Marcellus of Tangier

The Holy Martyr Marcellus the Centurion (Marcellus of Tangier) was a Roman centurion of Tingis (now Tangier), who suffered for Christ in the time of the emperor Maximian, in 298. His feast is on 30 October, and he is venerated in both East and West.

Confession before the army

According to the most widespread account, Marcellus was a centurion in the garrison of Tingis. On the occasion of the celebration of the emperor Maximian's birthday, when sacrifices were offered to the Roman gods, he refused to take part. He threw off his soldier's belt, his weapons and his vine staff, the sign of his rank, and said openly that he was a Christian and would no longer serve an earthly ruler if that demanded worship of the gods. He was brought before the judge Fortunatus, who, not wishing the centurion's death, sent the case further, to be laid before Maximian and Constantius, the latter friendly to Christians. But Marcellus came instead before the deputy of the praetorian prefect, Aurelius Agricolanus, and confessed that he had renounced his oath to an earthly leader. He was condemned and beheaded with the sword, on 30 October 298.

It is said that the official shorthand writer of the trial, Cassian, was so angry at the sentence that he refused to put it down in writing, declared that he too was a Christian and was killed as well, on 3 December, according to some sources.

Relics and veneration

The saint's relics were found incorrupt in Tangier in 1471 and moved in 1493 to Spain by King Afonso V of Portugal; they are kept now in the crypt at León, of which he has long been considered the patron. In that city there is a Plaza de San Marcelo, and the church of San Marcelo dates from the tenth century.

An alternative version of the legend

Another version, held to be largely apocryphal, says he was a centurion of the Legio VII Gemina Pia Felix, born in the middle of the third century at León, in Spain, and that he confessed the faith in July 298, at the celebration of the emperor's birthday, casting down the insignia of his rank and saying he venerated one God alone. Sent to Tangier for judgment by the vicar Agricolanus, he is said to have been condemned and beheaded together with his wife Nona and their twelve sons; among them are named Claudius, Lupercus, Victorius, Facundus, Primitivus, Servandus, Germanus, Faustus, Januarius and Martial. The link with Marcellus of the martyrs Emeterius and Celedonius, and of Servandus and Germanus, venerated separately at Cádiz, is, in scholars' view, unfounded.

Claudius, Lupercus and Victorius (fallen asleep about 300) are held, according to tradition, to be the sons of Marcellus and martyrs at León, in the time of Diocletian. Their kinship with him is probably apocryphal, though breviaries, lives of the saints and the Roman Martyrology accepted it, placing all four on 30 October; it is nevertheless possible that they were soldiers of Spanish origin killed at León, as tradition says. Many churches in Spain bear their names, among them the ancient Benedictine abbey of San Claudio in Galicia, and the town of San Claudio, near Oviedo, takes its name from them. Their relics were moved several times; King Ferdinand I of Castile brought some to the church of San Isidoro in León, and in 1173 they were translated to a new church dedicated to the three martyrs, destroyed in 1834, after which they were taken to the church of San Marcelo. Their feast is kept in Spain and Portugal on 30 October.