mercredi 26 avril 2023

Saint MARCELLIN, Pape et martyr

Martirio di san Papa Marcellinomanoscritto francese, tratto dalla Legenda Aurea di Jacopo da Varazze.


Saint Marcellin

Pape (29 ème) de 296 à 304 et martyr (+ 304)

Son pontificat commença dans une ère de paix pour s'achever dans la persécution de Dioclétien qui fit détruire les églises déjà ouvertes et brûler les Livres Saints. Les fidèles étaient privés de leurs charges. Selon les régions, la persécution fut plus ou moins violente. La bibliothèque de l'Église romaine fut détruite et les supplices commencèrent envers les chrétiens qui refusaient de sacrifier aux dieux. Une tradition veut même que saint Marcellin aurait cédé à un moment donné, mais l'évêque de Rome se reprit et mourut martyr par fidélité à sa foi en Jésus-Christ.

Sur la nouvelle voie Salarienne, au cimetière de Priscille, saint Marcellin, pape, qui subit le martyre en 304, au temps où la persécution de Dioclétien fut si grande que le siège de Rome demeura vacant pendant quatre ans.

Martyrologe romain

SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1039/Saint-Marcellin.html

Saint Marcellin, Romain d’origine, gouverna l’Église pendant huit ans, de 295 à 304. À cette époque, la persécution de Dioclétien contre les Chrétiens fut si acharnée, qu’en un mois, dix-sept mille Chrétiens de tout sexe et de tout âge furent immolés en diverses provinces.

Un grand nombre de Chrétiens se laissèrent gagner par les menaces ou les promesses ; un pape, même eut la faiblesse de se laisser circonvenir, mais il répara ensuite sa faute en s’offrant lui-même au martyre : ce fut saint Marcellin.

Urbain, le pontife païen du Capitole, vint le trouver. La discussion s’engagea entre eux sur la question de savoir si c’était un grand crime de brûler de l’encens en l’honneur des dieux :

« —Votre Christ, dit le païen, ne reçut-Il point à Son berceau l’encens des mages ? Brûler de l’encens aux dieux est donc, même d’après vous, un hommage légitime.

« —Les mages, dit saint Marcellin, n’offraient point l’encens à une idole vaine, mais au vrai Dieu.

« —Voulez-vous, reprit Urbain, venir un de ces jours au palais de l’empereur ? En sa présence je répondrai à vos objections sur ce point. »

Saint Marcellin y consentit, et le jour venu, prenant la parole devant Dioclétien, il lui dit :

« —Pourquoi semer l’univers de deuil et de carnage, et cela pour un culte faux et superstitieux comme celui de vos idoles ? Pourquoi forcer les Chrétiens, sous peine de mort, à brûler de l’encens devant des statues muettes ? »

Dioclétien espérant, par une feinte douceur, gagner l’esprit de saint Marcellin, et, par lui, obtenir la soumission de tous les Chrétiens de Rome, lui dit :

« —Je reconnais, Marcellin, ta sagesse et ta prudence ; tu es peut-être destiné à changer en amitié fidèle la haine que je portais jusqu’ici au nom chrétien. Viens, et que tout le monde soit témoin de notre réconciliation. »

L’empereur se fit suivre alors du souverain pontife au temple de Vesta ; mais les trois prêtres et les deux diacres qui accompagnaient saint Marcellin refusèrent d’entrer et coururent raconter au clergé romain le triste événement qui menaçait de se produire. Une foule de Chrétiens, accourue au temple pour voir ce qui se passait, vit saint Marcellin, trompé par les fausses paroles de Dioclétien, jeter de l’encens sur le trépied de la déesse et recevoir les félicitations de l’empereur. Mais cette faiblesse lui coûta bien des larmes.

Une fois libre, rentrant en lui-même, nouveau Pierre, après avoir trahi son Maître, il résolut d’expier grandement sa faute. Il parut, couvert d’un cilice, au concile de Sinuesse (en Campanie), et reconnut que, sans avoir sacrifié aux dieux, il avait laissé tomber quelques grains d’encens sur le trépied :

« —J’ai péché devant Dieu et devant vous » s’écria-t-il en présence des évêques, et il signa lui-même sa condamnation. Mais on vit, peu de jours après, saint Marcellin reparaître devant l’empereur et lui reprocher sa perfidie. Pour toute réponse l’empereur le fit décapiter.

C’était en l’an 304, Dioclétien, Galère, Maximien et Constance Chlore étant empereurs (régnant en tétrarchie).

SOURCE : http://www.cassicia.com/FR/La-vie-de-saint-Marcellin-pape-decapite-sur-l-ordre-de-Diocletien-Fete-le-26-avril-No_524.htm

Saint Marcellin (296-304)

Né à Rome. Sous son pontificat les persécutions de Dioclétien furent les plus sanglantes.

Ce fut aussi sous son pontificat que l’évêque de Rome commença de s’appeler « Pape » (père).

Il fut martyrisé le jour de Noël de l’an 304.

SOURCE : http://eglise.de.dieu.free.fr/liste_des_papes_02.htm


Marcellinus. Marcellino, santo e papa in L. Tripepi, Ritratti e biografie dei romani pontefici: da S. Pietro a Leone 13, Roma, Vaglimigli Davide, 1879. Cromolitografia, 26 x 17,7. Oleografia Panigati e Meneghini Milano. Biblioteca comunale di Trento


SAINT MARCELLIN, PAPE *

Marcellin gouverna l’Eglise romaine neuf ans et quatre mois. II fut pris par l’ordre de Dioclétien et de Maximien et conduit pour sacrifier. Comme il n'y voulait pas consentir et qu'alors il avait à s'attendre de souffrir divers supplices, cédant à la peur du tourment, il mit deux grains d'encens dans le sacrifice (Anastase le Bibl., Vit. Pont., XXX; — Bréviaire romain ; — Epître du pape Nicolas Ier à Michel, empereur de C. P.). La joie des infidèles fut grande, mais une tristesse immense s'empara des fidèles. Toutefois les membres sains reprennent de la vigueur sous un chef affaibli et comptent pour rien les menaces des princes: Alors les fidèles viennent trouver le souverain Pontife et lui; adressent de graves reproches. Marcellin voyant celasse soumit au jugement d'un concile des évêques (A Sessa en Campanie, ou Sinuesse). A Dieu ne plaise, dirent-ils, qu'un souverain pontife soit jugé par personne; mais vous-même, instruisez votre cause dans votre conscience, et jugez-vous de votre propre bouche (Ciaconius, Notes sur Anastase, Vie de saint Marcellin). » Alors il se repentit beaucoup, pleura et se déposa lui-même; cependant, toute la foule le réélut encore. Les Césars, qui apprirent cela, firent saisir Marcellin une seconde fois, et comme il ne voulait absolument pas sacrifier, ils commandèrent de le décapiter. La fureur des ennemis se ralluma, en sorte que dans l’espace d'un mois, dix-sept mille chrétiens furent mis à mort. Pour Marcellin qui devait être décapité, il s'avoua indigne de la sépulture chrétienne ; en conséquence il excommunia tous ceux qui auraient la présomption de l’ensevelir. C'est pourquoi son corps resta 35 jours sans sépulture. Après ce temps, saint Pierre, apôtre, apparut à Marcel, son successeur (Idem, ibid.), et lui dit : « Frère Marcel, pourquoi ne m’ensevelis-tu pas? » Seigneur, lui répondit Marcel, n'êtes-vous pas déjà enseveli? » L'apôtre lui dit : « Je me répute non enseveli, tant que je verrai Marcellin sans sépulture. » « Mais, Seigneur, lui répartit Marcel, est-ce que vous ne savez pas qu'il a anathématisé tous ceux qui l’enseveliraient ? » Pierre dit : « N'est-il pas écrit : celui qui s'humilie sera élevé? C'est à cela qu'il fallait faire. attention; allez donc l’ensevelir à mes pieds. » Il y alla aussitôt et accomplit honorablement les ordres de saint Pierre.

* « Voici l’interpretatiô du nom, sait Marcellin, qui ne se trouve pas dans le texte latin :

« Marcellin vault autant adire côme amaigrissant : car il amaigrit le fust dur de sa charnelete ou vault autât adire côe amaigri par paour du fust du tirât. »

La Légende dorée de Jacques de Voragine nouvellement traduite en français avec introduction, notices, notes et recherches sur les sources par l'abbé J.-B. M. Roze, chanoine honoraire de la Cathédrale d'Amiens, Édouard Rouveyre, éditeur, 76, rue de Seine, 76, Paris mdcccci

SOURCE : http://www.abbaye-saint-benoit.ch/voragine/tome01/062.htm


Calcografia in Giovan Battista Cavalieri  (1525–1601), Pontificum Romanorum effigies, Roma, Basa Domenico\Zanetti Francesco, 1580, Copper engraving, 11,5 x8,1, Biblioteca comunale di Trento


Le cas du pape Marcellin.

vendredi 21 janvier 2011, par Abbé Philippe Laguérie

Le pape Saint Marcellin gouverna l’Eglise de 296 (22 décembre 295) à 304, en quelle date il fut décapité sur l’ordre de Dioclétien. Son nom prestigieux est inscrit au canon de la messe romaine.

Son histoire mérite d’être méditée, surtout en ces temps d’agitation. Elle démontre qu’un homme a pu faire de graves fautes et terminer sa vie en héros et en saint. La vie d’un homme n’est pas toujours une ligne droite, un glaive rectiligne. L’Evangile s’évertue à nous enseigner le contraire par tous les moyens (Marie-Madeleine, le bon larron etc.) en positif comme en négatif. Un pieux chrétien peut aussi finir dans la débauche, comme les deux réformateurs des franciscains (Branche des capucins) qui défroquèrent tous les deux…

Bien des histoires attestent cette vérité évangélique. L’homme est libre : il peut s’améliorer jusqu’à l’héroïsme et déchoir jusqu’à la nausée, selon l’adage « corruptio optimi pessima ». Voyez le grand Salomon.

En des temps plus récents, on en rapporte de tout aussi spectaculaires. Je raconte souvent, au catéchisme, l’histoire de saint Jacques l’ermite, passeur à gué du VIème siècle en Palestine et pieux anachorète à ses temps libres. Un jour se présente à lui, pour passer la rivière, une très belle jeune fille. Sur l’autre rive, envouté et fou, Jacques la viole puis, horrifié par son premier forfait, l’assassine, ainsi que son frère, témoin gênant. Le pieux Martyrologe Romain se contente de dire pudiquement « après une très grave faute ». Ce violeur doublé d’un assassin est canonisé par l’Eglise. Il est vrai qu’il fit rude pénitence : il passa le reste de sa vie dans le sépulcre qu’il s’était déjà aménagé, non sans faire de brillants miracles. Avis aux scrupuleux ou aux déprimés.

