First there was Peter, who had denied Jesus three times before the cock crowed and who finally was martyred, according to Origen's histories, crucified upside down on a hillside. Then came St. Linus, St. Anacletus and St. Clement I, who may or may not have been drowned off Crimea with an anchor around his neck. These were the first of the heirs of St. Peter, the Popes of Rome, some of them loved, some feared, some venerated, some murdered. One of the proudest and most powerful, Innocent III (1198-1216), started calling himself the Vicar of Christ because he said he was...
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