 1-889758-86-8 (Reprint
of the 1916 edition. Stops with Pope Pelagius, 579–590. English translation
with scholarly footnotes, and illustrations).
External links[edit]
·
Herbermann,
Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope St. Linus" . Catholic Encyclopedia.
New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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