The Five Apostles
Patrobus (also rendered Patrobas or Patrobulus) is mentioned in Romans 16:14 and, by tradition, served as Bishop of Neapolis (modern Naples) and Puteoli in Italy. His feast is kept on November 5.
Hermes is named in Romans 16:14 alongside Asyncritus, Phlegon, and Hermas. Traditions differ on his see: he is identified variously as Bishop of Dalmatia or of Philippopolis in Thrace. A separate feast on April 8 is also associated with him.
Linus is numbered among the Seventy Apostles and was a disciple of Saint Paul. He is mentioned in 2 Timothy 4:21 as being with Paul in Rome near the end of the apostle's life, and is generally regarded as Bishop of Rome succeeding Saint Peter, with Saint Anacletus (Cletus) following him.
Gaius is mentioned in Romans 16:23 and, by tradition, served as Bishop of Ephesus, succeeding Timothy.
Philologus is named in Romans 16:15 and, by tradition, was appointed Bishop of Sinope by the Apostle Andrew.
Linus of Rome
Among the five, Linus is the most extensively attested. Irenaeus identifies him with the Linus mentioned by Saint Paul in his Epistle to Timothy (2 Timothy 4:21). Eastern Orthodox tradition, drawing on Saint Nikolai Velimirovic's Prologue of Ohrid, keeps his commemoration on November 5 together with Patrobus, Hermes, Gaius, and Philologus.
Western tradition regards him as the first successor of Saint Peter as head of the Roman Christian community after Peter's death, with a pontificate of roughly twelve years; the Liberian Catalogue specifies twelve years, four months, and twelve days, though exact dates are uncertain. Sources disagree on the years of his episcopate, with estimates ranging from the 56–67 of the Liberian Catalogue to the c. 68–80 of Eusebius and Jerome. His feast day in the West is September 23.
Claims of Linus's martyrdom are regarded as unproven and improbable, since no persecution of the Roman church is documented between Nero and Domitian. The Liber Pontificalis asserts that he was buried on Vatican Hill near Saint Peter; a tomb inscribed "LINVS" was discovered in Saint Peter's Basilica in 1615, but it likely preserved only part of a longer name and cannot be verified as his.
