Marcellinus

ON ST. MARCELLINUS, POPE, AND SS. CLAUDIUS, QUIRINUS, ANTONINUS,

ROMAN MARTYRS.

IN THE YEAR 304.

Commentary

Claudius, Martyr at Rome (St.)

Quirinus, Martyr at Rome (St.)

Antoninus, Martyr at Rome (St.)

By G. H.

CHAPTER I.

St. Marcellinus distinct from St. Marcellus: the time of his See, and his other deeds.

[1] We have castigated above, in the Acts of St. Cletus the Pontiff, the most inert sluggishness and drowsiness of the Greeks, because, being swept away into a most foul error on account of the similarity of names, they did not distinguish SS. Cletus and Marcellinus from SS. Anacletus and Marcellus, who succeeded them in the Roman Pontificate. But since enough has been said about SS. Cletus and Anacletus, St. Marcellinus is not distinguished from St. Marcellus in Eusebius, we shall now treat of St. Marcellinus, who also on this day has his veneration in the Church, and of St. Marcellus. Eusebius, in book 7 of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter 32 or in others 26, hands down these things about St. Marcellinus and his predecessors: "When Felix had governed the Roman Church for five years, Eutychianus succeeded in his place; who, having passed scarcely ten months in the episcopate, left his See to Caius, who lived in our time. When he had presided over the Church for about fifteen years, he had as successor Marcellinus, whom also the persecution crushed." So Eusebius there, who in the Ecclesiastical History makes no further mention of St. Marcellinus or his successors. The same in the Chronicle, the consuls Probus Augustus and Victorinus being indicated, who presided over the Republic in the year of Christ 282, writes these things, in the translation of St. Jerome: "Eutychianus undertook the episcopate of the Roman Church as the 26th, for eight months: after whom Caius for fifteen years." Then, the consuls Diocletian Augustus VI and Constantius Caesar II being indicated (this is the year of Christ 296), thus he writes: "Marcellinus undertook the episcopate of the Roman Church for nine years." Then, St. Marcellus being omitted, for the consulship of Constantius Augustus VI and Maximian Caesar VI, the year of Christ 306, Eusebius is established the 29th Bishop of Rome for 7 months, after whom Miltiades holds the Church the 30th for 3 years, ἔτη γ᾽, in Jerome for 4 years, or according to Pontacus for 6 years. Other Greeks, and the other Greeks: following Eusebius, similarly omitted Marcellus, and along with him George Syncellus also passed over Eutychianus. But Nicephorus, Bishop of Constantinople, and Theophanes, give only two years to St. Marcellinus.

[2] Wherefore, Eusebius being dismissed with the other Greeks, in matters that pertain to the Roman Church, greater credit is to be given to her own nurslings than to others, but credit must be given to the nurslings of the Roman Church. we think with Baronius, in his Notes on this April 26. And just as hitherto in the other Pontiffs who flourished under heathen Emperors, as we did also in St. Cletus, so here too in the first place we set forth a small eulogy from the Index or Catalogue of Pontiffs brought down to Liberius, the second part of which we conclude with St. Sylvester, in which these things are written by a contemporary author: Eulogy from an ancient Catalogue of Pontiffs, "Marcellinus, 8 years, 3 months, 25 days. He was in the times of Diocletian and Maximinus, from the day before the Kalends of July, from the consulship of Diocletian VI and Constantius II, up to the consulship of Diocletian IX and Maximian VIII. At which time there was a persecution: and the episcopate was vacant *4 years, 6 months, 25 days." So in the said Catalogue, from which, and from the other Catalogues of Pontiffs, we said on April 22, that St. Eutychianus sat for eight years, from the year of Christ 275 up to the year 283, and the 7th or 8th of December, whom then St. Caius succeeded, and he presided up to the said April 22 of the year 296: the time of his See, from 296, when, under the consuls Diocletian VI and Constantius II, the holy Pontiff Marcellinus was substituted for St. Caius: who died a Martyr under the consuls Diocletian IX and Maximian VIII, that is, the year of Christ 304, to 304. in which the said Emperors put off the purple. The same consuls, both at his accession to the Pontificate and at his death, are consistently reported in all the Catalogues and Gesta MSS. of the Pontiffs, and in the Liber Pontificalis: likewise in Anastasius and in the ancient Roman Breviaries both manuscript and printed. And from the death of St. Caius to the death of St. Marcellinus, eight years are rightly counted, referred to in this and the other Catalogue soon to be given, and also in Anastasius and the indicated Breviaries: but the difficulty arises from the three months, or four, or two, or even eleven, and the twenty-five or fifteen days, which with such variety are added to the eight years; and especially since St. Marcellinus is said to have begun "from the day before the Kalends of July," or as others "from the Kalends of July, or even the Kalends of June." We think therefore that on such a day Marcellinus was consecrated Bishop while St. Caius was still living; then for three months, or certainly for some, he was Vicar of the same St. Caius, who had been captured or otherwise hindered. Concerning the time during which the episcopate was vacant after the death of St. Marcellinus, we shall treat below.

