Pope Linus

Pope Saint

Linus
Pope Saint; Linus
Bishop of Rome
	18th century reliquary bust of St. Linus in the Augustiner Museum in Freiburg
Papacy began	c. AD 68
Papacy ended	c. AD 80
Predecessor	Peter
Successor	Anacletus
Orders
Ordination	by Paul the Apostle
Personal details
Born	Volterra, Italia, Roman Empire
Died	c. AD 80; Rome, Italia, Roman Empire
Buried	possibly Vatican Hill
Sainthood
Feast day	23 September
Venerated in	All Christian denominations that venerate saints
Canonized	Pre-Congregation
Attributes	Papal vestments and pallium
Patronage	Patronage list

Pope Linus (/ˈlaɪnəs/ ^ⓘ, Greek: Λῖνος, Linos; died c. AD 80) was the bishop of Rome from c. AD 68 to his death. He is generally regarded as the second Bishop of Rome, after St. Peter. As with all the early popes, he was canonized.

According to Irenaeus, Linus is the same person as the one mentioned in the New Testament.^[1] Linus is mentioned in the valediction of the Second Epistle to Timothy (2 Timothy 4:21) as being with Paul the Apostle in Rome near the end of Paul's life.

Background

The earliest witness to the episcopate of Linus was Irenaeus, who in c. AD 180 wrote that "the blessed apostles, then, having founded and built up the Church, committed into the hands of Linus the office of the episcopate".^[2]

According to the earliest succession lists of bishops of Rome, passed down by Irenaeus and Hegesippus and attested by the historian Eusebius, Linus was entrusted with his office by the apostles Peter and Paul after they had established the Christian church in Rome. By this reckoning he might be considered therefore the first pope, but from the late 2nd or early 3rd century the convention began of regarding Peter as the first pope.^[3]

Jerome described Linus as "the first after Peter to be in charge of the Roman Church"^[4] and Eusebius described him as "the first to receive the episcopate of the church at Rome, after the martyrdom of Paul and Peter".^[5] John Chrysostom wrote that "this Linus, some say, was second bishop of the Church of Rome after Peter",^[6] while the Liberian Catalogue^[7] described Peter as the first bishop of Rome and Linus as his successor in the same office.

The Liber Pontificalis^[8] also enumerated Linus as the second bishop of Rome after Peter, and stated that Peter consecrated two bishops, Linus and Anacletus, for the priestly service of the community, while devoting himself instead to prayer and preaching, and that it was Clement I to whom he entrusted the universal Church and whom he appointed as his successor. Tertullian also wrote of Clement as the successor of Peter.^[9] Jerome named Clement as "the fourth bishop of Rome after Peter, if indeed the second was Linus and the third Anacletus, although most of the Latins think that Clement was second after the apostle".^[10]

The Apostolic Constitutions^[11] note that Linus, whom Paul the Apostle consecrated, was the first bishop of Rome and that he was succeeded by Clement I, whom Peter the Apostle ordained and consecrated.

Episcopate

The chronology of the early popes is heavily disputed. "The truth is, as the monarchical episcopate was not yet existing in Rome, it is useless to attempt to fix his dates, or those of any of the other so-called bishops who lived before the second quarter of the second century."^[12] Eusebius and Jerome dated Linus' episcopate between the years AD 68^[13] and 80.^[14]^[15] The Liberian Catalogue and the Liber Pontificalis date it as AD 56 to 67, during the reign of Nero.^[16] This is most likely a mistake, as all four sources give Peter an episcopate of 25 years in Rome, and the Liber Pontificalis even records that Peter died 38 years after Jesus' death, that is, AD 67–68.^[17] The Catholic Encyclopedia gives his years as c. 64–76 or c. 67–79.^[1]

Linus is named in the valediction of the Second Epistle to Timothy.^[18] In that epistle, Linus is noted as being with Paul the Apostle in Rome near the end of Paul's life. Irenaeus stated that this is the same Linus who became Bishop of Rome.