Tout aussi spectaculaire, quoique dans le domaine doctrinal (moins croustillant, je vous le concède) est le cas de saint Thomas-More. Le célèbre Chancelier du Royaume d’Angleterre sous le débauché Henri VIII mourut martyr, décapité par son roi schismatique, pour sa fidélité à l’Eglise Catholique. Mais pour ceux qui ont lu son maître-ouvrage, la célèbre « Utopie » (qui porte si bien son nom !) on croit rêver les yeux ouverts. Cette société sans foi ni loi, peace and love, New-Age avancé, véritable abbaye de Thélème plus audacieuse que celle de François Rabelais, démocratie plus lunaire que celle de Rousseau. Bref, un délire soixante-huitard au 16ème siècle ! Lui aussi est canonisé et pas seulement béatifié. La fin d’un homme ne blanchit pas ses turpitudes, certes, mais elle les rachète dans la fidélité jusqu’à l’héroïsme.

Marcellin, pape, « apostat » et martyre. Sans doute les sources historiques principales de son funeste écart sont celles des donatistes. On le comprend aisément : les catholiques de l’époque avaient peine à rapporter le parcours chaotique du Pontife, avant son brillant retour. Tandis que les « Golias » de l’époque s’en donnaient à cœur-joie. A toutes les époques, les hommes sont les hommes… Sa présence depuis 17 siècles au canon de la messe suffit largement.

Son pontificat lui-même est très peu connu par la raison que la plus terrible persécution contre les chrétiens, la dernière et la plus cruelle, celle de Dioclétien, fait rage sur l’Eglise. Rien qu’en Italie, 17 000 chrétiens ont déjà été immolés à la fureur du culte des idoles. Le pape se terre, persuadé qu’à ce compte l’Eglise Romaine va bientôt disparaître. Mathématiquement, il n’a pas tort. Sur les ordres de Dioclétien, le préfet Urbain parvient néanmoins à s’emparer du chef des « athées » (Ainsi appelait-on les chrétiens, qui refusaient le culte des idoles de l’empire). Par ses flagorneries, ses menaces, mais surtout en lui suggérant les avantages considérables pour la préservation du troupeau et la fin des ravages, le préfet finit par convaincre le pape d’offrir trois petits grains d’encens aux dieux de l’empire. Quand le monde parle à l’Eglise, elle doit se méfier. Il l’emmène au temple de Vesta et le pontife y jette furtivement l’encens de la honte…Prêtres et diacres qui l’accompagnent refusent d’entrer avec lui dans le temple, en sortent pétrifiés. La persécution cesse, le massacre est stoppé. Mais à quel prix, surtout pour le pauvre Marcellin, qui n’en dort plus. Ce sont d’abord les fidèles qui viennent trouver le Pontife affaibli, les clercs n’osant pas. Leurs reproches sont pleins de respect pour l’oint du Seigneur. Ils parviennent cependant à le faire rentrer en lui-même. Le pape accepte de se rendre au concile de Sinuesse en Campanie où nombre d’évêques italiens l’attendent en tremblant, eux aussi. Ils lui expliquent qu’ils ne peuvent en aucun cas le juger, qu’il doit être son propre juge et prononcer la sentence de sa propre bouche. Quel singulier procès.

Le pape, alors, revenu à lui-même, n’y va pas par quatre chemins : il ne démissionne pas, il se dépose lui-même. Mais la foule l’acclame et les évêques le proclament pape. Le pape revient à Rome, confesse face à Urbain qu’il n’y a qu’un seul Dieu, le Père de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ. La persécution reprend de plus bel, nouvelle hécatombe de chrétiens en laquelle le pape lui-même trouve le salut éternel et la palme du martyre.

Dans le bref temps qui le sépare de son triomphe, le pape se déclare indigne de la sépulture, excommunie à l’avance ceux qui auraient la présomption de l’ensevelir ! Son successeur, le saint pape Marcel, n’ose enfreindre les ordres du pontife défunt. Cependant, 35 jours après le martyre, saint Pierre devra lui apparaître :

« Frère Marcel, pourquoi ne m’ensevelis-tu pas ? ».

« Mais, Seigneur, n’êtes-vous pas déjà enseveli ? ».

« Je me considère non enseveli tant que je verrai Marcellin sans sépulture ».

« Mais Seigneur, ne savez-vous pas qu’il a anathématisé tous ceux qui l’enseveliraient ? ».

« N’est-il pas écrit : celui qui s’humilie sera élevé ? Allez donc l’ensevelir à mes pieds ! ».

Autres temps, autres mœurs. Ces gens-là appelaient les choses par leur nom. Le sanguinaire coran n’existait pas encore mais bruler trois grains d’encens aux faux dieux leur était odieux. Dans le mal, ils se raidissaient, dans la souffrance, ils offraient. Dans le péché, ils se taisaient, dans la conversion, ils tressaillaient. Dans l’obscurité, ils éclairaient, dans la lumière ils pardonnaient.

SOURCE : http://blog.institutdubonpasteur.org/spip.php?article164

Sts Clet et Marcellin, papes et martyrs

Le Liber Pontificalis indique le 26 avril comme jour martyr de Clet, il est repris en cela par les martyrologes du IXe siècle. Malgré son inscription au Canon de la Messe, sa fête n’eut pas de grande diffusion avant son inscription dans les calendriers des basiliques romaines au XIIe siècle.

Le même jour, au Latran, on célébrait la mémoire de saint Marcellin. Le Liber Pontificalis indique aussi le 26 avril comme jour de sa déposition. Comme pour saint Clet, la réception de la fête fut tardive.

Le catalogue libérien contenu dans le Chronographe de 354 dédouble Clet et Anaclet (le 6 ou 13 juillet), chacun comme pape et martyr. C’est l’usage qui prévalut jusqu’en 1960 où Jean XXIII supprima la fête de juillet consacrée à Saint Anaclet.

Leçons des Matines avant 1960

Quatrième leçon. Clet, fils d’Émilien, était de Rome, de la cinquième région et du quartier de Patricius. Il gouverna l’Église sous les empereurs Vespasien et Titus. Conformément au précepte du prince des Apôtres, il ordonna vingt-cinq Prêtres pour la ville de Rome. Il est le premier qui, dans ses lettres, se servit de ces mots : Salut et bénédiction apostolique. Il fit d’excellentes organisations dans l’Église, et l’ayant administrée douze ans, sept mois et deux jours, il reçut la couronne du martyre sous l’empereur Domitien, dans la persécution qui est la seconde après celle de Néron ; il fut enseveli au Vatican, près du corps du bienheureux Pierre.

Cinquième leçon. Marcellin était romain, et gouverna l’Église, de l’an deux cent quatre-vingt-seize à l’an trois cent quatre, pendant la terrible persécution de l’empereur Dioclétien. Il eut à souffrir de nombreuses vexations, par suite de l’injuste sévérité de ceux qui lui reprochaient sa grande indulgence envers les fidèles tombés dans l’idolâtrie, et c’est à cause de cela qu’il fut calomnieusement diffamé, comme ayant offert de l’encens aux idoles. Ce bienheureux Pontife subit la peine capitale pour la confession de la foi avec trois autres Chrétiens : Claudius, Cyrinus et Antoninus. Leurs corps, laissés sans sépulture, devaient en être privés durant trente-six jours, par ordre de l’empereur ; mais le bienheureux Marcel, averti en songe par saint Pierre, prit soin de les inhumer honorablement dans le cimetière de Priscille, sur la voie Salaria ; il était accompagné de Prêtres et de Diacres qui portaient des flambeaux et chantaient des hymnes. Saint Marcellin avait gouverné l’Église pendant sept ans, onze mois et vingt-trois jours, et pendant ce temps, i ! fit au mois de décembre deux ordinations, dans lesquelles il ordonna quatre Prêtres et sacra cinq Évêques pour divers lieux.

Dom Guéranger, l’Année Liturgique

Deux astres jumeaux se lèvent aujourd’hui sur le Cycle, à la gloire de Jésus vainqueur de la mort. Pour la seconde fois, ce sont deux Pontifes, et deux Pontifes martyrs. Clet, disciple de Pierre, et son successeur presque immédiat sur la chaire romaine, nous reporte à l’origine de l’Église ; Marcellin a vu les jours de la grande persécution de Dioclétien, à la veille du triomphe de la Croix. Inclinons-nous devant ces deux pères de la chrétienté qui l’ont nourrie de leur sang, et présentons leurs mérites à Jésus qui les a soutenus par sa grâce, et leur a donné la confiance qu’un jour ils auraient part à sa résurrection.

On trouve dans le récit de la vie de saint Marcellin un fait qui a été rejeté comme une fable par de savants critiques, et défendu par d’autres non moins érudits. Il est rapporté que le saint Pape fléchit un moment devant les persécuteurs, et qu’il eut la faiblesse d’offrir de l’encens aux idoles. Plus tard, il aurait réparé sa faute dans une nouvelle et courageuse confession qui lui assura la couronne du martyre. Notre plan ne comporte pas les discussions critiques ; nous ne chercherons donc pas à éclaircir ce point d’histoire ; il nous suffit que tout le monde soit d’accord sur le martyre du saint Pape. A l’époque où furent rédigées les Légendes du Bréviaire, on ne doutait pas de la chute de Marcellin, et elle ne fut point omise au récit de la vie du Pontife ; dans la suite, ce fait a été attaqué par des arguments qui ne manquent pas de force ; l’Église cependant n’a jugé que très tard à propos de modifier la rédaction première, et avec d’autant plus de raison que les faits de cette nature n’intéressent en rien la foi. Il n’est pas besoin, sans doute, d’avertir le lecteur que la chute de Marcellin, si elle a eu lieu, ne compromet en rien l’infaillibilité du Pontife romain. Le Pape ne peut enseigner l’erreur quand il s’adresse à l’Église ; mais il n’est pas impeccable dans sa conduite personnelle.

Priez pour nous, saints Pontifes, et jetez un regard paternel sur l’Église de la terre qui fut si agitée en vos temps, et qui est si loin de jouir du calme en ceux où nous vivons. Le culte des idoles a reparu, et si elles ne sont pas aujourd’hui de pierre ou de métal, la violence de ceux qui les adorent n’est pas moindre que celle dont étaient animés les païens des premiers siècles. Les dieux et les déesses devant lesquels on veut voir le monde entier se prosterner, on les appelle Liberté, Progrès, Civilisation moderne. Pour établir le culte de ces nouvelles divinités, on décrète la persécution contre ceux qui refusent de les adorer, on renverse la constitution chrétienne des États, on altère les principes de l’éducation de l’enfance, on rompt l’équilibre des éléments sociaux, et un grand nombre de fidèles sont entraînés par l’attrait de ces nouveautés funestes. Préservez-nous de cette séduction, bienheureux martyrs ! Ce n’est pas en vainque Jésus a souffert ici-bas et qu’il est ressuscité d’entre les morts. Sa royauté était à ce prix ; mais nul n’échappe à son sceptre souverain. C’est afin de lui obéir que nous ne voulons d’autre Liberté que celle qu’il a fondée par son Évangile, d’autre Progrès que celui qui s’accomplit dans la voie qu’il a tracée, d’autre Civilisation que celle qui résulte de l’accomplissement des devoirs qu’il a établis entre les hommes. C’est lui qui a créé l’humanité, qui en a posé les lois et les conditions ; c’est lui qui l’a rachetée et rétablie sur ses bases. Devant lui seul nous fléchissons le genou ; ne permettez pas, bienheureux martyrs, que jamais nous ayons le malheur de nous abaisser devant les rêves de l’orgueil humain, quand bien même ceux qui les exploitent auraient la force matérielle à leur service.

