Antoninus of Rome

Holy Martyr Antoninus of Rome is commemorated together with Holy Hieromartyr Marcellinus, Pope of Rome, and the martyrs Claudius and Cyrinus. They were beheaded in the year 304. They are commemorated on 20 June.

Saint Marcellinus was Pope of Rome at the height of the persecution of the time of Diocletian and Maximian (284 to 305), when in a single month seventeen thousand people were tormented. Then Pope Marcellinus too was seized. Frightened by the cruel torments, he burned incense and sacrificed to idols. The emperor called him a friend and clothed him in costly garments. Tormented by conscience, he wept bitterly that, having urged many to accept torments for Christ, he himself had given his flock an example of weakness. At that time, in the city of Sinuessa in Campania, a Council of a hundred and eighty bishops and priests was meeting. Pope Marcellinus came to the Council's session in a hair shirt, his head strewn with ashes, and asked to be judged for his denial. The fathers of the Council said: "Condemn yourself with your own mouth. From your mouth the sin came out, let the sentence too come out of your mouth. We know that Saint Peter also, out of fear, denied Christ, but wept bitterly over his sin and again received the Lord's favour." Then Marcellinus pronounced his sentence: "I acknowledge myself deprived of the holy rank, of which I am unworthy. After death let my body not be buried, but thrown to be eaten by dogs; cursed be he who dares to bury it."

Returned to Rome, Marcellinus went to the emperor, threw at his feet the costly garment received as a gift and told him that he bitterly repented of his denial of Christ. The emperor, angered, ordered him tormented and sentenced him to death. After earnest prayer to the Lord Jesus Christ, who mercifully receives repentant sinners, the martyr readily bowed his head under the sword. With him the holy martyrs Claudius, Cyrinus and Antoninus were also beheaded (died 304). The body of Saint Marcellinus lay on the road thirty-⁠six days. The Holy Apostle Peter, appearing to the newly installed Pope Marcellus, said to him: "Why do you not bury Marcellinus until now?" "I fear his curse," answered Marcellus. "Do you not remember what is written: He who humbles himself will be exalted? Go and bury him with honour." Fulfilling the apostle's command, Saint Marcellus buried the body of Saint Marcellinus in a tomb made for martyrs by the noble Roman woman Priscilla, near the Via Salaria.