Editing Pope Marcellinus (section)

==Pontificate==
According to the ''[[Liberian Catalogue]]'', Marcellinus was a [[Rome|Roman]], the son of Proiectus or Projectus. He succeeded [[Pope Caius|Caius]] as [[bishop of Rome]] on 30 June 296.<ref name="ce"/> Marcellinus' pontificate began at a time when [[Diocletian]] was [[Roman emperor]], but had not yet started to [[Diocletianic Persecution|persecute the Christian]]s, and their membership grew. [[Caesar (title)|Caesar]] [[Galerius]] led the [[pagan]] movement against Christianity and aroused Diocletian against Christians in 302; first, Christian soldiers had to leave the army, later the Church's property was confiscated and their books destroyed. After two fires in Diocletian's palace, he took harder measures; Christians had to apostatize or be sentenced to death.

Marcellinus is not mentioned in the ''[[Martyrologium hieronymianum]]'', or in the ''Depositio episcoporum'', or in the ''Depositio martyrum''. The ''[[Liber Pontificalis]]'', based on the lost ''Acts of St Marcellinus'', relates that during [[Diocletian]]’s persecution, Marcellinus offered incense to [[Idolatry|idol]]s, but that, repenting shortly afterwards, he re-confessed the faith of Christ and suffered [[martyr]]dom with several companions. Other documents speak of his defection, and it is probably this lapse that explains the silence of the ancient liturgical calendars. In the beginning of the 5th century, [[Petilianus]], the [[Donatist]] bishop of [[Cirta]], says that Marcellinus and his priests had given up the holy books to the pagans during the persecution and offered incense to false gods. [[Augustine of Hippo]] denied the affair.<ref name="ce">[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09637d.htm Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope Saint Marcellinus." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 28 September 2017</ref><ref name=EB1911/> The records of the [[pseudo-Council of Sinuessa]], which [[Symmachian forgeries|were fabricated]] at the beginning of the 6th century, state that Marcellinus after his fall presented himself before a council, which refused to try him on the ground that ''prima sedes a nemine iudicatur'' ("The first See is judged by none").<ref name=EB1911/>

According to the ''Liber Pontificalis'', Marcellinus was buried on 26 April 304 in the cemetery of [[Priscilla]], on the [[Via Salaria]], 25 days after his martyrdom; the Liberian Catalogue gives as the date 25 October. The fact of the martyrdom, too, is not established with certainty. After a considerable interregnum, he was succeeded by Marcellus, with whom he has sometimes been confused.<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911|wstitle=Marcellinus, St|volume=17|last= Delehaye |first= Hippolyte |author-link= Hippolyte Delehaye|page=684 |short=1}}</ref>