[3] The Theban soldiers, as Christians, coming to Rome, The first of all the actions attributed in Baronius's Annals to St. Marcellinus is the strength and courage given to the Theban Martyrs. Further, as in their Acts Eucherius Bishop of Lyons relates, these soldiers had received the rite of the Christian religion by Eastern tradition from the Bishop of the city of Jerusalem, and placed the sacred faith above their courage and all their arms. "Arriving by their journey at the city of Rome, they confirmed the same Christian faith which they had received with Blessed Marcellinus, the Pontiff of the said city, so that they should rather perish by the sword than violate the sacred faith of Christ which they had received." So there, to be more fully illustrated on September 22. Baronius for the year 297, no. 5, thinks that the Bishop of Jerusalem was Zambdas, of whom we treated on February 19, created Bishop under the consuls Faustus II and Gallus, that is, in the year of Christ 299. But having examined the whole matter, we think that the said Martyrs were rather taught the Christian faith by Hymenaeus the Bishop of Jerusalem, the predecessor of Zambdas, [whether he strengthened them while not yet Pontiff, or St. Caius his predecessor?] and that they were confirmed in the same faith either by St. Marcellinus not yet Pontiff, or certainly by St. Caius the Pontiff, and that the name of the Pontiff was not set down by the author of the Acts, but afterwards inserted in them from a conjecture not sufficiently grounded, namely the name of Blessed Marcellinus in place of St. Caius. This error is manifestly convicted by the fact that the war against the Bagaudae, for the waging of which the Thebans were being sent beyond the Alps, was stirred up (as Eucherius with other Writers attests) when Diocletian was elected to the Empire, and made Maximian Herculius Caesar for the partnership of the Empire and the labor, and sent him into the Gauls with an army to suppress the tumults—that is, in the year 285, full ten years before the Pontificate of St. Marcellinus. The rest will have to be discussed on September 22.

