Deepertruth: St. Clement, The Third Successor Of St. Peter

With the death of St. Cletus (88 A.D.), St. Clement would be selected to be the third successor of St. Peter.

Beginning with the Twelve Apostles to include St. Matthias who replaced Judas Iscariot (Acts 1:12-26), the first three successors of St. Peter were each anointed as Bishop by Peter.

St. Clement would be the last major leader who would have actually been personally inspired by the apostolic age.

We know that both St. Peter and Paul were in Rome and that many baptisms occurred at the Tiber River that surrounds Vatican City today.

This would be where St. Peter would eventually be crucified. St. Clement was a Roman by birth, raised in the influence of Pagan Rome. At some point St. Clement heard the Apostles preaching and became a believer. St. Paul speaks of St. Clement as a coworker who labored with St. Paul.

Philippians 4:3 states, "And I ask you also, true yokefellow, help these women, for they have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life."