[2] According to the earliest succession lists of bishops of Rome, passed down by Irenaeus and Hegesippus and attested by the historian Eusebius, Linus was entrusted with his office by the apostles Peter and Paul after they had established the Christian church in Rome.

The Liber Pontificalis[8] also enumerated Linus as the second bishop of Rome after Peter, and stated that Peter consecrated two bishops, Linus and Anacletus, for the priestly service of the community, while devoting himself instead to prayer and preaching, and that it was Clement I to whom he entrusted the universal Church and whom he appointed as his successor.

According to the Liber Pontificalis, Linus decreed that women should cover their heads in church, created the first 15 bishops, and died a martyr.

With respect to Linus' purported decree prescribing the covering of women's heads, J.P. Kirsch commented in the Catholic Encyclopedia that "without doubt this decree is apocryphal, and copied by the author of the Liber Pontificalis from Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians (11:5) and arbitrarily attributed to the first successor of the Apostle in Rome.

"[1] The Roman Martyrology does not categorize Linus as a martyr as does the Liber Pontificalis; the current entry in the former regarding him states: "At Rome, the commemoration of Saint Linus, Pope, to whom, as Saint Irenaeus narrates, the blessed Apostles entrusted the responsibility of the episcopate of the Church founded in the City, and whom the blessed Paul the Apostle mentions as a companion of his.

However, a note by Torrigio records that these were merely the final five letters of some unknown longer name, such as "Aquilinus" or "Anullinus".

A letter on the martyrdom of Peter and Paul was attributed to Linus, but in fact it was determined to date to the 6th century.