Ch. 1, Ch. 2, Ch. 4

[4] He performed what is attributed to St. Marcellus: Other things transferred to his successor St. Marcellus must necessarily be remitted to St. Marcellinus from the first four chapters of the Life of the said Marcellus on January 16: from which we here repeat a few things selected, with the name of St. Marcellinus replaced, and these are at the very beginning: "At the time when Maximian Augustus, returning from the parts of Africa to the city of Rome, wishing to please Diocletian Augustus, so that in his name he might build baths from the ground up, began, in envy of the Christians, to compel all the Roman soldiers to the affliction of labor, and condemned them in various places, some to quarry stones, the afflicted Christians are helped by St. Thraso, he rejoices: others to dig sand. At that time there was a Christian man, by the name of Thraso, a powerful man rich in means and faithful in life. He, when he had seen the Christians afflicted to fatigue and labor, began from his own means to minister nourishment and food to the holy Martyrs through the Christian men Cyriacus, Sisinnius, Smaragdus, and Largus. Hearing this, Blessed Marcellinus, Bishop of the City, was filled with great joy at the alms which Thraso was ministering to the Saints. And requesting the holy Christian men and servants of our Lord Jesus Christ, Cyriacus and Sisinnius, Smaragdus and Largus to come to him, he inquired of them: and they made known to St. Marcellinus the Bishop, He creates SS. Sisinnius and Cyriacus Deacons: how Thraso was ministering victuals to the Saints of God. Then, filled with joy, taking counsel, he consecrated Sisinnius and Cyriacus Deacons of the Roman Church." So there. Of St. Thraso we also spoke in the Life of St. Caius the Pontiff, who baptized him. He died a Martyr on December 11. But the Diocletian baths were erected in the 15th year of this reign, 298 of Christ, and the following. Then, St. Sisinnius the Deacon, having been cast into prison, was strengthened by heavenly light and voice, by which St. Apronianus the Commentariensis was converted, and baptized by Sisinnius: whom, raised up from the basin, he led to St. Marcellinus the Bishop: He confirms St. Apronianus with Chrism and gives him the Eucharist: "whom he signed with Chrism and consecrated the altar, and thus all partook of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ … St. Apronianus was beheaded on the fourth day before the Nones of February. Then were converted two soldiers, Papias and Maurus, who were baptized by Blessed Marcellinus the Bishop … and, beaten with leaded whips, they gave up the spirit, he baptizes SS. Papias and Maurus: buried on the fourth day before the Kalends of February … At one time, coming on the day of the procession, Marcellinus the Bishop offered himself to Maximian Augustus, saying to him: I suggest to Your Piety, why do you slaughter the servants of God, who pray for your realm and for the Republic? reproaching Maximian Augustus, he is beaten: Then Maximian Augustus in anger commanded that Marcellinus the Bishop be beaten with clubs and driven out … Then Carpasius the Vicar brought the horse before him and ordered Crescentianus to be hung up and beaten with clubs … And while he was being drawn out on the cords, The Martyrs die: St. Crescentianus, and being beaten with clubs and torn with claws, and consumed in the fire, he gave up his spirit, buried in the cemetery of Priscilla, in the sandpit on the old Via Salaria, on the 8th day before the Kalends of December … And with Cyriacus the Deacon, twenty-one were beheaded, on the Via Salaria, and St. Cyriacus. near the baths of Sallust, outside the walls, on the 17th day before the Kalends of April." So there. All of which was done before the martyrdom of St. Marcellinus, as will be evident from what follows: where St. Marcellinus is said to be buried next to the body of St. Crescentianus.

Annotated

* others wrongly have 7 years, or 6.

CHAPTER II.

The lapse, penance, and martyrdom of St. Marcellinus: his cult, relics, and the time of the succession of St. Marcellus.

[5] We set forth another, lamentable controversy in the lapse of St. Marcellinus, and one to be praised in his noble penance: which the other Catalogue of Pontiffs, brought down to the sixth century, thus indicates: "Marcellinus, a Roman by birth, Eulogy from another MS Catalogue the son of Projectus, sat for 8 years, 4 months, 15 days. He was in the times of Diocletian and Maximian, from the day of the Kalends of June, from

