Pope Linus

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St. Linus
Birth name	Linus
Papacy began	circa 67
Papacy ended	circa 79
Predecessor	Peter
Successor	Anacletus
Born	Unknown Unknown
Died	circa 79 Rome, Italy

Styles of Pope Linus
Reference style	His Holiness
Spoken style	Your Holiness
Religious style	Holy Father
Posthumous style	Saint

Pope Saint Linus (d. ca.79) was, if Saint Peter is counted as the first Pope or Bishop of Rome, the second to hold that position according to Irenaeus^[1], Jerome,^[2] Eusebius,^[3] John Chrysostom,^[4] the Liberian Catalogue^[5] and the Liber Pontificalis,^[6] succeeding Saint Peter and succeeded by Anacletus. Irenaeus identifies him with the Linus mentioned in 2 Timothy 4:21, an identification that is not certain. The Liberian Catalogue and the Liber Pontificalis both date his Episcopate to 56–67 during the reign of Nero, but Jerome dates it to 67–78, and Eusebius dates the end of his Episcopate to the second year of the reign of Titus (80).

Other sources disagree on Linus's place in the succession of Popes. Tertullian^[7] says that Peter appointed Clement I. The Apostolic Constitutions^[8] says that Linus was the first Bishop of Rome, ordained by Paul, and was succeeded by Clement, who was ordained by Peter.

According to the Liber Pontificalis, Linus was an Italian from Tuscany, and his father's name was Herculanus. The Apostolic Constitutions names his mother as Claudia. The Liber Pontificalis also says that he issued a decree that women should cover their heads in church, 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.^[9] His name is included in the Roman Canon of the Mass.

On the statement about a decree requiring women to cover their heads, J.P. Kirsch comments in the Catholic Encyclopedia article on Pope Linus: "Without doubt this decree is apocryphal, and copied by the author of the 'Liber Pontificalis' from the first Epistle of St. Paul 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."

In the Roman Martyrology, Linus is in fact not called 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."^[10]

A tomb found in St. Peter's Basilica in 1615 by Torrigio was inscribed with the letters LINUS, 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.^[11]

In what appears to be a relatively recent British Israelite legend, Claudia, identified as the historical Claudia Rufina, is given as Linus's sister, and both are said to have been children of the Iron Age Brythonic chieftain, Caratacus.^[12]

Pope Linus Papal succession
Religious titles
Preceded by St. Peter	Pope 67–79	Succeeded by Pope Anacletus

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Pope St. Linus at Catholic Encyclopedia

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