Clement of Rome

Clement was one of the first bishops of Rome — traditionally counted the fourth, and one of the very earliest successors of Peter — and he stands first among the Apostolic Fathers. His one certain work is a letter written about A.D. 96 in the name of the Roman church to the Christians of Corinth, who had deposed their leaders in a quarrel: it is the earliest Christian writing outside the New Testament that can be firmly dated, and an early witness to the care of the Roman church for others. By long tradition he died a martyr, though the story of his being drowned with an anchor is late and legendary.