Anterus
Pope and Bishop of Rome from 235 to 236
Feast: 3 January (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Anterus reigned only about forty days, from 21 November 235 to 3 January 236, and was buried in the papal crypt of the catacomb of St Callixtus, where De Rossi found his tomb in 1854.
The Liber Pontificalis says he was martyred for having the Acts of the martyrs collected and kept in the Church's archives; scholars judge this old tradition not sufficiently certain.
The miracles
There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.
Why that counted as sanctity
A pope of the age of persecution, buried among his predecessors.
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - Pope St. Anterus
- Wikidata Q132100 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Pope Anterus (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.