Depiction of Linus in the Menologion of Basil II

According to the Liber Pontificalis, Linus was an Italian born in Volterra in Tuscany. His father's name was recorded as Herculanus. The Apostolic Constitutions denominated his mother Claudia; immediately after the name Linus in 2 Timothy 4:21 a Claudia is named, but the Bible does not explicitly identify Claudia as Linus' mother. According to the Liber Pontificalis, Linus decreed that women should cover their heads in church, created the first 15 bishops, and died a martyr.^[19] It dated his burial as 23 September, on which date he is still commemorated.^[20] His name is included in the Roman Canon of the Mass.

With respect to Linus' purported decree prescribing the covering of women's heads, J.P. Kirsch commented in the Catholic Encyclopedia that "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 categorize Linus as a martyr as does the Liber Pontificalis; the current entry in the former regarding him states: "At Rome, the commemoration of Saint Linus, Pope, to whom, as Saint Irenaeus narrates, the blessed Apostles entrusted the responsibility of the episcopate of the Church founded in the City, and whom the blessed Paul the Apostle mentions as a companion of his."^[20]

Legacy

A tomb that Torrigio discovered in Saint Peter's Basilica in 1615 and which was inscribed with the letters LINVS was assumed to be the tomb of Pope Linus. However, a note by Torrigio records that these were merely the final five letters of some unknown longer name, such as "Aquilinus" or "Anullinus". A letter on the martyrdom of Peter and Paul was attributed to Linus, but in fact it was determined to date to the 6th century.^[1] The Liber Pontificalis asserts that Linus was buried on the Vatican Hill adjacent to Peter the Apostle in what is now known as the Vatican Necropolis beneath Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.^[19]

The city of Saint-Lin-Laurentides in Canada is named in his honour.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Kirsch, Johann Peter (1910). "Pope St. Linus". Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York, New York, USA: Robert Appleton Company.
^ Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3: 3.3
^ J. N. D. Kelly, Oxford Dictionary of Popes, 2005, pp. 6–7.
^ "Post Petrum primus Ecclesiam Romanam tenuit Linus" (Chronicon, 14g (p. 267))
^ Church History, 3.2
^ "Church Fathers: Homily 10 on Second Timothy (Chrysostom)".
^ The Chronography of 354 AD, Part 13: Bishops of Rome
^ Liber Pontificalis, 2
^ "CHURCH FATHERS: The Prescription Against Heretics (Tertullian)".
^ "CHURCH FATHERS: De Viris Illustribus (Jerome)".
^ Apostolic Constitutions, 7.4
^ Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, book VIII, chapter 34, note 3. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers edition, 1890. See also the extensive note in Book VIII, Chapter 2.
^ Jerome, Chronicon, AD 68, 14th year of Nero (Oct. 67–Oct. 68): "After Peter, Linus first held the church of Rome for 11 years." Jerome's work is a translation of Eusebius' Chronicon, which actually uses a calendar that begins in 3 October, hence why Nero's accession is dated to AD 55 (instead of 54). See Burgess, R. W. (1999). Studies in Eusebian and Post-Eusebian Chronography. Franz Steiner Verlag. pp. 22–24. ISBN 978-3-515-07530-5.
^ Jerome, Chronicon, AD 80, 2nd year of Titus (Oct. 79–Oct. 80): "Cletus (also called Anencletus) is appointed second bishop of the Roman church for 12 years."
^ Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, VIII, 13. "After Vespasian had reigned ten years Titus, his son, succeeded him. In the second year of his reign, Linus, who had been bishop of the church of Rome for twelve years, delivered his office to Anencletus."
^ The Liberian Catalogue gives him a tenure of 12 years, while the Liber Pontificalis gives him 11 years. Both date it between the consulates of Q. Volusius Saturninus with P. Cornelius Scipio and that of L. Julius Rufus with Fonteius Capito, a tenure of 12 years if counted inclusively.
^ Loomis 2006, p. 4, note 3. "Our author gives two incompatible traditions, the first that Peter did not come to Rome before the reign of Nero, the second that after a pontificate of twenty-five years at Rome he was put to death under Nero. The latter is Jerome version".
^ 2 Timothy 4:21
^ ^a ^b Loomis 2006, p. 6.
^ ^a ^b Martyrologium Romanum (Typis Vaticanis, 2004, p. 532).