Anterus

Anterus was bishop of Rome for a very short time, from 21 November 235 until his death on 3 January 236. He ascended the see in place of Saint Pontian, who had been sent into exile in Sardinia. The Orthodox Church counts him among the holy hieromartyrs.

According to the Liber Pontificalis he was the son of Romulus, born at Petilia in Calabria, and probably of Greek origin. His ministry lasted less than two months and very little is known of his deeds. He ordained one bishop, for the city of Fondi. Tradition says he ordered a stricter search into the acts of the martyrs, collected by the notaries appointed by Pope Clement, but historians consider these reports legendary. Many think he died a natural death, during the persecution of Maximinus Thrax, while others believe he was a martyr.

He was the first bishop of Rome buried in the crypt of the popes in the catacomb of Saint Callixtus on the Appian Way. His tomb was discovered in 1854 by Giovanni Battista de Rossi, with fragments of the Greek epitaph, of which only the Greek word for bishop could be read. His ashes had been moved to the church of Saint Sylvester in the Campus Martius and were found on 17 November 1595, when Pope Clement VIII rebuilt that church.

He is commemorated on 3 January in the West and on 5 August in the East, as a holy hieromartyr.