Clement I (died 101) is believed to have been the third pope, after Saints Linus and Anacletus; some modernists who consider the apostle Paul to be the first pope refer to Clement I as the fourth pope. Although little is known about the life of Clement I, scholars believe he led the Roman Church during the turbulent years of the last decade of the first century A.D.

Clement I--sometimes called Saint Clement or Clemens Romanus--was one of the first of the Apostolic Fathers and the first pope about whom anything definite is now known. Working closely with Saints Peter and Paul, the two founding fathers of the Christian church who preached alongside Jesus prior to Christ's crucifixion in 33 A.D., he was likely a follower of the apostle Paul and was schooled by Paul in Rome. Accepting the Christian faith as a young man and working as a...