Feb. 4, 2026
St. Pope Clement, Apostolic Succession & The Miracle of St. Blaise
St. Pope Clement defends the early Church’s understanding of apostolic succession and why bishops and priests matter. We also explore the witness of St. Blaise and the tradition of his healing intercession. A clear, grounded look at how the Church’s earliest voices still shape Catholic life today.
More About This Episode (Extended Section)
Apostolic succession isn’t just a theological idea — it’s the living structure Christ handed to the apostles and they handed to the next generation. In this episode, we look at St. Pope Clement, one of the earliest defenders of that structure, and how his writings reveal the Church already functioning with bishops, priests, and a unified authority.
We also turn to St. Blaise, whose miraculous healing and the tradition of the throat blessing continue to inspire Catholics around the world. His story adds a pastoral, human dimension to the same Church Clement was shaping in its earliest days.
If you’ve ever wondered how the early Church actually operated — or why the roles of bishop and priest matter today — this episode connects the historical, the theological, and the devotional in a way that’s clear, accessible, and deeply Catholic.
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He hello, I am Jeff. Today I'm fundamentally Catholic. We're going
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to step back into the first century the church. It
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was still warm with the memories of the Apostles, but
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it was being threatened and persecuted by the Romans, and
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it was still learning how to stand as the body
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of Christ in the middle of it. Also the fourth
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Bishop of Rome, Pope Saint Clement. He was formed by
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the Apostles. He carried Peert's voice into the next generation.
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His words still echo across the centuries. Before he was
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the fourth Pope, before he was a martyr, before he
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was a bridge between the Apostles and the church, Clement
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he was simply a Roman. He was born in Rome
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around the year thirty five. Now his name Clement, it's
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common among Roman and led and everything about him and
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his later writing suggests that he was educated, articulate, and
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steeped in the rhythms of Roman civic life. We do
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not know his profession, We do not know his family story.
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We don't know the moment that he first heard the Gospel.
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Maybe that's the point. God often shapes the greatest instruments
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in silence. What we do know is clements knew the
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Apostles themselves. Ancient writers say that he heard Peter preach.
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Some say that he knew Paul. Others actually think that
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Clement was who Paul praised in the Philippians. Whether or
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not these are true or not, one thing is certain.
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Clement was formed by the Apostic generation. He absorbed their teachings,
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their memory, and their authority and their fire. When his
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time came, he stepped into leadership not as a politician,
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but as a disciple. Imagine Rome around the year ninety.
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The Apostles they've all been martyred. The eyewitnesses to the Resurrection,
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they're all dying out. The church is spreading, but sore divisions, rivalries,
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and pressures of persecution. This is the world that Clement
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stepped into as the fourth successor of Peter, not as
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an administrator, but as a father, a bridge between the
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age of Miracles and the age of the Church. Clement,
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he might be best known for the crisis in Corneth.
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Word reached him in Rome. The church in Corneth was
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tearing itself apart. Younger members had overthrown their elders, pride, ambition, fractionalism,
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and where they were poisoning the whole community. So what
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does Clements do Well? He writes a letter. It's the
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earliest papal document outside of scripture. It's a letter that
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is so powerful and so pastoral, so authoritative that some
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early Christians they read it as liturgy just outside of
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the scriptures too. And in it Clemens does something astonishing.
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He speaks not as a distant observer, but as a
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shepherd with real authority. He reminded them that the apostles
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appointed bishops and deacons, and that the church must remain
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in the order that Christ established. He calls them back
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to humility, clarity, obedience. He writes, why are there strivings
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and anger and division among you? Have we not one
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God and one Christ and one spirit of grace? Clement?
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He was general, firm, and deeply rooted in the Apostic memory.
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Now I'm going to take a quick sidebar here, So
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why does the church have bishops and priests today? Well,
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this is where Clemens's voice reached it straight into our century.
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The crisis and Cornate wasn't just ancient church squabble. That
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was the first test of something that we still live
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with today, Apostolic succession. Now the structure Christ gave his
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church the reason we have bishop's, priests and deacons. Clement
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reminds the Corinthians that the Apostles did not leave the
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church in a loose collection of volunteers. They appointed leaders,
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They laid their hands on him. They passed on authority
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the same way that Christ passed it on to them.
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And Clement said, this wasn't a one time event. The
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Apostles established a pattern of lineage, a living chain that
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will continue until the end. The chain is still here.
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Every bishop alive today was ordained by another bishop, who
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was dained by a previous bishop, who was adained by
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a previous bishop, all the way back to the apostles.
