St. Anacletus
Anacletus (Cletus) · ~76 – ~88
The third pope, who helped organize the Roman clergy and is traditionally credited with building a memorial over Peter's burial site.
Anacletus, also called Cletus, governed the Roman Church in the late first century, likely during the reign of Emperor Domitian. Almost nothing certain survives about his papacy. Tradition credits him with dividing Rome into twenty-five parishes and ordaining a number of priests. He is also said to have constructed a small memorial shrine over the place where Peter was buried on Vatican Hill. His papacy bridged the gap between the apostolic eyewitnesses and the generation that would have to carry the faith forward on trust alone.
Holding the Line
Anacletus served during a time when the last people who had known the apostles personally were dying. His job was to keep the Church functioning as living memory faded into handed-down tradition. The shrine he reportedly built over Peter's grave was a physical anchor: a way of saying, this actually happened, and it happened here.