Clement of Rome was the third successor of Saint Peter, and he served as pope during the last decade of the first century. He’s known as one of the Church’s five “Apostolic Fathers,” those who provided a direct link between the Apostles and later generations of Church Fathers.
Clement’s First Epistle to the Corinthians was preserved and widely read in the early Church. This letter concerned a split that alienated a large number of the laity from the clergy. Clement urged charity to heal the rift.