Wednesday, March 19, 2014

St. Clement: "Those who are humble-minded"

"FOR Christ is of those who are humble-minded, and not of those who exalt themselves over His flock. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Sceptre of the majesty of God, did not come in the pomp of pride or arrogance, although He might have done so, but in a lowly condition, as the Holy Spirit had declared regarding Him."

~Pope St. Clement I: Letter to the Corinthians, Ch. 16.


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Clement held office from 92 to his death in A.D. 99. According to Tertullian, writing c. 199, the Roman Church claimed that Clement was ordained by St. Peter (De Praescript., xxxii), and St. Jerome tells us that in his time "most of the Latins" held that Clement was the immediate successor of the Apostle (Illustrious Men, 15). St. Jerome himself in several other places follows this opinion, but here he correctly states that Clement was the fourth pope.

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