CLEMENT OF ANCYRA, martyr. — He is commemorated in all the martyrologies on 23 January. According to the *Passio*, a rhetorical and naively bold account, he was born in 258; appointed bishop of his native city while still young, for 28 years he was persecuted and driven from city to city, subjected to the most varied torments, yet always remained unharmed, until he was beheaded at Ancyra on 23 January 304. In his honour, Proclus delivered a discourse; ruins of a church dedicated to C. exist in Ankara.
BIBL.: Acta SS. Januarii, III, Paris 1863, pp. 71-97; P. Franchi de' Cavalieri, Note agiografiche, VI (Studi e Testi, 33), Rome 1920, p. 162 ff.; H. Delchaye, Les légendes hagiographiques, 3rd ed., Brussels 1927, p. 90 ff.; id., Étude sur le légendaire romain, Brussels 1936, p. 114 ff.; Martyr. Romanum, p. 32. Agostino Amore