the consulship of Diocletian V and Constantius II up to Diocletian VIII and Maximian VIII. At which time there was a great persecution, so that within thirty days fifteen thousand people of both sexes through various provinces were crowned with martyrdom. On account of this matter, Marcellinus himself was led to the sacrifice in order that he might burn incense, which also he did. And after a few days, led by penitence, he was beheaded by the same Diocletian for the faith of Christ, together with Claudius and Quirinus and Antoninus, and they are crowned with martyrdom. The sacred bodies lay in the square for twenty-five days by the command of Diocletian: when Marcellus the Presbyter by night gathered the bodies of the Saints, and buried them on the Via Salaria in the cemetery of Priscilla (in the chamber which lies open unto the present day, which he himself had ordered while penitent, as he was being dragged to execution) in the crypt next to the body of St. Crescentius, on the sixth day before the Kalends of May. He made two ordinations in the month of December: four Presbyters, two Deacons, and five Bishops in various places. And the episcopate was vacant for 6 years, 6 months, and 25 days, while Diocletian persecuted the Christians." So there, the same things, and especially those which indicate the lapse and penance of St. Marcellinus, are had in the fuller Catalogues collected in the eighth century, likewise in Anastasius and in the manuscript Gesta Pontificum continued, as well as in the ancient Roman Breviaries both manuscript and printed in the year 1479, 1490, and others in the following century.

[6] Luitprand, in the Lives of the Roman Pontiffs, thus narrates the matter: Lapse and penance. "Then also Marcellinus himself, compelled by the demons, sacrificed, but after a few days, a Synod being gathered in a city of Campania, before one hundred and eighty Bishops, he worthily did penance." Platina more accurately sets forth these things in these words: "But the Pontiff Marcellinus, being led to the sacrifices of the gentiles, when the executioners pressed him with threats to offer incense to the gods, terrified with fear, adored strange gods. Then, not long after, a Council of one hundred and eighty Bishops being held in Sinuessa, a city of Campania, thither also Marcellinus set out, squalid and covered with dust, and clothed in haircloth, and asked that the due penalty be bestowed on him for his inconstancy. No one in so great a Council was found to condemn him, when all said that Peter had sinned almost in the same way, and had paid the penalty of his sin by weeping." In the Roman Breviary published by the command of Pope Pius V, the last words are more fully explained in this way: "Yet no one dared to condemn him, but all with one voice cried out: 'By your own mouth, not by our judgment, shall you be judged: the first See is judged by no one. Peter also, on account of the same weakness of soul, had transgressed, and had obtained pardon from God with similar tears.'" These things hitherto are recited in the Roman Breviary, save that, whereas it was formerly said from Platina "a Council of one hundred and eighty Bishops," after the revision of Clement VIII it is read "a Council of very many Bishops," which is reported to have been held by 300 Bishops under Diocletian and Maximian Augustus on the 10th day before the Kalends of September, under the consuls Diocletian VIII and Maximian VII, that is, in the year of Christ 303, to which year Baronius, from no. 88 to no. 108, extensively traces and explains the Acts of the said Council, who before treated of the lapse of St. Marcellinus under the year of Christ 302 from no. 88 to no. 105. Which the kindly reader will be able to read there.

[7] Sacred memory in the Martyrologies. In the ancient Martyrologies there is frequent mention of St. Marcellinus: and first in the genuine Bede these things are read: "On the same day, the deposition of St. Marcellinus the Pope, who, when he had ruled the Church for nine years and four months, in the times of Diocletian and Maximian, was beheaded by the same Diocletian together with Claudius and Cyrinus and Antoninus, for the faith of Christ, and after thirty-five days was buried on the Via Salaria in a chamber by Marcellus the Presbyter and the Deacons with hymns." The same is read in Rabanus, Ado, Notker, likewise in various manuscript Martyrologies. Usuard omits what pertains to the burial, and both in himself and in Ado and Notker these things are added: "At which time there was a great persecution, so that within one month seventeen thousand were crowned with martyrdom." Similar or more abridged accounts are had in Bellinus, Maurolycus, Felicius, and others. Galesinius and Canisius insert many details about the lapse and penance. In the present-day Roman Martyrology these things are read: "Likewise at Rome, St. Marcellinus the Pope and Martyr, who under Maximian for the faith of Christ, together with Claudius, Cyrinus, and Antoninus, was beheaded: at which time there was a great persecution, so that within a month seventeen thousand Christians were consecrated by martyrdom." Rabanus on May 26 again adorns him with a long eulogy.

