Martyrdom of st. Clement

"He was a disciple of St. Peter, and commended by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Philippians. He was the third bishop of Rome, after St. Peter, took great care for recording the acts of the martyrs; and for his zeal in gaining many to the Christian faith, was banished by order of the emperor Trajan into Chersonesus. There he found great numbers of Christians, condemned to work in the quarries by the same emperor. To these he was a great comfort, instructing and relieving them under their severe labours. For which, complaint being made of him to the emperor, he was, by his command, thrown into the sea, where he finished a glorious martyrdom, in the year 100.

Pray for the present bishop of Rome; that in zeal and holiness, he may be a true follower of his primitive predecessors. Pray for all in affliction. And since this is a difficult trial, be careful not to bring any into trouble. Treat all with sweetness and compassion; and ever choose rather to make others easy by your condescendence, than suffer by your roughness and severity. Endeavor to compose differences, as St. Paul advises, by reference, rather than bring your neighbor to the expense and trouble of law-suits, which are seldom conducted without unchristian heats and the breach of charity. But above all, see that you bring no trouble to your own doors, by your prodigality, intemperance, or other vices. Many families have been ruined by those, whose duty it was to be their support: and who can imagine what their sin must be, who by their disorders, entail misery on their children to generations? Consider whether by your irregularities, you do not rob your wife and children. For however you may call what you have your own, it is no otherwise your own, than for those purposes for which God has bestowed it. Pray for grace to understand this, that for the support of pride, vanity, ambition, or intemperance, you be not cast out among thieves and persecutors." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother