ST. ANACLETUS, POPE AND MARTYR.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 28, 10 July 1902, Page 7

ST. ANACLETUS, POPE AND MARTYR.

St. Anacletus died about the year 91. Very ancient martyrologies gave him the title of martyr. He is named, by the ancient* among the first successors of St. Peter to the See of Rome. But they are not in accord about the order which they assign to him ia this succession. According to St. Irenams, and also given by tusebiuß. the following is the catalogue of the first Popes : Peter, Linus, Anacletus, Clement. According to St. Augustine, Clement was the successor of Linus, and Anacletus succeeded Clement. There are catalogues whioh mention a Cletus instead of Anaoletns. Others name Cletus and Anacletuß as two different personages It would appear accordingly the chronicler of Damascus, and aocording to St. Epiphanius and Rufinua, that Linus and Clement were oharged by St. Peter, as his representatives, to govern the Church of Rome— without any of them becoming Pope in the proper sense of the word— as successor of Peter. In this case, Peter's immediate successor was Clement, who would have been succeeded by Anacletus. As to the distinction between Cletus and Anaolettus, we find it indicated m many old catalogues and especially in a notice of the •Pontifical, according to which Cletus was a Roman by birth and Anacletus an Athenian. ST. BONA VENTURE, BISHOP, CONFEBSOB, AND DOOTOB, St. Bonaventure, eurnamed ' Doctor Seraphious,' was a Franciscan, and distinguished for his piety and learning. He was born in 1221, at Bagnarea, in Tuscany, and was educated at the University of Paris, where, as early as 1256, he obtained a professorship of theology, and at the age of 35 years he became the general of his order, the internal disorders and contentions of which he brought under due regulation. Pope Clement IV. wished to make him Archbishop of York, but desisted at the request of Bonaventure • on the other hand, Gregory X., in 1273, compelled him to accept the bishopric of Albano. In the year following Bonaventure attended the Ecumenical Council of Lyons, and died while it was in session, July 15th, 1274. BoDaventure acquired great fame by his mystical writings. But both his philosophical and scholastico-theological works, of which the principal ones are the Breviloquium and the Certiloquium are highly esteemed, although their author does not on these subjects reach the level of St. Thomas. ST. LEO IV., POPE AND CONFESSOR. St. Leo IV. was Pope from 847 to 855. The eight years of his Pontificate were employed chiefly in arming and defending the Roman State against the Saracens*, over whom he gained a complete victory. He encompassed the Vatican hill with walls and towers, and founded what has been called after him the ' Leonine City.' In 850 he crowned Louis 11. son of Lothaire, emperor, and anointed as king the young Alfred of England, afterwards surnamed the Great. In 850 and 853, he held synods at Rome, at which canons were enacted enforcing ecclesiastical discipline. ST. CAMILLUS, CONFESSOR. St. Camillus of Lellis, a priest of the diocese of Theate, was the founder of the Order of Camilliane, or Fatherß of a Good Death, which was approved by the Holy See on March 8, 1585. These religious take care of the sick and wounded in hospitals and on the battlefield. St. Camillus died July 14, 1614, at the age of 65 years, and was canonised by Benedict XIV. ST. SYMACHUS, POPE AND CONFESSOR. St. Symachuß, who was born in Sardinia, was Pope from 498 to 514, and successor of Athanasius 11. He had for rival the Archdeacon Lawrence, who waa upheld by King Theodoric. He zealously combated the heresies of Nestoriua and Eutyohea. The introduction into the Macs of the ' Gloria in Excelsis ' is attributed to him.