[8] Whether he was killed long before under Maximian, But because the bodies of St. Marcellinus and his three companions after martyrdom are said to have lain in the square for 25, or 35, or even 36 days, which Marcellus the Presbyter gathered by night and buried next to the body of St. Crescentius, or Crescentianus, on the sixth day before the Kalends of May, it can reasonably be doubted whether St. Marcellinus was only buried on this April 26, but before, at the beginning of this month, or rather in the preceding March, he was crowned with martyrdom: when Diocletian and Maximian had not yet laid aside the purple, the former at Nicomedia, the latter at Milan, who before could have been at Rome. And so it is said that on the day of the procession, Marcellinus the Bishop, namely penitent after his lapse, offered himself to Maximian Augustus, and rebuked him for his cruelty: when by his command he was first beaten with clubs and driven out, then beheaded. What is meanwhile attributed to Diocletian, as to the chief Emperor and persecutor; and because this persecution was continued by Galerius Maximian, Diocletian at that time also resting at Salona, therefore to him these things are commonly ascribed; so that the words reported at the end of the eulogy, "while Diocletian was persecuting the Christians," must be explained in this or a similar manner: "While the persecution moved by Diocletian against the Christians was still continuing." Was he buried on April 26 by Marcellus the Presbyter? The Marcellus the Presbyter who buried the bodies of St. Marcellinus and his companions is the same one who was afterwards created Pontiff, in whose Acts on January 16 it is said in chapter five, which alone pertains to him, that Marcellus the Bishop, or rather, as here is said, while still a Presbyter, came with the matron Lucina and privately took the bodies of the Saints Cyriacus and the other Martyrs, with spices and linens, and placed them by night in a peacock-cart or vehicle, and carried them away. In the same manner it is said in the Liber Pontificalis that he gathered by night the bodies of St. Marcellinus and his companions, with Presbyters and Deacons, and buried them with hymns, according to what St. Peter himself had commanded him, or certainly, as is had above, "what he himself had commanded while penitent": in Anastasius it is read, "what he himself had prepared while penitent."

[9] Paul de Angelis, in the description of the Roman Basilica of St. Mary Major, book 6, chapter 3, treats of the relics of the said Church, Head and arm in the Church of St. Mary Major. and in the first place reports those which are enclosed in a certain marble tabernacle, supported by four purple columns, near the altar of St. Jerome, together with images of the Saints, where from ancient notices among other things he has described these: "The head of St. Marcellinus the Pope and Martyr, placed in brass, now however in silver with the Pontifical Tiara." In the Proper Offices of the Saints, printed for the Church of St. Mary Major, a double feast of SS. Cletus and Marcellinus is prescribed on April 26, and it is added there that the head of St. Marcellinus is kept in the Ciborium of the Relics, and the arm in the chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and at Mass the Creed is said. other relics at Rome, Octavius Pancirolus adds in the Hidden Treasure of the City of Rome, that some relics of St. Marcellinus the Pope are in the temples called St. Mary of Loreto, St. John the Baptist Beheaded, and St. Vitus; but that otherwise it is not known where the body is kept. That some of his relics are at Rouen in the monastery of St. Ouen, Saussay reports in the Gallican Martyrology: and concerning the Metropolitan Church of Prague it is read in the Diary of Relics of the same, that in it there is a distinguished part of the Head: but it is not added whence or when it was brought.

[10] George Cardoso, in the Lusitanian Hagiology, asserts that on this day, in the most celebrated monastery of the Holy Cross at Coimbra of the Canons Regular, a double office is recited of St. Claudius the Martyr, because in the year 1643 the head of St. Claudius, to which still some teeth adhere, Whether the head of St. Claudius is at Coimbra was brought from Rome to the said monastery, and is believed to be that of the companion of St. Marcellinus the Pope.

