Editing Pope Marcellinus

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 296 to 304}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Pope
| honorific-prefix = [[Pope Saint]]
| name = Marcellinus
| title = [[Bishop of Rome]]
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| image = Martyrdom of pope Marcellinus.jpg
| caption = [[Miniature (illuminated manuscript)|Medieval miniature]] showing the martyrdom of Saint Marcellinus
| term_start = 30 June 296
| term_end = 304
| predecessor = [[Pope Caius|Caius]]
| successor = [[Pope Marcellus I|Marcellus I]]
| birth_date = unknown date
| birth_place = [[Rome]], [[Roman Italy|Italy]], [[Roman Empire]]<ref name="ce"/>
| death_date = 304
| death_place = [[Rome]], [[Roman Italy|Italy]], [[Roman Empire]]
| feast_day = 26 April ([[Catholic]])<br /> 7 June ([[Serbian Orthodox]])
}}

'''Pope Marcellinus''' was the [[bishop of Rome]] from 30 June 296 to his death in 304. A historical accusation was levelled at him by some sources to the effect that he might have renounced [[Christianity]] during Emperor [[Diocletian]]'s [[Diocletianic Persecution|persecution of Christians]] before repenting afterwards, which would explain why he is omitted from lists of martyrs. The accusation is rejected, among others, by [[Augustine of Hippo]]. He is today venerated as a saint in the [[Catholic Church]] and in the [[Serbian Orthodox Church]].

==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>

== Veneration==
Marcellinus was mentioned in the [[General Roman Calendar]], into which a [[feast day]] in his honour jointly with that of [[Saint Cletus]] on 26 April was inserted in the thirteenth century.<ref name=CR>Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 1969), p. 121</ref> Because of the uncertainties regarding both, this joint feast was removed from that calendar in 1969.<ref name=CR/> Saint Cletus is still listed in the Roman Martyrology under 26 April date; but Saint Marcellinus is no longer mentioned in that professedly incomplete list of recognized saints.<ref>Martyrologium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2001 {{ISBN|88-209-7210-7}})</ref> Pope Marcellinus, along with Pope Marcellus, is commemorated in the Serbian Prologue of Ohrid on 7 June according to the [[Julian Calendar]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Prologue from Ochrid |url=http://www.stnicholasredbank.com/june1-8.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509074351/http://www.stnicholasredbank.com/june1-8.htm |archive-date=9 May 2012}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Christianity|History}}
*[[List of Catholic saints]]
*[[List of popes]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Marcellinus}}
*[http://www.stpetersbasilica.info/Exterior/Colonnades/Saints/St%20Marcellinus-115/StMarcellinus.htm Colonnade Statue in St Peter's Square]

{{S-start}}
{{s-rel|grt}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Pope Caius|Caius]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Bishop of Rome]] <br />[[List of popes|Pope]]|years=296–304}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Pope Marcellus I|Marcellus I]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Popes}}
{{Catholic saints}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marcellinus}}
[[Category:3rd-century births]]
[[Category:304 deaths]]
[[Category:3rd-century archbishops]]
[[Category:3rd-century Romans]]
[[Category:4th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:4th-century Romans]]
[[Category:Italian popes]]
[[Category:Papal saints]]
[[Category:Clergy from Rome]]
[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:3rd-century popes]]
[[Category:4th-century popes]]
[[Category:Diocletianic Persecution]]