Quirinus of Rome

Holy Martyr Quirinus of Rome was one of four martyrs, Pope Marcellinus of Rome and Claudius, Quirinus and Antoninus, condemned to death in the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian (284-305), who died in the year 304. The Azbyka page tells their story together, without saying more of Quirinus.

Marcellinus was pope of Rome at the height of the persecution, when in a single month seventeen thousand people were put to torture. Seized himself, and frightened by the torments, he burned incense and offered sacrifice to idols. The emperor called him a friend and clothed him in costly garments. Tormented by his conscience, Marcellinus wept bitterly that, having urged many to accept suffering for Christ, he had himself set his flock an example of faintheartedness.

At that time a council of one hundred and eighty bishops and presbyters was meeting in the city of Sinuessa in Campania. Pope Marcellinus came before the council in sackcloth, with ashes on his head, and asked to be judged for his denial. The fathers of the council told him to judge himself by his own mouth: the sin had come from his mouth, and the sentence should be pronounced by the same mouth. They reminded him that Saint Peter too denied Christ out of fear, but bitterly wept over his sin and again received the Lord's favour. Marcellinus pronounced his own sentence: he held himself deprived of the holy rank of which he was unworthy, and asked that after death his body not be buried but be thrown to the dogs, and that whoever dared to bury it be accursed.

Returning to Rome, Marcellinus went to the emperor, threw at his feet the costly robe he had received from him and said that he bitterly repented of denying Christ. The emperor, enraged, ordered him tortured and sentenced him to death. After an earnest prayer to the Lord Jesus Christ, who mercifully receives repentant sinners, the martyr willingly bowed his head beneath the sword. With him the holy martyrs Claudius, Quirinus and Antoninus were beheaded († 304).

The body of Saint Marcellinus lay beside the road for thirty-⁠six days. The holy Apostle Peter appeared to the newly installed pope, Marcellus, and asked why he still did not bury the body of Marcellinus. Marcellus answered that he feared the curse, and the apostle said to him, "Do you not remember what is written: he who humbles himself will be exalted? Go and bury him with honour". Obeying the apostle's command, Saint Marcellus laid the body of Saint Marcellinus in the tomb made for the martyrs by the noble Roman woman Priscilla, beside a road of Rome.

Saint Quirinus is commemorated on 20 June, in the new style. The life of Pope Marcellinus is also found in the Lives of the Saints by Saint Dimitry of Rostov.