Bhx Cardinal Schuster, Liber Sacramentorum

Au témoignage de saint Irénée, Clet ne ferait qu’un avec Anaclet qui gouverna l’Église après Lin et avant Clément. De sa vie nous ne savons rien, sauf ce que nous dit la notice du Liber Pontificalis : qu’il embellit les tombes des Princes des Apôtres, et qu’il fut enseveli au Vatican. Le fait que Clet fut élevé au suprême pontificat alors que des disciples immédiats de Pierre et de Paul vivaient encore, témoigne de ses grands mérites, prophétisés par son nom même.

Plus obscure est l’histoire du pape Marcellin, sur le compte duquel coururent dès l’antiquité les plus bizarres légendes. Selon quelques écrits apocryphes de l’époque des contestations qui suivirent l’élection du pape Symmaque, il aurait d’abord offert de l’encens aux idoles, puis aurait expié comme Pierre cette apostasie, en affrontant spontanément le martyre.

Dans la liste des depositiones episcoporum son nom, il est vrai, est omis, mais cette absence, qu’il ne faut pas se hâter d’expliquer par une damnatio memoriae, peut simplement être attribuée au copiste du laterculum philocalien. En effet, le pape Marcellin non seulement eut une honorable sépulture au cimetière de Priscille près du martyr Crescention, mais sa tombe était pieusement visitée par les pèlerins, si bien qu’il a le titre de Saint dans le livre De cotis Sanctorum Martyrum. Les mêmes apocryphes qui lui attribuent le martyre attestent indirectement la vénération dont au Ve siècle le pape Marcellin était l’objet à Rome, car, dans l’intérêt de la cause du pape Symmaque, ils cherchent à l’exploiter, en proposant le pontife Marcellin comme un premier exemple de la chute d’un pape et de sa réhabilitation postérieure. Une certaine obscurité sur le compte de Marcellin demeure toujours, mais l’antiquité de son culte est bien démontrée par les itinéraires des Catacombes.

Une congrégation religieuse née sous Célestin III vers 1197 et désormais éteinte depuis plusieurs siècles, se vantait d’avoir été instituée par saint Clet ; ses membres portaient une croix à la main à titre d’insigne. A Rome, ils habitaient près de l’église de Sainte-Marie in Xenodochio ou in Trivio où, jusqu’au siècle dernier, était un autel dédié à saint Clet. Aujourd’hui encore, la place voisine s’appelle dei Crociferi.

Le nom de Clet fait partie de la liste primitive des diptyques épiscopaux romains qu’on récite toujours durant la prière de la grande intercession (Communicantes). Sa fête n’apparaît en ce jour que dans le Calendrier de la basilique vaticane du XIIe siècle ; Marcellin le suit, mais n’entre qu’un siècle plus tard environ dans le Bréviaire de la Curie papale.

La tombe primitive de Marcellin a été retrouvée dans le cimetière de Priscille in cubiculo claro, selon l’expression du Liber Pontificalis, près de celle du martyr Crescention. La crypte est ornée de peintures, parmi lesquelles on voit la scène, très rarement représentée, des trois enfants de Babylone refusant d’adorer la statue d’or de Nabuchodonosor. Les pèlerins y ont tracé de nombreux graffiti.

Marcellin est mentionné aussi dans une inscription gravée sur la balustrade (transenna) de marbre d’une crypte du cimetière de Callixte. Il s’agit d’un cubiculum duplex cum arcisoliis et luminare iussu papae sui Marcellini diaconus iste Severus fecit mansionem in pace quietam sibi suisque.

La messe est celle du Commun des Martyrs au temps pascal : Sancti tui.

La secrète est la suivante : « Accueillez, ô Dieu, les prières que nous vous adressons à l’occasion de la fête de vos saints ; et puisque nous ne pouvons avoir aucune confiance en nos mérites, que nous assistent au moins ceux des saints qui vous furent agréables. ». Pour plaire à Dieu, la prière doit être humble, comme celle du pauvre publicain dans le temple. A l’inverse du pharisien orgueilleux qui mettait toute confiance dans ses mérites et méprisait son prochain, l’humilité chrétienne ne connaît qu’un mépris : celui de soi-même. Elle ne voit chez les autres que les dons de Dieu, et invoque les immenses mérites de la Communion des Saints pour suppléer à ses propres insuffisances spirituelles.

Dieu garde et venge jalousement la réputation de ses serviteurs, conformément à ce qui est écrit au sujet de Joseph : Sapientia... mendaces ostendit qui maculaverunt illum. Ainsi des personnes intéressées ont pu émettre les plus étranges jugements sur le compte de Marcellin ; cependant sa tombe, au cimetière de Priscille, est en vénération de toute antiquité, et l’Église, qui est certainement assistée par le Saint-Esprit, se recommande aujourd’hui à ses pieuses prières en le proposant à la vénération des fidèles.

Dom Pius Parsch, le Guide dans l’année liturgique

L’Église nous crie : « Filles de Jérusalem, venez et voyez les martyrs avec leurs couronnes ; le Seigneur les en a couronnés dans un jour de solennité et de joie, Alléluia, Alléluia. »

Saint Clet — Clet, d’après saint Irénée, est le même que saint Anaclet qui fut pape entre saint Lin et saint Clément (78-90). Il connut encore des disciples de saint Pierre et de saint Paul. Nous savons à son sujet qu’il orna les tombeaux des princes des Apôtres. Il aurait été le premier à se servir dans ses lettres de ces mots : Salut et bénédiction Apostolique. Il reçut la couronne du martyre sous l’empereur Domitien et fut enterré au Vatican près de saint Pierre.

Saint Marcellin gouverna l’Église (260-304) pendant la persécution de Dioclétien. Avec une sage prévoyance, il fit construire dans les catacombes de vastes chambres qui servirent pour la célébration du culte pendant les persécutions. Une de ces chambres dans le cimetière de saint Callixte a été conservée en souvenir du saint pape. On affirmait autrefois (sans doute à tort) que ce pape, au temps de la persécution, avait brûlé de l’encens devant les idoles, mais qu’il avait racheté cette faiblesse par un glorieux martyre. Son tombeau se trouvait dans la catacombe de Priscille où il était très honoré.

Pratique : Saint Marcellin fit construire de vastes chambres pour la célébration du culte liturgique, des salles cachées et souterraines. Cela nous fait penser aux églises provisoires des missions. Transportons-nous par la pensée au milieu de la communauté liturgique dans ces églises de fortune.

La messe (Si diligis). — Messe du commun des Souverains Pontifes, avec les oraisons au pluriel.

SOURCE : http://www.introibo.fr/26-04-Sts-Clet-et-Marcellin-papes


Pope Saint Marcellinus

Also known as

Marcellino

Memorial

26 April (Western calendar)

7 June (Eastern calendar)

Profile

Chosen 29th pope. Enlarged the catacombs. Reigned at the start of the persecution of Diocletian, and was himself martyred. Legend says that he apostatized, made sacrifice to pagan gods, then repented, and was beheaded, but this story has been discredited.

Born

at RomeItaly

Papal Ascension

30 June 296

Died

25 October 304 at RomeItaly

interred in the Priscillian catacomb on the Via Salaria

Canonized

Pre-Congregation

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MLA Citation

“Pope Saint Marcellinus“. CatholicSaints.Info. 2 August 2022. Web. 26 April 2023. <https://catholicsaints.info/pope-saint-marcellinus/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/pope-saint-marcellinus/

MARCELLINUS, POPE, ST.

Pontificate: June 30, 296 to Oct. 25, 304. The Libe pontificalis calls Marcellinus a Roman, the son of Projectus, and places his pontificate during the persecution of Diocletian. It repeats the story, circulated later by the Donatists (see donatism), that the pope, when apprehended and ordered to sacrifice to the gods, complied and handed over the sacred books to the persecuting authorities. Torn with remorse, the pope is said to have repented and sought martyrdom several days later. His body was buried by the priest Marcellus in the private cemetery of Priscilla on the Via Salaria.

The accusations of apostasy brought against Marcellinus and other Catholic bishops, including the future popes Miltiades, Marcellus, and Silvester, are acknowledged and rejected by St. Augustine (Contra Litteram Petil. 2.92.202; De unico baptismo 16; Brev. coll. 3.18) and repeated in the Acts (c. 500) of the alleged Council of Sinuessa, which lays great stress on the pope's repentance and martyrdom. Eusebius states that the pope "was overcome by the persecution" and locates his grave in the cemetery of Priscilla (Ecclesiastical History. 7.32); but Pope damasus i ignored him when he composed the epitaphs of past Roman bishops, and neither the martyrology of st. jerome nor the Gelasian Sacramentary mentions Marcellinus.

The Eastern bishop Theodoret of Cyrus records that Marcellinus bore a distinguished role in the persecution (Ecclesiastical History. 1.2), however, scholars consider the Western evidence decisive and believe that somehow Marcellinus compromised himself during the persecution, although they also take his repentance seriously. The Depositio episcoporum names a "Marcellinus," but it is evident from the dates given that Pope marcellus i, not Marcellinus, was meant. A late fifth–century passio and the seventh–century itineraria credit him with martyrdom and witness to the veneration of his tomb. While the Annuario Pontificio (2001) lists the dates of Marcellinus as June 30, 296, to Oct. 25, 304, historians hesitate to distinguish him from his successor Marcellus.

Feast: April 26.

Bibliography: A. Stuiber, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. J. Hofer and K. Rahner (Freiberg 1957–65) 7:1. É. Amann, Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, ed. A. Vacant et al. (Paris 1903–50) 9.2:1999–2001. Liber pontificalis, ed. L. Duchesne (Paris 1886–92, 1958) 1: LXXIII–LXXV, 32–36, 72–73, 162–163. E. H. Röttges, Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie (Vienna 1877–) 78 (1956) 385–420. E. Ferguson, Encyclopedia of Early Christianity (New York 1997) 2:713. J. N. D. Kelly, Oxford Dictionary of Popes (New York 1986) 24–25.

[E G. Weltin]

New Catholic Encyclopedia

SOURCE : https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/marcellinus-pope-st

Marcellinus, Pope M (RM)

Born in Rome; died there on October 25, 304, his second feast day. Marcellinus was the son of Projectus. After his election to succeed Pope Saint Caius on June 30, 296, he witnessed the beginnings of Emperor Diocletian's persecution of Christians. According to an ancient legend that may have been Donatist-inspired and which was included in the Roman Breviary until 1883 (since discredited), Marcellinus seems to have apostatized and surrendered the sacred books and offered incense to pagan gods but later repented. He may have died a martyr's death by beheading, but this is still very uncertain; the Liberian calendar places him among those popes who were not put to death for the faith (Benedictines, Delaney, Husenbeth). 

SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0426.shtml

April 26

SS. Cletus and Marcellinus, Popes and Martyrs


ST. CLETUS was the third bishop of Rome, and succeeded St. Linus, which circumstance alone shows his eminent virtue among the first disciples of St. Peter in the West. He sat twelve years, from 76 to 89. The canon of the Roman mass, (which Bossuet 1 and all others agree to be of primitive antiquity,) Bede, and other Martyrologists, style him a martyr. He was buried near St. Linus, on the Vatican, and his relics still remain in that church. 2

St. Marcellinus succeeded St. Caius in the bishopric of Rome, in 296, about the time that Dioclesian set himself up for a deity, and impiously claimed divine honours. Theodoret says, 3 that in those stormy times of persecution, Marcellinus acquired great glory. He sat in St. Peter’s chair eight years, three months, and twenty-five days, dying in 304, a year after the cruel persecution broke out, in which he gained much honour. He has been styled a martyr, though his blood was not shed in the cause of religion, as appears from the Liberian Calendar, which places him among those popes that were not put to death for the faith. 4

It is a fundamental maxim of the Christian morality, and a truth which Christ has established in the clearest terms, and in innumerable passages of the gospel, 5 that the cross, or sufferings and mortification, are the road to eternal bliss. They, therefore, who lead not here a crucified and mortified life, are unworthy ever to possess the unspeakable joys of his kingdom. Our Lord himself, our model and our head, walked in this path, and his great apostle puts us in mind 6 that he entered into bliss only by his blood and by the cross. Nevertheless, this is a truth which the world can never understand, how clearly soever it be preached by Christ, and recommended by his powerful example, and that of his martyrs and of all the saints. Christians still pretend, by the joys and pleasures of this world, to attain to the bliss of heaven, and shudder at the very mention of mortification, penance, or sufferings. So prevalent is this fatal error, which self-love and the example and false maxims of the world strongly fortify in the minds of many, that those who have given themselves to God with the greatest fervour, are bound always to stand upon their guard against it, and daily to renew their fervour in the love and practice of penance, and to arm themselves with patience against sufferings, lest the weight of the corruption of our nature, the pleasures of sense, and flattering blandishments of the world, draw them aside, and make them leave the path of mortification, or lose courage under its labours, and under the afflictions with which God is pleased to purify them, and afford them means of sanctifying themselves.

Note 1. Espos. de la Messe. [back]

Note 2. Certain French critics think Cletus and Anacletus to have been one and the same person; but Orsi (t. 1, l. 2, n. 29, p. 282,) shows them to have been distinct popes. Eusebius, indeed, confounds them, as he did Novatus and Novatian, and the popes Marcellus and Marcellinus; mistakes to which, from the likeness of names, the Greeks were the most liable, as they wrote at so great a distance. But the Latins who had authentic records by them, could not be mistaken; especially the author of the first part of the Liberian Calendar, which appears, in most particulars, to be copied from the public registers of the Roman church: which authorities make it appear that Cletus sat the third, and Anacletus the fifth bishop of Rome. The church sometimes honours the same saint on several days; but the most authentic monuments distinguish these saints. On St. Cletus, and that he is not the same person with St. Anacletus, called by some Anencletus, see A. Sandini, in Dissert. 4, ad Hist. Pontif. Berti. Chron. Hist. Eccl. primi. sæc. t. 1, Orsi, &c. Some modern pontificals tell us that he divided the city of Rome into twenty-five parishes, and first built St. Peter’s church. The faithful celebrated the divine mysteries in the catacombs, or vault, where the remains of the apostles were deposited, and over their tomb St. Cletus might add some embellishments, or enlarge this sacred place. See Bianchini, Notes on Anastasius’s Pontifical, t. 2, p. 61. [back]

Note 3. Theodoret, b. 2, c. 2. [back]

Note 4. Petilian, the Donatist bishop, objected to the Catholics, that Marcellinus had sacrificed to idols, and had delivered up the holy scriptures to the persecutors; also that his priests, Melchiades, Marcellus, and Sylvester, were guilty of the same apostacy; but St. Austin entirely denied the charge, (l. de unico bapt. contra Petilian. c. 16, t. 9, p. 541,) which was a mere calumny of the Donatists. Yet upon this slander some others built another fictitious history of his repentance in a pretended council of Sinuessa. The author discovers himself to have been a barbarous half-Latin Goth, says Coutant. (Append. ad ep. decretales, p. 27.) His forgery contradicts the histories, customs, and language of that age. See Pagi ad an. 303. Natalis Alexander, Tillemont, t. 5; Orsi, t. 3, &c. [back]

Note 5. Matt. v. 5, 10xvi. 24x. 38xi. 12; Luke vi. 25ix. 23, &c. [back]

Note 6. Hebr. ix. 12. [back]

Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73).  Volume IV: April. The Lives of the Saints.  1866.

SOURCE : h https://www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/lives-of-the-saints/volume-iv-april/ss-cletus-and-marcellinus-popes-and-martyrs

Pope Saint Marcellinus

Date of birth unknown; elected 30 June, 296; died 304. According to the "Liber Pontificalis" he was a Roman, son of a certain Projectus. The Liberian Catalogue of popes (ed. Duchesne, "Lib. Pont." I, 6-7) gives 30 June as the day of his election, and the years 296-304 as the time of his pontificate. These dates, accepted by the author of the "Liber Pontificalis", are verified by that ancient source. Nothing has been handed down concerning the activities of this pope in his reign of eight years. We learn from the Roman deacon Severus'sepitaph in the Catacomb of Callistus (De Rossi, "Roma Sotterranea", III, 46 tav. V) that at that time newburial chambers were made in the chief cemetery of the Roman Church. Severus says that he had laid out a double cubiculum with luminare and arcosolium, "jussu papæ sui Marcellini". This happened before the outbreak of the great Diocletian persecution; for in this the Callistus Catacomb was confiscated, like the other public meeting-places of the Roman community. De Rossi assumes that the Christians blocked up the principal galleries of the catacomb at this time, to protect from desecration the tombs of the numerous martyrs buriedthere. The Diocletian persecution, whose severe edicts against the Christians were executed by Maximianus Herculeus, caused the greatest confusion in the Roman Church after 303. Marcellinus died in the second year of the persecution and, in all probability, a natural death. No trustworthy sources of the fourth or fifth century mention him as a martyr. His name does not occur either in the list of martyrs or the bishops in the Roman"Chronograph" of the year 354. Neither is he mentioned in the "Martyrologium Hieronymianum". The "Marcellinus episcopus" on 4 Oct. in "Codex Bernensis" (ed. De Rossi-Duchesne, 129) is probably not identical with the pope. In mentioning Marcellinus, Eusebius uses an obscure expression; he merely says: "the persecution also affected him" (‘òn kaì a’utòn kateílephon ‘o diogmòs Church History VII.32). From this one must obviously conclude that the pope did not suffer martyrdom, otherwise Eusebius would have distinctly stated it. There were even later reports in circulation that accused him of having given up the sacred books after the first edict, or even of having offered incense to the gods, to protect himself from the persecution. But the sources in which this reproach is clearly stated are very questionable.

The Donatist Bishop Petilianus of Constantine in Africa asserted, in the letter he wrote in 400 and 410, thatMarcellinus and the Roman priests MelchiadesMarcellus, and Sylvester (his three successors) had given up the sacred books, and had offered incense. But he could not adduce any proof. In the Acts of confiscation of the church buildings at Rome, which at the great Carthaginian conference between Catholics and Donatists, were brought forward by the latter, only two Roman deacons, Straton and Cassius, were named as traitors. St. Augustine, in his replies to Petilianus, disputes the truth of the latter's report (Against Petilian 2.202: "De quibus et nos solum respondemus: aut non probatis et ad neminem pertinet, aut probatis et ad nos non pertinet"; "De unico baptismo contra Petilianum", cap. xvi: "Ipse scelestos et sacrilegos fuisse dicit; egoinnocentes fuisse respondeo"). One can only conclude from Petilianus's accusation that such rumours againstMarcellinus and Roman priests were circulated in Africa; but that they could not be proved, otherwise St. Augustine would not have been able to assert the innocence of the accused so decidedly, or safely to have referred to the matter at the Carthaginian conference. But even in Rome similar stories were told ofMarcellinus in certain circles, so that in two later legendary reports a formal apostasy was attributed to thispope, of course followed by repentance and penance. The biography of Marcellinus in the "Liber Pontificalis", which probably alludes to a lost "passio" of his, relates that he was led to the sacrifice that he might scatter incense, which he did. But after a few days he was seized with remorse, and was condemned to death by Diocletian with three other Christians, and beheaded. It is clear that this report attempts to combine a rumour that the pope had offered incense to the gods, with the fact that, in other circles he was regarded as a martyrand his tomb venerated.

At the beginning of the sixth century, rather later than this "passio Marcellini", a collection of forgeddocuments appeared, which were manufactured in the dispute between Pope Symmachus and Laurentius. Among them are also found apocryphal Acts of an alleged synod of 300 bishops, which took place in 303 at Sinuessa (between Rome and Capua) in order to inquire into the accusation against Marcellinus that he hadsacrificed at Diocletian's order. On the first two days Marcellinus had denied everything, but on the third day he admitted his lapse and repented; however the synod passed no sentence on him "quia prima sedes nonjudicatur a quoquam". When Diocletian learnt of the occurrence, he had the pope and several bishops of thissynod executed (Hefele, "Konziliengeschichte", I, 2 Aufl. 143-45). The spuriousness of these acts is almostcertain. The forger has made the most of the rumour of Marcellinus's lapse for his own purposes in a different way from the author of the "passio", which crept into the "Liber Pontificalis". These apocryphal fragments cannot by themselves be considered as historical proofs, any more than the rumours in Donatist circles inAfrica. It is accepted as certain that the pope did not comply with the imperial edict by any overt act, such as the surrender of the sacred writings, or even the offering of incense before the statue of a god. Such anapostasy of a Roman bishop would without a doubt have been given the greatest prominence by contemporary authors. Eusebius has not made use of the above mentioned idea. And later, Theodoret was still less in a position to state in his "Church History", that Marcellinus had been prominent in the persecution ton ’en tôdiogmô diaprépsanta (Church History I.2). And Augustine also would not have been able to assert so curtly in answer to Petilian, that Marcellinus and the priests accused with him as traitors and "lapsi" were innocent.

