Anicetus succeeded Pius as bishop of Rome around 157 and reigned until about 168. The Catholic Encyclopedia warns that dates in this period cannot be fixed exactly.

In his time the aged Polycarp of Smyrna came to Rome to discuss the date of Easter. The churches of Asia kept it on the 14th of Nisan (the Jewish Passover date), whatever weekday it fell on, while Rome always kept it on Sunday. Neither persuaded the other. Eusebius (bishop of Caesarea, d. c. 339, the first historian of the Church) records that they parted in peace, and Anicetus let Polycarp celebrate the Eucharist in his place as a sign of communion.

The historian Hegesippus also visited Rome then, as did heretical teachers such as Marcion and Valentinus. Anicetus is traditionally counted a martyr, though the CE gives no account of how he died.

Thin entry · the 1897 book gives only 0 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.

​Anicetus, Saint, Pope, the Roman Pontiff who succeeded Pius towards the year 157, and reigned till about 168. According to Duchesne (Origines) the confusion of dates about this period is such that more exact verification is impo.ssible. While Anicetus was Pope, St. Polycarp, then in extreme old age, came to confer with him (160–162) about the Paschal controversy; Polycarp and others in the East celebrating the feast on the fourteenth of the month of Nisan, no matter on what day of the week it fell; whereas in Rome it was always observed on Sunday, and the day of the Lord's death on Friday. The matter was discussed but nothing was decided. According to Eusebius [Eusebius of Caesarea (d. c. 339), the first historian of the Church]: "Polycarp could not persuade the Pope, nor the Pope, Polycarp. The controversy was not ended but the bonds of charity were not broken"; the Pope permitting the aged saint to celebrate on the day he had been accustomed to in the Church of Smyrna.

Hegesippus, the first Christian historian whose writings are of great value, because he lived so near the time of the Apostles, also came to Rome at this time. His visit is recorded by most ecclesiastical authors as noteworthy, inasmuch as it calls attention to the fact that many illustrious men repaired to Rome at that period, thus emphasizing very early the supreme dignity and authority of the Roman Pontiffs. Marcion, Marcellinus, Valentine, and Cerdo were also at Rome, disturbing the Church by their Manichæism. Anicetus suffered martyrdom in 161, but the dates vary between 16, 17, and 20 April.

Acta SS., 11 April; Butler, Lives of the Saints, 17 April; Michaud, Biog. Univ.; Jungmann, Dissert. Hist. Eccl; Moberly in Dict. Christ. Biogr.