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Every priest, you know, the one who baptized your children,
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heard your confessions, annointing your parents, celebrated your wedding, he
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shares the same Apostic ministry as the bishop. This is
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not a bureaucracy. This is not hierarchy for hierarchy's sake.
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This is the Church guarding the gift Christ's creator. Clement
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saw what was happening when the order is ignored, division, confusion, pride, chaos,
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so he stepped in, not to nominate, but to protect,
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not to control. But to shepherd, not to impose power,
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but to preserve unity. That is why even today the
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Catholic Church looks the way it does. It's not because
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Rome invented a system, but because the Apostles handed it
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on a mission. Okay, now let's go back to Clement
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his theology of order. Clement's letter is not just a rebuke,
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it is a vision. He sees the Church as a
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living organism held together by God's own design. He points
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to the harmony of the obedience of the angels, the
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unity of the body of Christ, and the Apostolic succession
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that safeguards the faith. For Clement, unity was not optional,
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it is a mark of the Church. Now, Clement's story
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it does not end with a letter. Under Roman Emperor Trajan,
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Clement was exiled to the minds of Crimea. He has
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a brutal punishment meant to break the spirit. Instead, Clement
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evangelized to the prisoners. He brings water to those that
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are thirsty, he brings hope to the condemned, and he
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brings Christ into the darkness. For this he ascends to
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death the soldiers. They tied an anchor around his neck
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and cast him into the sea over the side of
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a boat. So the fourth Pope. He died as the
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first pope died witness to Christ, a shepherd who laid
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down his life for his sheep. Clemen's anchor became a symbol.
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His letter becomes a cornerstone of early Christian literature. His
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memory becomes a reminder that the papacy is not a throne,
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it's a cross. Clements stands as the last pope who
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personally knew the apostles and whose voice still speaks to
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us in writings not in the Bible, but if you want,
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you can still read Clements's letter to the Corinthians. Clement's
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legacy it doesn't end with his death. It shaped generation
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of bishops who followed him. Now among them stands one
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of the most loved bishops in the Church's history, Saint Blaze.
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Saint Blaze, he was a bishop and sebaste that's in
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Turkey today. It was during the early three hundreds perse
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guestion against the Christians became so bad that he had
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to go to a cave to hide out. Now, not
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to save himself, but so he could continue to minister
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to his people. Tradition says that during his time in solitude.
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Wild animals of the region would come to him for healing,
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creatures that would normally fear humans or be feared by humans.
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They approached him and he gently intendedly treated their wounds,
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then sent them back out in the forest. The most
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well known story of Saint Blaize was of the mother
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and of her choking child. The mother brought her young
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son to Blaze, desperate because the boy had a fishbone
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stuck in his throat. Blaze prayed over him, blessed him,
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and the child recovered ingratitude. The mother later returned with
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food and candles. The candles became the symbol of the
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Blessing of the Throat, celebration celebrated every year on February third.
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Just celebrated it. Catholics around the world received the Blessing
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of the throats. Two candles are crossed and placed gently
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at the throat, and the priest gives a blessing. Eventually,
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soldiers discovered Blaze in the cave. They arrested him. Now
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Counts say that the animals in the forest gathered around
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him and they were trying to protect him, but he
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calmed the animals down and he surrendered peacefully. He was
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taken to sabast He refused to renounce Christ and was martyred. Yeah,
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he was beaten with the stick, his flesh was ripped
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open with iron combs, and he was beheaded. It was
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the year three sixteen. Now Blaze, he was between his
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thirties and forties, somewhere in that area in his journey.
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Even Marco Polo told the visiting the shrine of the
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Great Saint Blaze as he was going along. Now that
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shrine is no longer there, Cleming and Blaze. The bishops,
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two martyrs, two men separated by two centuries, yet united
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in the mission Christ and trusted the apostles. This is
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the church that Christ founded. This is what it means
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to be fundamentally cathlic So thank you for listening to
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I sure appreciate you being here. Make sure you follow us.
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You can always find us every time. We're easy to
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file and we'll talk to you next time. Until then,
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God bless
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136
00:06:50.120 --> 00:06:52.519
137
00:06:52.600 --> 00:06:54.720
138
00:06:54.759 --> 00:06:57.480
139
00:06:57.519 --> 00:07:00.560
140
00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:03.959
141
00:07:03.959 --> 00:07:06.639
142
00:07:06.680 --> 00:07:08.720
143
00:07:08.720 --> 00:07:11.439
144
00:07:11.480 --> 00:07:14.360
145
00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:16.040
146
00:07:16.040 --> 00:07:18.319
147
00:07:18.439 --> 00:07:24.920