On the other hand it is remarkable, that in the Roman "Chronograph" whose first edition was in 336, the name of this pope alone is missing, while all other popes from Lucius I onwards are forthcoming. In the manuscript there is indeed under 16 Jan. (XVIII kal. Feb.) the name Marcellinus, but this is clearly a slip of the pen for "Marcellus"; for the feast of this pope is found both in the "Martyrologium Hieronymianum" and in the old liturgical Roman books under this date, while in the "Liber Pontificalis" and, in connection therewith, in thehistorical martyrologies of the ninth century, the feast of Marcellinus is transferred to 26 April (Acta SS., June, VII, 185). By certain investigators (Mommsen, de Smedt) the lack of Marcellinus's name was traced to theomission of a copyist, owing to the similarity of the names, and in the "Depositio Episcoporum" they claimed to supplement the "Chronograph": XVII kal. Febr. Marcelli in Priscillæ VI kal. Maii Marcellini in Priscillæ (de Smedt, "Introductio in hist. eccl. critice tractandam", 512-13). But this hypothesis is not accepted. The datesof the death of the popes, as far as Sylvester in the list of successions, are identical with the days of the month on which their feasts are celebrated. Thus Marcellinus must come first after Gaius, whose name is quoted under the date X kal. Maii. Then Marcellinus is lacking not only in the "Chronograph", but also in the "Martyrologium Hieronymianum", and in all fifth and sixth century lists of popes. This omission is therefore notaccidental, but intentional.

In connection with the above mentioned rumours and the narratives of apocryphal fragments, it must indeed be admitted that in certain circles at Rome the conduct of the pope during the Diocletian persecution was not approved. In this persecution we know of only two Roman clerics who were martyred: the priest Marcellinusand the exorcist Petrus. The Roman bishop and the other members of the higher clergy, except the aboveclerics, were able to elude the persecutors. How this happened we do not know. It is possible that Pope Marcellinus was able to hide himself in a safe place of concealment in due time, as many other bishops did. But it is also possible that at the publication of the edict he secured his own immunity; in Roman circles this would have been imputed to him as weakness, so that his memory suffered thereunder, and he was on that account omitted by the author of the "Depositio Episcoporum" from the "Chronograph", while he found a place in the "Catalogus Liberianus", which was almost contemporary. But his tomb was venerated by the Christiansof Rome, and he was afterwards recognized as a martyr, as the "passio" shows. Marcellinus died in 304. The day of his death is not certain; in the "Liber Pontificalis" his burial is wrongly placed at 26 April, and this dateis retained in the historical martyrologies of the ninth century, and from them, in the later martyrologies. But if we calculate the date of his death from the duration of his office given in the Liberian Catalogue, he would have died on 24 or 25 Oct., 304. His body was interred in the Catacomb of Priscilla on the Via Salaria, near thecrypt where the martyr Crescentius found his resting-place. The Catacomb of Callistus, the official burial place of the Roman Church, where the predecessors of Marcellinus were buried during several decades, was evidently confiscated in the persecution, while the Catacomb of Priscilla, belonging to the Acilii Glabriones, was still at the disposal of the Christians.

The tomb of Marcellinus was venerated at a very early date by the Christians of Rome. The precise statements about its position, in the "Liber Pontificalis", indicate this. In one of the seventh century itineraries of the graves of the Roman martyrs, in the "Epitome de locis ss. martyrum", it is expressly mentioned among thesacred graves of the Catacomb of Priscilla (De Rossi, "Roma sotteranea", I, 176). In the excavations at this catacomb the crypt of St. Crescentius, beside which was the burial chamber of Marcellinus, was satisfactorily identified. But no monument was discovered which had reference to this pope. The precise position of theburial chamber is therefore still uncertain. The lost "passio" of Marcellinus written towards the end of the fifth century, which was utilized by the author of the "Liber Pontificalis", shows that he was honoured as a martyrat that time; nevertheless his name appears first in the "Martyrology" of Bede, who drew his account from the "Liber Pontificalis" (Quentin, "Les martyrologes historiques", 103, sq.). This feast is on 26 April. The earlierBreviaries, which follow the account of the "Liber Pontificalis" concerning his lapse and his repentance, were altered in 1883.

Sources

Liber Pontificalis, ed. DUCHESNE, I, 6, 7, 162-163; cf. Introduction, LXXIV sq. XCIX; Acta Sanct., April, III, 412-415, 999-1001; DE CASTRO, Difesa della causa di S. Marcellino, I, Pont. Rom. (Rome, 1819); LANGEN, Geschichte der römischen Kirche, I, 370-372; ALLARD, Histoire des persécutions, IV, 376-379; DUCHESNE, Histoire ancienne de l'Église, II, 92 sq.; MARUCCHI, Il sepolcro del papa Marcellino nel cimitero di Priscilla in Nuovo Bull. di archeol. crist. (1907), 115 sq.

Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope Saint Marcellinus." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company,1910. 25 Apr. 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09637d.htm>.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by WGKofron. In memory of Fr. John Hilkert, Akron, Ohio — Fidelis servus et prudens, quem constituit Dominus super familiam suam.

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.

Copyright © 2021 by Kevin Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09637d.htm

Marcellinus, Pope M (RM)

Born in Rome; died there on October 25, 304, his second feast day. Marcellinus was the son of Projectus. After his election to succeed Pope Saint Caius on June 30, 296, he witnessed the beginnings of Emperor Diocletian's persecution of Christians. According to an ancient legend that may have been Donatist-inspired and which was included in the Roman Breviary until 1883 (since discredited), Marcellinus seems to have apostatized and surrendered the sacred books and offered incense to pagan gods but later repented. He may have died a martyr's death by beheading, but this is still very uncertain; the Liberian calendar places him among those popes who were not put to death for the faith (Benedictines, Delaney, Husenbeth).

SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0426.shtml

Pope Marcellinus, illustration from The Lives and Times of the Popes by Chevalier Artaud de Montor, New York: The Catholic Publication Society of America, 1911. It was originally published in 1842.


The Lives and Times of the Popes – Saint Marcellinus – A.D. 296

Article

This saint, Marcellinus, son of Projectus, a Roman, was, according to some, a Benedictine, and was created pontiff on the 3d of May, A.D. 296.

The Church never suffered more than at this terrible period. The vast edifice of idolatry, gradually ruined by the Christians, and in some of its parts destroyed, was ready to crumble to its very foundations. The heathen altars lacked flowers, and the priests lacked victims; the aruspices no longer read in the entrails of slaughtered animals the signs and tokens of the future; the oracles were dumb, and the magicians were powerless. In such a state of things, it seemed as though all the gods of darkness made a last effort against the God of light. Diocletian, Maximianus, Galerius, and Maximinus, in succession, were the four chiefs of that infernal enterprise. Galerius, the most furious of them all, had taken from Diocletian the fatal sentence which ordered that cruel persecution, at once atrocious and universal, without truce and without pity. The churches were pulled down in most of the provinces; men and women, old men, children, and virgins were alike given up to the executioners. Heaven was peopled with martyrs, and earth, at the sight of such courage, warmed into a love for Catholicism. The persecutor hoped to destroy the religion of Christ, and all that fury only served to raise the throne of the faith upon the wreck and ruins of paganism.

The States subject to Rome, watered with the blood of the persecuted, only became the more productive of Christian branches. Tortures tore the bodies of the martyrs, but their souls, firmly embracing the faith, remained invulnerable and invincible. Nevertheless, there were some weak spirits that yielded to threats, and with whom self-love prevailed over religion; and it has even been said that among those weak ones was Marcellinus himself. The falsehood which was circulated on this head was adorned with all the circumstances which might give it an air of probability. It was pretended that the pontiff, perceiving his fault, presented himself as a suppliant before a council of three hundred bishops, assembled at Sinuessa. There, ran the story, the culprit confessed his error, and, weeping, demanded that he should be sentenced to the punishment he had incurred; and the council replied: “Pronounce sentence on thyself; the chief see cannot be judged but by itself.” But in this statement every particular is false; it is now ascertained that the accusation is calumnious, and that the pontiff committed no fault. Saint Augustine, speaking of Petilius, author of that fable, says: “He calls Marcellinus a sacrilegious wretch; I declare him innocent. It is not necessary for me to weary myself to support my defence by proofs; for Petilius himself supports his accusation by no proof.” In our own days that accusation has been repeated, and it has been said, with some foundation, too, that the Roman Breviary seems to support the tale, under the date of the 26th of April. Muratori writes that it is so, and every one can convince himself of it. But Lambertini, before he was pope, speaking of the Breviary, or of its authority, says that the fact is false. He says: “1. All the ancient writers of the lives of the popes are silent on that head; 2. The Donatists could never prove the truth of their assertion, and were guilty of useless impostures,” and he cites those words of Saint Augustine which we quoted above.

Baronius warns us on the subject that the Roman Church is not accustomed to have the acts of the saints read as if they were a gospel. Each, says Novaes, after Gelasus, may examine into things in conformity to the rule given by Saint Paul when he said: “Prove all things; hold fast to that which is good.” The fall of that pontiff is denied by Schelstrate, Roccaberti, Pierre de Marca, Pierre Constant, Papebrock, Natalis Alexander, Pagi, Agiurre, Sangallo, and Xavier de Marco, a Jesuit. The last-mentioned writer has put forth that denial in a very important work.

Thus, according to the testimony of Theodoret, it is proved that Marcellinus was distinguished for the firmness of his courage; and the imputation against him was sustained only by Petilius and the sectarians of his time. The early Donatists never reproached the Church with such a fall of her head, eager as they were to support their own evil cause by collecting even the slightest errors of Catholic bishops, and especially of pontiffs. Everything leads to the belief, after Tillemont, that Marcellinus received the crown of martyrdom. He was interred in the cemetery of Priscilla, on the Salarian Way, near the Salarian bridge. According to Novaes, the Holy See was vacant only six months and twenty-four days; but, according to the Diario, the vacancy lasted nearly four years. In two ordinations, in the month of December, this pope created five bishops, four priests, and four or five deacons. He governed the Church eight years and some months.

In the seventh year of the pontificate of Saint Marcellinus, Diocletian passed the winter in Nicomedia. Galerius Maximian visited him there, after having vanquished the Persians, and wanted to persuade Diocletian to order a new persecution which should everywhere cause paganism to triumph.

The old emperor for a long time resisted Galerius, and pointed out how dangerous it was to disturb the world and to shed so much blood. But Galerius was not to be overruled by such arguments, and would have advice; for such was the malignity of his nature that he wanted no advice when he would do good, but always required it when he wanted to do evil – so that he might cast the blame on others. Diocletian, finding that all around him were divided in opinion, sent an aruspice to Apollo of Miletus. Apollo replied – not by the medium of a priestess, but from the depth of a dark cave – that the just on earth prevented him from saying the truth, and that that was the reason why the oracles he gave from the tripod were false. The priestess of Apollo said the same, with her hair dishevelled, and she lamented the misfortunes of the human race. Diocletian asked his officers who were the just on earth. One of those who served at the sacrifices answered: “They are the Christians, without doubt.”

The emperor was pleased with that reply, and resolved upon the persecution, being unable to resist the urgings of his friends, of Caesar and of Apollo.

Then commenced the terrible persecution of Nicomedia, of Tyre, of Antioch, of Ancyra, and of Arabia.

