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The popes · No. 2 of 267

St Linus

The second pope is a single name in a letter. That is exactly the point.

Pope 67 to 76

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The Crypt of the Popes in the Catacomb of St Callixtus, Rome: a vaulted chamber where third-century popes were buried.

Dnalor 01, 2007. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Home / The popes / St Linus

A prison in Rome, around AD 66

An old prisoner is writing what he expects to be his last letter, and he sends greetings from his friends in Rome.12

One of the names is Linus.2

The writer is St Paul. The friend he names would soon carry Peter’s task.

01St Linus

A name on every list

The oldest lists of the bishops of Rome, from Irenaeus and Eusebius to the Liberian catalogue of 354, place Linus directly after Peter.3

Irenaeus identifies him with the Linus greeted in Paul’s letter.3

Almost nothing else about his life is known for certain, and the dates given for his reign are traditional.34

02St Linus

Why a quiet pope matters

Linus did not leave writings or stories. He left something less dramatic and more important: an unbroken line.

The Church teaches that the apostles left bishops as their successors, handing on their own teaching authority.5

The Crypt of the Popes in the Catacomb of St Callixtus, Rome: a vaulted chamber where third-century popes were buried.
The Crypt of the Popes in the Catacomb of St Callixtus, where several third-century popes were buried. Dnalor 01, 2007. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

The fourth pope would write a letter that Christians read aloud for generations.

Notes

  1. 2 Timothy 4:6, Douay-Rheims. read the chapter
  2. 2 Timothy 4:21, Douay-Rheims. read the chapter
  3. Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), “Pope St. Linus”. New Advent edition. newadvent.org
  4. Catholic Encyclopedia, “List of Popes” (New Advent edition, updated to 2025). New Advent edition. newadvent.org
  5. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 77. vatican.va

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: Douay-Rheims, Challoner revision (public domain). Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an error.