Our Helper and Protector

We beseech You, Master, to be our helper and protector.
Save the afflicted among us; have mercy on the lowly;
Raise up the fallen; appear to the needy; heal the ungodly;
Restore the wanderers of Your people;
Feed the hungry; ransom our prisoners;
Raise up the sick; comfort the faint-hearted.

St Clement of Rome, 1st century CE, is listed by Irenaeus and Tertullian as the fourth Bishop of Rome, holding office from 88 CE to his death in 99 CE. He is considered to be the first Apostolic Father of the Church, one of the three chief ones together with Polycarp and Ignatius of Antioch. Few details are known about Clement's life. Clement was said to have been consecrated by Saint Peter, and he is known to have been a leading member of the church in Rome in the late First Century. Early church lists place him as the second or third bishop of Rome after Peter.