MLA Citation

Alexis-François Artaud de Montor. “Saint Marcellinus – A.D. 296”. The Lives and Times of the Popes1911. CatholicSaints.Info. 2 August 2022. Web. 26 April 2023. <https://catholicsaints.info/the-lives-and-times-of-the-popes-saint-marcellinus-a-d-296/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/the-lives-and-times-of-the-popes-saint-marcellinus-a-d-296/

Book of Saints – Marcellinus – 26 April

Article

(Saint) Pope, Martyr (April 26) (4th century) A Roman by birth, Saint Marcellinus sat in the Chair of Saint Peter from A.D. 296 to A.D. 304, during a period when the persecution of Christianity was so unrelenting that no less than seventeen thousand of the Faithful were put to death because of their religion. The Pope suffered with three others in Rome, A.D. 304; and the four bodies are said to have been left exposed in the Forum to intimidate their fellow-believers. The legend that Saint Marcellinus had on one occasion yielded in the torture chamber and offered incense to an idol, afterwards repenting of his weakness, is now generally discredited.

MLA Citation

Monks of Ramsgate. “Marcellinus”. Book of Saints1921. CatholicSaints.Info. 18 November 2014. Web. 26 April 2023. <https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-marcellinus-26-april/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-marcellinus-26-april/

Golden Legend – Life of Saint Marcelin

Here followeth of Saint Marcelin the Pope.

Saint Marcelin was pope of Rome by the space of nine years and four months. In his time reigned Diocletian and Maximian, emperors of Rome. The which commanded that he should be taken and brought into the temple for to do scarifice to the idols; and when he would not assent, the ministers of the emperors menaced him that they would make him die by diverse torments. And when he heard that, he had so great dread that he put in their sacrifice two grams of incense only, whereof the paynims had great joy, and the christian men had right great sorrow, and reprehended him greatly of that he had such a thing done against the christian faith, and anon he repented him and put himself to the judgment of the bishops. But the bishops answered: God forbid that it never fall that the pope of the christian people, which is sovereign, be judged of any man, but be he judged of himself, and anon he deposed himself. And after, the christian men chose him again to be pope as he was tofore. And when this came to the knowledge of the emperors, then they did do take him and, because that he would in no wise do sacrifice to the idols, they made to smite off his head. And then the persecution and woodness was so great of the paynims against the christian people, that within a month after were put to death for the name of Jesu Christ and for to sustain the christian faith, well a seventeen thousand christian people. Marcelin, in the hour that he should be beheaded, said tofore all the people that he was not worthy to be buried among christian people, and therefore he commanded upon pain of cursing that none should bury his body. And so the body of him abode above the earth thirty-five days without burying.

After, Saint Peter the apostle appeared to Marcel, which was pope after Marcelin, and said to him in this manner: Marcel, fair father, why buriest thou not me? And he answered: Sir, be ye not long sith buried? And Saint Peter said: I hold me not buried as long as I see Marcelin not buried, and the pope answered: How, sir! know ye not how he accursed all them that should bury him? And Saint Peter said: Is it not written that he that meeketh himself shall be enhanced? This shouldest thou have thought; go then and bury him at my feet. And anon the pope did his commandment and buried the body of Saint Marcelin hastily, which was martyred the year of our Lord two hundred and eighty. Then pray we to him that he pray for us.

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/golden-legend-life-of-saint-marcelin/

Münster in Heilsbronn. Mauritius-Laurentius-Altar (1515): St.Mauritius wird von Papst Marcellinus im Glauben bestärkt.


Pictorial Lives of the Saints – Saints Cletus and Marcellinus, Popes, Martyrs

Article

Saint Cletus was the third Bishop of Rome, and succeeded Saint Linus, which circumstance alone shows his eminent virtue among the first disciples of Saint Peter in the West. He sat twelve years, from 76 to 89. The canon of the Roman mass, Bede, and other martyrologists style him a martyr. He was buried near Saint Linus, on the Vatican, and his relics still remain in that church.

Saint Marcellinus succeeded Saint Caius in the Bishopric of Rome in 296, about the time that Diocletian set himself up for a deity, and impiously claimed divine honors. In those stormy times of persecution, Marcellinus acquired great glory. He sat in Saint Peter’s chair eight years, three months, and twenty-five days, dying in 304, a year after the cruel persecution broke out, in which he gained much honor. He has been styled a martyr, though his blood was not shed in the cause of religion.

Reflection – It is a fundamental maxim of the Christian morality, and a truth which Christ has established in the clearest terms, and in innumerable passages of the Gospel, that the cross or sufferings and mortification are the road to eternal bliss. They, therefore, who lead not here a crucified and mortified life, are unworthy ever to possess the unspeakable joys of His kingdom. Our Lord himself, our model and our head, walked in this path, and His great Apostle puts us in mind that he entered into bliss only by his blood and by the cross.

MLA Citation

John Dawson Gilmary Shea. “Saints Cletus and Marcellinus, Popes, Martyrs”. Pictorial Lives of the Saints1889. CatholicSaints.Info. 8 March 2014. Web. 26 April 2023. <https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saints-cletus-and-marcellinus-popes-martyrs/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saints-cletus-and-marcellinus-popes-martyrs/


Albéric Victor Duyver (1859–1939), Saint Quentin est envoyé en mission par le pape Marcellin, 1893-1898. Église Saint-Quentin d'Avelin


Pope St. Marcellinus

Pope from 296-304 A.D.

Died: 304 A.D.

Pronounced: mar-sel-LINE-uss

Give me the scoop on Marcellinus.

St. Marcellinus was Roman by birth, though we’re unsure the year in which he was born. His reign coincided with the beginning of the most brutal persecution the Church has ever seen. The emperor Diocletian was initially sympathetic to Christianity, given that his wife was a Christian. But a forceful encouragement by his colleague, Galerius, caused Diocletian to reconsider, ushering in a period where churches were seized or demolished, sacred vessels were surrendered, and death was the punishment for any who refused to sacrifice to the gods. Apparently, bad things happen when you don’t listen to your wife. Just ask Pontius Pilate.

The persecution was in its second year when Marcellinus died, though it’s unclear whether or not he died a martyr. His feast day is April 26.

What was he known for?

Sadly, St. Marcellinus is known best for being accused of heresy. Thankfully, though, the “sources” were forgeries and falsehoods written at the hands of (presumably) some frustrated heretics who were mad they didn’t get their way. The Donatists, a sect that thought the validity of a sacrament depended on how holy the minister was, accused St. Marcellinus and his three successors around 400 A.D. of having offered incense to the Roman gods and given up their sacred books.

We know that the letter-writer, Petilianus, is full of baloney, because if a pope had renounced his faith, it would most definitely have been recorded by a contemporary author (like Eusebius, who wrote about Church History just a couple decades later). The fact that every other author was silent and made no mention of popes behaving badly is sufficient evidence to believe the renunciation never happened.

Fun fact: During Marcellinus’ reign, Armenia became the first Christian nation after its ruler, Tiridates III, made Christianity the state religion. In fact, the Mother Church of Armenia, the Etchmiadzin Cathedral, is thought to be the oldest cathedral in the world, being traditionally dated to 303 A.D., the year before Marcellinus died.

What else was going on in the world at the time?

Around the year 300, the magnetic compass was invented in China.

Coming Monday....Pope St. Marcellus I

SOURCES (and further reading)

John, E. (1964). The Popes: A concise biographical history. New York: Hawthorn Books.

Pope St. Marcellinus - http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09637d.htm

Pope Marcellinus - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Marcellinus

Armenia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenia

300s - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/300s_(decade)

SOURCE : https://projects.flocknote.com/note/2873418


San Marcellino Papa

26 aprile

m. 304

(Papa dal 30/06/296 al 25/10/304)

Marcellino governò la Chiesa tra il III e il IV secolo per otto anni e morì verso i 305, durante la terribile persecuzione di Diocleziano. Fu sepolto nel cimitero di Priscilla, presso il martire Crescenzione.

Etimologia: Marcellino, diminutivo di Marco = nato in marzo, sacro a Marte, dal latino

Nato a Roma, figlio di "Proietto". Nella liturgia cattolica fu sempre ricordato come una persona molto devota, pia e casta.

La figura di Marcellino fu ampiamente lodata da sant'Agostino, anche se cronologicamente molto postuma (nda: questo però sta a significare una continua tramandazione degli atti, delle tradizioni di culto e soprattutto della continuità sia di fede che del potere temporale intrinseco al movimento cristiano.)

Sempre secondo la tradizione, Marcellino fu incoronato "rex cristianorum" e vescovo di Roma il 30 giugno 296.

Gli inizi del suo pontificato furono gratificati dalla "pax" instaurata con l'imperatore dal suo predecessore Caio

Marcellino potè dedicarsi alla comunità nella sua interezza avendo soprattutto cura delle famiglie più bisognose.

Indirizzò l'ecumenismo ed il proselitismo cristiano verso quegli approdi dettati dalla fede.

Nel mentre la questione politica imperiale stava assumendo una connotazione diversa dal punto di vista politico.

Diocleziano materialmente impossibilitato a governare l'impero per come era stato conquistato,

Attraverso il senato fu stabilita una "tretarchia" per la quale, gli aggravi di governo furono suddivisi in tre diverse funzioni di governo.

Diocleziano a capo dell'impero d'oriente, Galerio governatore di Roma e Massimiano governatore dell' impero nord occidentale.

Fu il tetrarca Galerio, anticristiano per antonomasia, ad iniziare la cosiddetta "nona persecuzione" anticristiana, con la scusa dell'invadenza cristiana sulle terre imperiali. Dopo l'incontro a Nicomedia (nda: cittadina situata nel mar di Marmara, nella ex provincia romana di Bitinia- odierna Izmit), Galerio riuscì a convincere Diocleziano a ritornare al paganesimo e perseguire tutti i dissidenti.

Il 23 febbraio 303 fu incendiata la chiesa di Nicomedia. I cristiani, in risposta incendiarono il palazzo imperiale ed in conseguenza il pugno di ferro.

Le milizie romane distrussero quasi tutto. I beni confiscati e migliaia di persone furono condannate a morte. Fu addirittura massacrata l'intera "legione tebea", formata esclusivamente da cristiani (nda: si pensi che all'epoca non vi erano miliardi di individui, ma solo poche centinaia di migliaia, nel mondo conosciuto).

Marcellino fu decapitato per ordine dello stesso imperatore Diocleziano, il 25 ottobre 304 e le sue spoglie deposte nel cimitero di Priscilla.

Autore: Franco Prevato

SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/50850

Pope St. Marcellinus statue on Saint Peter's Square colonnade


MARCELLINO, santo

di Angelo Di Berardino - Enciclopedia dei Papi (2000)

Le notizie antiche su M. sono talvolta confuse e danno luogo a discussioni e divergenze. Secondo il Catalogo Liberiano succede a Caio il 30 giugno del 296 (secondo il Liber pontificalis il 1° luglio) e muore nel 304, durante la persecuzione di Diocleziano, dopo un episcopato di otto anni, tre mesi e venticinque giorni (dal 30 giugno 296 al 25 ottobre 304). Questa notizia viene modificata dal Liber pontificalis, che assegna al suo episcopato la durata di otto anni, quattro mesi e sedici giorni. La Depositio episcoporum (Chronica minora, p. 70) colloca la sua morte al 15 gennaio, con la seguente espressione: "Marcellini, in Priscillae". Ma la celebrazione del 15 gennaio deve essere riferita a papa Marcello, suo successore, ricordato il 16 gennaio.

