Clement of Rome (not to be confused with Clement of Alexandria) was a very important figure in the early church. In fact, his epistle known as 1 Clement almost made it into the New Testament.
While we don’t know exactly when he was born, he died somewhere around 100 AD. This puts him as a younger contemporary of the Apostles and he would have known some of them. Tradition says that he was consecrated by Peter.
Clement was a bishop of Rome, and while they were not called that during his time, that would make him one of the earliest popes.
His writing 1 Clement is included among the collection of writings known as the Apostolic Fathers. There is a text called 2 Clement that was once thought to be by Clement, but scholars no longer hold to that.
While many of the stories about Clement are later legends, there is no doubt that he was an influential leader in the early church.
