Marcellinus of Rome

Marcellinus of Rome was bishop of Rome from 30 June 296 until 304, in the days of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian. Little is known of his life, and the tradition kept in the Orthodox Church honours him as a holy martyr who fell, repented and died for Christ.

According to the Liberian Catalogue, the old list of the bishops of Rome, Marcellinus was a Roman, the son of a man named Projectus. The first years of his ministry were years of peace for Christians, and the number of believers grew. In 302 the Caesar Galerius stirred Diocletian up against the Church, and in 303 the great persecution began: Christian soldiers were dismissed from the army, church property was seized, and the holy books were burned.

The life given in the Orthodox synaxarion says that Marcellinus, afraid of the tortures, offered incense to the idols. Weeping bitterly, he is said to have appeared before a synod of bishops and presbyters gathered at Sinuessa in Campania, in sackcloth and with ashes on his head, confessing his sin and judging himself unworthy of priestly dignity. Historians note, however, that the acts of this synod were composed at the beginning of the sixth century and cannot be trusted. The accusation of sacrificing was born in the Donatist circles of North Africa, and Blessed Augustine rejected it. The Liber Pontificalis says that Marcellinus repented at once and died a martyr.

According to the same life, he went before the emperor, threw down the garments he had received from him and confessed his regret. Condemned to death, he prayed to Christ, Who mercifully receives those who repent, and willingly laid his head beneath the sword. The martyrs Claudius, Cyrinus and Antoninus were beheaded with him.

His body lay unburied for thirty-⁠six days, because the new bishop Marcellus feared the curse Marcellinus had pronounced on whoever buried him. The holy Apostle Peter appeared to Marcellus in a vision and told him to bury the body with honour, reminding him that he who humbles himself will be exalted. Marcellinus was laid in the crypt in the catacomb of Priscilla on the Via Salaria. The Liber Pontificalis gives the burial date as 26 April 304.

The Orthodox Church commemorates him on 7 June, together with those who suffered with him, and the Serbian Prologue remembers him on the same day. Western churches long kept a day for him on 26 April. The ancient Roman lists do not count him among the martyrs, which is usually explained by silence about his fall.