Infatti il Martyrologium Hieronymianum e altre testimonianze antiche, come i sacramentari e lo stesso Liber pontificalis (I, p. 164) hanno la data del 16 gennaio per la depositio di papa Marcello nel sepolcreto di Priscilla. Anzi, il Liber pontificalis, a proposito di papa Marcello, mettendo insieme leggende posteriori e la tradizione romana, precisa che la matrona Lucina aveva raccolto il suo corpo e lo aveva seppellito il 16 gennaio ("XVII kal. feb.") a Priscilla.

Inoltre nel Liber pontificalis vi è una evidente contraddizione di date: all'inizio della biografia esso farebbe finire l'episcopato di M. alla metà di novembre, mentre alla fine del testo la sua morte è collocata al 26 aprile, e questa data dal Liber pontificalis è passata al Martyrologium Romanum e ad altri martirologi (Beda, Usuardo, Adone). Per queste ragioni numerosi studiosi, come L. Duchesne, J.-P. Kirsch e H. Delehaye, pensano che nella Depositio episcoporum si sia introdotto un errore di trascrizione, e quindi bisogna leggere al 16 gennaio, e non al 15, la deposizione di Marcello e non di M., in quanto indica la stessa persona e la medesima commemorazione nel medesimo luogo. E.B. Schaefer analizza le fonti di questa confusione, per cui si deve concludere che sia la Depositio che il Martyrologium Hieronymianum indicano papa Marcello e non Marcellino. Inoltre il Liber pontificalis aggiunge altre notizie attinte forse da qualche Passio Marcellini, ora perduta: che era figlio di "Proiectus", e che aveva subito il martirio il 31 marzo. Si dilunga poi a parlare dell'apostasia di M. durante la persecuzione mediante l'offerta dell'incenso, senza però che avesse sacrificato o consegnato le Scritture, e aggiunge quindi che si pentì del suo gesto, per cui dovette subire il martirio con altri cristiani (Claudio, Cirino e Antonino). Alcune redazioni del Liber pontificalis (I, p. CCIX) aggiungono che il presbitero Marcello lo esortava a non eseguire i comandi di Diocleziano. Il suo corpo, e quelli di altri cristiani uccisi con lui, per ordine di Diocleziano erano stati lasciati insepolti per ventisei giorni (o venticinque secondo alcuni codici), e poi, di notte, furono sepolti dal presbitero Marcello nel cimitero di Priscilla, il 26 aprile, in un luogo scelto in precedenza dallo stesso M. (ibid., pp. 72, 162).

La notizia del martirio è ripresa dal Martyrologium Romanum, e viene collocata sotto l'imperatore Massimiano al 26 aprile (Martyrologium Romanum [...] scholiis historicis instructum, in Propylaeum ad Acta Sanctorum Decembris, Bruxellis 1940, p. 156), mentre il Liber pontificalis fa svolgere la vicenda sotto Diocleziano. Non sembra che M. abbia subito il martirio, in quanto la qualifica di martire gli venne attribuita solo verso la fine del V secolo, quando fu forse scritta una sua Passio: il Catalogo Liberiano non parla, infatti, del suo martirio e la Depositio martyrum non lo colloca tra i martiri. Eusebio di Cesarea, suo contemporaneo, usa una frase ambigua: "fu portato via dalla persecuzione" (Historia ecclesiastica VII, 32, 1), espressione che potrebbe indicare soltanto l'esilio. M. fu sepolto, come detto, nella catacomba di Priscilla presso il martire Crescenzione (Le Liber pontificalis, I, pp. 72, 162): "In cymiterio Priscillae, in cubiculum qui patet usque in hodiernum diem, quod ipse praeceperat poenitens dum traheretur ad occisionem, in crypta iuxta corpus sancti Criscentionis". Pertanto al tempo della redazione della prima edizione del Liber pontificalis la tomba di papa M. era ben conosciuta: "cubiculum qui patet usque in hodiernum diem", espressione riassunta in alcuni manoscritti in "cubiculo claro" (cfr. ibid., p. CCIX). L'autore del Liber conosceva la tomba e la sua localizzazione precisa, anche perché Crescenzione, morto durante la persecuzione di Diocleziano, era molto venerato e la sua tomba molto frequentata: la sua cripta era conosciuta anche dagli itinerari del VII secolo e ad essa si scendeva dalla basilica superiore di S. Silvestro mediante una scala (Codice topografico, p. 77). Il De locis sanctis martyrum, testo molto conciso e spesso confuso, colloca lì, tra gli altri martiri e santi, Marcello e M. (Codice topografico, pp. 116 s.). Il sepolcro di papa M. è stato individuato presso l'ipogeo degli Acilii, nella cosiddetta regione di Crescenzione (catacomba di Priscilla), all'interno di un cubicolo posto accanto a quello che ha ospitato la tomba del martire.

L'unica memoria epigrafica di M. è costituita da una transenna marmorea, proveniente dal cimitero di Callisto sulla via Appia, in cui si attesta che il diacono Severo dovette chiedere l'autorizzazione a papa M. per poter realizzare un cubicolo familiare (Inscriptiones Christianae urbis Romae, nr. 10183: "iussu p[a]p[ae] sui Marcellini"). Questa iscrizione è particolarmente significativa anche perché costituisce la prima attestazione epigrafica del termine papa attribuito al vescovo di Roma. Vicino alla tomba di M. fu dipinta una scena di grandi dimensioni, la quale rappresenta i tre fanciulli ebrei che rifiutano di adorare il re Nabucodonosor, in segno di difesa del papa, accusato di turificatio (offerta dell'incenso). Il successore di M., papa Marcello, fu deposto invece nella basilica superiore vicino alla tomba di papa Silvestro. Perché i due papi non furono seppelliti nella catacomba tradizionale, quella di Callisto? Forse perché questo cimitero era stato sequestrato durante la persecuzione di Diocleziano del 303 e non era ancora utilizzabile a quel tempo (P. Styger, pp. 115-16).

La successione a papa M. è molto discussa; Eusebio di Cesarea, nella lista dei vescovi delle sedi più importanti, si è fermato a M.; Girolamo, nel suo Chronicon, scrive che "a Roma viene eletto Eusebio, il ventinovesimo vescovo, che dura sei mesi" (P.G., XIX, col. 583), e succede a Marcellino. Su tutta la questione v. Marcello I, santo.

Si è già accennato alla tradizione successiva, che talvolta accusa M. di apostasia, accusa che venne sfruttata, ai loro fini ecclesiologici, dai donatisti. Si può ricostruire la genesi probabile di questa accusa. I donatisti, dopo il 370, cercavano di coinvolgere nell'accusa di traditio delle Scritture, durante la persecuzione di Diocleziano, tutti coloro che avevano avuto in qualche modo a che fare con la condanna dei donatisti nelle fasi iniziali dello scisma, in particolare Ossio di Cordova, M. e i suoi presbiteri e futuri papi Marcello, Milziade e Silvestro. Parmeniano, vescovo donatista di Cartagine (362-391/92), nella sua prima opera, Adversus ecclesiam traditorum, non incolpa nessun papa in particolare, ma accusa in generale i cattolici di essere traditores (cfr. Ottato di Milevi, Contra Parmenianum Donatistam 1, 6, a cura di S. Lancel, Paris 1995 [Sources Chrétiennes, 412], p. 184). Invece, nella sua Epistola ad Tyconium, comincia a fare dei nomi e avanza l'accusa di traditores solo a danno di Ossio e Milziade (Agostino, Contra epistolam Parmeniani I, 4, 7 [Ossio]; 1, 5, 10 [Milziade]), cioè i due personaggi che direttamente erano stati coinvolti nella prima condanna dei donatisti. In questa lista di accusati per ora non viene incluso il nome di Marcellino. Verso l'anno 400 invece compare nella lista dei colpevoli anche il nome di M., che viene accusato da Petiliano, vescovo di Costantina, nella sua Epistola ad presbyteros et diaconos, di essere stato "il primo a bruciare i libri del Signore", quindi prima di Mensurio e di Ceciliano (cfr. Agostino, Contra litteras Petiliani libri III II, 92, 202; De unico baptismo contra Petilianum liber 16, 27).

Agostino dà notizia dell'accusa a M., ma non dà alcuna risposta, mentre si dilunga su altri personaggi, come Ursacio e Macario (Contra litteras Petiliani libri III II, 92, 203-13). Qualche anno più tardi diventa più ampia la lista di coloro che a Roma avrebbero consegnato le Scritture: non solo si nomina M., ma anche i suoi presbiteri Marcello, Milziade e Silvestro, futuri papi (Agostino, De unico baptismo contra Petilianum liber 16, 27, opera probabilmente scritta nel 410: qui viene indicato esplicitamente per la prima volta anche Marcello). Agostino risponde considerando calunnie prive di qualsiasi fondamento quelle rivolte a "Marcellino e i suoi presbiteri Milziade, Marcello e Silvestro", in quanto Petiliano non adduce la più piccola prova e pertanto essi sono da considerare innocenti (ibid.). Grande aspirazione donatista era quella di avere un vescovo della setta riconosciuto e accettato a Roma, con il quale avere la comunione ecclesiale e giustificare la loro cattolicità. Per questo da una parte tentavano di invalidare la successione apostolica romana mediante l'accusa ad alcuni papi di averla interrotta con la loro apostasia, dall'altra dimostravano che la vera successione a Roma veniva assicurata da vescovi donatisti. A queste pretese risponde Agostino, facendo osservare che nessun vescovo donatista è inserito nell'ordo successionis romano (ep. 53, 1, 3, cfr. anche paragrafo 1, 2; Contra litteras Petiliani libri III II, 108, 247). Agostino inoltre rimprovera ai donatisti di non avere avanzato queste accuse al tempo dovuto, ma con molto ritardo (Contra epistolam Parmeniani I, 5, 10; De unico baptismo contra Petilianum liber 16, 28). Nella conferenza di Cartagine del 411 da parte donatista si vuole colpire specialmente M. e si sostiene che bisogna staccarsi dai cattivi con una separazione fisica (cfr. Agostino, De unico baptismo contra Petilianum liber 14, 23; Id., Breviculus collationis cum Donatistis III, 18, 34-6, a cura di M. Petschenig, Vindobonae-Lipsiae 1910 [Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, 53], pp. 84-6). Anzi qui si presenta un certo Felice come legittimo vescovo di Roma (Gesta Collationis Carthaginiensis I, 157-63, a cura di S. Lancel, Paris 1972 [Sources Chrétiennes, 195], pp. 804-6), mentre nello stesso tempo si asserisce che il vescovo cattolico di Roma di allora non avrebbe avuto la legittima successione. Anche il Liber genealogus, opera donatista (427-452), scrive che "costretti [dagli imperatori Diocleziano e Massimiano] Marcellino a Roma e Mensurio a Cartagine, Stratone e Cassiano diaconi di Roma e Ceciliano, mentre erano diaconi della verità pubblicamente hanno bruciato i vangeli sul Campidoglio" (Chronica minora, p. 196). Lo scopo ultimo dello scritto donatista era di colpire Ceciliano ed anche, indirettamente, papa Milziade, ordinato presbitero da M., il quale aveva assolto Ceciliano nel concilio romano del 313. Poiché i donatisti ricorrevano sempre a sotterfugi e cavilli nella polemica, un'accusa così grave, se avesse avuto qualche fondamento, sarebbe stata addotta in precedenza, specialmente al tempo del concilio di Roma del 313 o di Arles del 314. Pertanto si deve pensare che essa sia stata inventata in tempo successivo. Invece la tradizione orientale ha un alto concetto di M.: Teodoreto di Ciro, che nella sua storia non nomina papa Marcello, dice di M. che "si era nobilmente distinto durante la persecuzione" (Historia ecclesiastica I, 3, 1).

