LINUS, POPE, saint. — According to the testimony of all the oldest and most reliable sources, he was the first successor of the Apostles on the Roman See. Traditions dating back to the 3rd century, attested by the Liberian Catalogue and the Liber Pontificalis, and echoed by modern authors who uphold the collegiality of the episcopate in the early Church, seem to affirm that LINUS governed the Roman Church together with and during the lifetime of St. Peter. More probable is the contrary opinion, that LINUS governed after the death of St. Peter.
However, the duration of his pontificate is uncertain; according to the testimony of Eusebius, he governed for 12 years, and thus probably from 67 to 79. The same Eusebius, following the opinion of St. Irenaeus, says that LINUS is the same one to whom St. Paul sent greetings in his letter to Timothy (2 Tim. 4:21). According to the Liber Pontificalis, LINUS was born in Tuscany; he would have established, in accordance with the precept of St. Paul, that women should always enter the church with their heads covered, and he would have died a martyr on 23 September 67. No other reliable source attests to the martyrdom of LINUS, nor does his name appear in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum; however, he is mentioned in the Roman Canon of the Mass. To him are attributed the Acts of the Martyrdom of Peter and Paul and the story of Peter’s dispute with Simon Magus: these are certainly apocryphal writings. In the Roman Martyrology, LINUS is commemorated on 23 September.