[11] And further, that against Eusebius and the other Greeks it may more certainly be understood that St. Marcellus is another from St. Marcellinus, and that the time during which between the one and the other the Apostolic See was vacant may be understood, we add the brief eulogy of St. Marcellus from the most ancient Catalogue of Pontiffs, which is set forth in these words: The See of St. Marcellus his Successor, "Marcellus, 1 year, 7 months, 20 days. He was in the times of Maxentius, from the consulship of the Tenth and Maximian VII, up to after the consulship of X and VII." The years here designated are 308, in which, May having been almost ended, St. Marcellus appears to have been created Pontiff, from May of the year 308 to January 16 of the year 310. and the following year 309, beyond which the Pontiff lived until January 16. These two years are likewise noted in the Fragment of the Fasts, brought down from the year 205 to the year 354, published by Bucher from our manuscript for the Paschal Canon of Victorius, namely, "Tenth and Maximian VII, and After the consulship of X and VII": for at the same time are written both the indicated Catalogue of Pontiffs and this fragment of the Fasts. Idatius also, in the Consular Fasts, edited by Sirmond and Labbe, thus notes these years: "Likewise the Tenth and Maximian VII. Under these consuls, which is Maxentius and Romulus, Licinius was raised up at Carnuntum, on the 3rd day before the Ides of November. Then After the consulship of the Tenth and Seventh. Under these consuls, which is Maxentius II and Romulus II." In the Little Book on the Prefects of the City in Cuspinianus, Onuphrius and Bucher, the said years are thus expressed: "The consuls whom the Lords our Augustuses shall have commanded. From the 12th day before the Kalends of May, it was done under Maxentius and Romulus, which is the Tenth and Maximian VII, on the Ides of April, Statius Rufinus Prefect of the City"; and soon, "Maxentius II and Romulus II. On the 3rd day before the Kalends of November, Aurelius Hermogenes Prefect of the City." So much concerning the consuls who presided in the said two years. But Maxentius, the son of Maximian Herculius, was then dominating at Rome, in the preceding year 307 proclaimed Augustus by the soldiers, and in the following years he wished himself and his son Romulus to be designated consuls: who finally in the year 312, defeated by Constantine the Great, fled and drowned in the Tiber, and perished: and then, that the memory of the tyrant Maxentius might be effaced, his consulships were expunged from the Fasts, and it was written twice "after the consulship of the Tenth and Seventh": in which years in the Chronicle of Eusebius is read, "ἄνευ ὑπάτων," "without consuls"; and before them

consuls are given for the years: Diocletian Augustus X, and Maximian Augustus VII, for whom others substitute Maximian Herculius X and Galerius Maximian Armentarius VII; since we said that St. Marcellus was created Pontiff in the year of Christ 308, in the month of May almost completed: and because St. Marcellinus the Martyr died in the year 304, on this April 24, or perhaps in the month of March, the episcopate was vacant for four years and one or two months: whether the episcopate was vacant for 4 years. not six or seven years, which crept in by an easy error of the copyists in place of the four. But that the See was vacant for some years is held by all the ancient Catalogues of Pontiffs, the Liber Pontificalis, Anastasius in all the manuscript and printed copies, Luitprand also and Abbo of Fleury with the manuscript Gesta Pontificum brought down to Martin V; likewise Vincent of Beauvais, book 12 of the Speculum Historiale, chapter 98; St. Antoninus, part 1 of the Histories, title 7, chapter 8, §16: and the cause of so prolonged a vacancy is conjectured to be the cruel persecution. And this sense appears to have lasted constantly in the Church for a thousand and more years, so that if in any case the saying of Baronius, also employed by Bosquet in part 2 of the History of the Gallican Church, page 6, has its place—"What is brought forward by a more recent author about matters so ancient, without the authority of any older one, is to be despised"—much more should it hold in the present case, where against anyone who thinks otherwise the so concordant authority of so many ancient monuments fights.