Tuttavia anche a Roma, in periodo posteriore, era nata una certa tradizione sfavorevole a M. (L. Duchesne, Histoire, p. 95). Sembra che a fondamento della tradizione romana ci sia una perduta Passio Marcellini (cfr. Le Liber pontificalis, I, p. LXXIV), della fine del V secolo, e quindi di circa due secoli posteriore agli avvenimenti contestati, così come le notizie su papa Marcello dipendono dagli Acta del suo martirio: tutti e due gli scritti fanno parte di un gruppo di narrazioni romanzesche che hanno al centro una certa matrona romana di nome Lucina (E. Caspar, Geschichte, pp. 97-8; v. Marcello I, santo). Inoltre, l'accusa a M. si ritrova in un altro testo romano del periodo di papa Simmaco. Quasi al tempo della Passio fu, infatti, composto anche un altro falso riguardante il cedimento nella persecuzione di M., cioè gli atti del concilio di Sinuessa (I.D. Mansi, Sacrorum conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, I, Florentiae 1759, pp. 1249-57; P.L., VI, coll. 11-20), secondo i quali M. riconobbe la sua colpa, ma per la sua autorità volutamente non fu condannato da altri vescovi; di fronte tuttavia all'evidenza dei testimoni egli stesso fu costretto a condannarsi davanti ad una riunione episcopale segreta composta di trecento vescovi, che condannarono anche molti presbiteri e diaconi per la stessa colpa. Secondo questo testo M. si sarebbe dimesso dall'episcopato il 23 agosto del 303, ma i due documenti non concordano sulla cronologia del cedimento di M. e sul contenuto. Comunque il preteso concilio di Sinuessa voleva stabilire il principio che prima sedes non iudicabitur a quoquam ("la prima sede non sarà giudicata da chicchessia") al tempo delle lotte tra papa Simmaco, l'antipapa Lorenzo e il re Teoderico. Pertanto il caso di un papa colpevole, che non viene deposto, ma riconosce la sua colpa, era molto utile alla causa di papa Simmaco. L'anonimo autore si limita solo a sfruttare la leggenda, oppure crede realmente alla colpevolezza di M.? Il Binio nel 1600 (I.D. Mansi, Sacrorum conciliorum, pp. 1257 ss.) e Mommsen, nel secolo scorso, considerano una falsificazione gli atti del concilio di Sinuessa (M.G.H., Gesta Pontificum Romanorum, I, a cura di Th. Mommsen, 1898, p. LIII), conclusione oggi accettata da tutti. Notizie simili, riprese dalla perduta Passio, sono passate nel Liber pontificalis, secondo il quale M., apostata durante la persecuzione ma paenitentia ductus, subisce la decapitazione; tuttavia esso non riprende affatto la leggenda del concilio di Sinuessa e neppure l'accusa donatista di avere consegnato i libri sacri. La penitenza quasi immediata, la decapitazione e l'obbrobrio dell'esposizione pubblica del suo corpo riscattano ampiamente, per l'autore del Liber, la debolezza di Marcellino. Per questo dal presbitero Marcello, con altri presbiteri e diaconi, di notte al canto di inni, egli viene seppellito nel cimitero di Priscilla, "nella tomba che ancora oggi è visibile". Poiché questi documenti sono molto tardi rispetto agli avvenimenti, essi potrebbero essere una risposta alle insinuazioni diffuse da oltre un secolo dai donatisti, che erano presenti anche a Roma ed intrigavano per avere un vescovo nella Sede romana.

A M. vengono attribuite due lettere (Regesta Pontificum Romanorum, a cura di Ph. Jaffé-G. Wattenbach-S. Loewenfeld-F. Kaltenbrunner-P. Ewald, I, Lipsiae 1885, nrr. 157-58; I.D. Mansi, Sacrorum conciliorum, pp. 1239-43), che sono però posteriori: la prima sostiene la dottrina che il Padre non è maggiore del Figlio e pertanto è connessa con la controversia ariana; la seconda, più interessante, riguarda i processi ecclesiastici, ma soprattutto afferma che l'imperatore non può ordinare cose contrarie ai comandamenti divini; anzi ogni giudizio emesso dai magistrati per timore verso l'autorità è da considerarsi nullo.

fonti e bibliografia

Acta Sanctorum [...], Aprilis, III, Venetiis 1738, pp. 412-14.

Le Liber pontificalis, a cura di L. Duchesne, I, Paris 1886, pp. LXXIII ss., XCIX, CCIX, 1, 72, 162-63, 164; III, a cura di C. Vogel, ivi 1957, pp. 4-5, 75.

Chronica minora (saec. IV, V, VI, VII), in M.G.H., Auctores antiquissimi, IX, 1, a cura di Th. Mommsen, 1892, pp. 70, 75, 196.

Eusebio di Cesarea, Historia ecclesiastica VII, 32, 1, a cura di E. Schwartz, Leipzig 1908 (Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller. Eusebius Werke, II, 2), p. 717.

Teodoreto, Historia ecclesiastica I, 3, 1, a cura di L. Parmentier, ivi 1911 (Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller, 19), p. 7.

L. Duchesne, La nouvelle édition du Liber Pontificalis, "Mélanges d'Archéologie et d'Histoire", 18, 1898, pp. 389-92 (su Marcello).

Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina [...], II, Bruxellis 1900-01, nrr. 5223b-5223f.

Epigrammata Damasiana, a cura di A. Ferrua, Città del Vaticano 1942, nr. 28.

Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina [...], Novum Supplementum, a cura di H. Fros, Bruxellis 1986, nrr. 5223b-5223g.

L. Duchesne, Histoire ancienne de l'Église, II, Paris 1907.

J.-P. Kirsch, Die römischen Titelkirchen im Altertum, Paderborn 1918, pp. 77-80.

O. Marucchi, Il sepolcro di papa Marcellino, "Nuovo Bullettino di Archeologia Cristiana", 12, 1907, p. 118.

Agostino, Contra litteras Petiliani libri III, a cura di B. Quinot, [Paris] 1967 (Bibliothèque augustinienne-Oeuvre de Saint Augustin, 30), p. 796.

E. Caspar, Kleine Beiträge zur älteren Papstgeschichte, I, Die römischen Bischöfe der diokletianischen Verfolgung, Marcellinus und Marcellus, "Zeit-schrift für Kirchengeschichte", 46, 1927, pp. 321-33.

Id., Geschichte des Papsttums, I, Tübingen 1930, pp. 97-9.

E.B. Schaefer, Die Bedeutung der Epigramme des Papstes Damasus I. für die Geschichte der Heiligenverehrung, Roma 1932, pp. 164-70.

P. Styger, Römische Märtyrergrüfte, Berlin 1935, pp. I, 115-16.

Codice topografico della città di Roma, a cura di R. Valentini-G. Zucchetti, II, Roma 1942 (Fonti per la Storia d'Italia, 88), pp. 77, 116 s.

L.C. Mohlberg, Historisch-kritische Bemerkungen zum Ursprung der sogenannten "Memoria Apostolorum" an der Appianischen Strasse, in Colligere Fragmenta: Festschrift Alban Dold zum 70. Geburtstag, a cura di B. Fischer-V. Fiala, Beuron 1952, pp. 52-74.

E.H. Röttges, Marcellinus-Marcellus [...], "Zeitschrift für Katholische Theologie", 78, 1956, pp. 385-420.

A. Amore, Il preteso "Lapsus" di Papa Marcellino, "Antonianum", 32, 1957, pp. 411-26 (nega risolutamente la caduta di M.).

Id., È esistito Papa Marcello?, ibid., pp. 57-75.

W. Schwarz, Marcellus I, "Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte", 73, 1962, pp. 327-34.

A. Amore, Note agiografiche sul calendario perpetuo della Chiesa universale, "Antonianum", 39, 1964, p. 26.

J. Dubois, Le martyrologe d'Usuard, Bruxelles 1965, p. 219.

Ch. Pietri, Roma Christiana. Recherches sur l'Église de Rome, son organisation, sa politique, son idéologie de Miltiade à Sixte III (311-440), I-II, Roma 1976: I, pp. 392 ss.; II, p. 1609.

W.H.C. Frend, The Donatist Church, Oxford 1952, ad indicem.

J. Dubois-G. Renaud, Le Martyrologe d'Adon. Ses deux familles. Ses trois recensions. Texte et commentaire, Paris 1984, p. 134.

F. Tolotti, Le cimetière de Priscille. Synthèse d'une recherche, "Revue d'Histoire Ecclésiastique", 73, 1988, pp. 281-314.

T.D. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, Cambrigde, Mass. 1981, pp. 38 s., 303 s.

G. Squittieri, Cristianesimo e impero romano, Salerno 1981, pp. 278-81.

R.B. Eno, The Significance of the List of Roman Bishops in the Anti-Donatist Polemic, "Vigiliae Christianae", 47, 1993, pp. 158-69.

Per la documentazione archeologica ed epigrafica v. inoltre:

Inscriptiones Christianae urbis Romae. Nova series, IV, a cura di G.B. de Rossi-A. Ferrua, In Civitate Vaticana 1964.

F. Tolotti, Il cimitero di Priscilla. Studio di topografia e architettura, ivi 1971, pp. 291-301 (sul sepolcro di papa M.).

P. Testini, Archeologia Cristiana, Bari 1980², pp. 384-85 (a proposito dell'iscrizione posta dal diacono Severo nel cimitero di Callisto).

A Dictionary of Christian Biography, III, London 1882, s.v., p. 804.

Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, X, Paris 1932, s.v., coll. 1762-73.

E.C., VIII, s.v., coll. 10-1.

Lexikon der christlichen Ikonographie, VII, Rom 1974, s.v., pp. 487-88.

Dizionario storico del Papato, a cura di Ph. Levillain, II, Milano 1996, s.v., pp. 919-20.

SOURCE : https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/santo-marcellino_(Enciclopedia-dei-Papi)/

Voir aussi : http://orthodoxievco.net/ecrits/vies/synaxair/avril/marcellin3.pdf