Marcelo I

Marcellus I (in Latin, Marcellus PP. I) (Rome, ¿? - Rome, January 16, 309) was the 30 Bishop of Rome and successor of Saint Peter, from May/June 308 until his death on January 16, 309. He is venerated as a saint by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

Biography

The date of his birth is unknown, but the Liber Pontificalis says he was of Roman origin, specifically from the district of via Lata, now via del Corso.

Choice

For some time after Marcellinus's death in 304, Diocletian's persecution continued with unremitting severity. After the abdication of Diocletian in 305 and the ascension in Rome of Maxentius to the throne of the Caesars in October of the following year, the Christians of the capital once again enjoyed relative peace. However, almost two years passed before a new Bishop of Rome was chosen.

According to the Liberian Catalogue, Marcellus was elected Pope by the Roman clergy in mid-308:

«Fuit temporibus Maxenti a cons. X et Maximiano usque post consulatum X et septimum»

Liberian Catalogue

Based on Giovanni Battista de Rossi's interpretation, this annotation should read:

"A contra. Maximiano Herculio X and Maximiano Galerio VII [308] usque post cons. Maxim. Herc. X and Maxim. Galer. VIII [309]»

"He was a bishop at the time of Majencio, from the fourth consulate of Majencio when Maximus was his colleague, until after the consulate. »

Giovanni Battista de Rossi

Marcellus would have been chosen as Marcellinus's successor as early as the end of 306, but he could not be consecrated and take possession of the throne until May 27, 308.

On his official ascension, he found the church in a disastrous situation. Meeting places and some cemeteries were confiscated and ordinary activities were suspended. In addition to this, internal dissensions had arisen caused by the large number of people who had abjured the faith during the persecution and who, under the leadership of an apostate, sought to be readmitted to communion without doing an act of penance, because, In his opinion, the long vacations from the Apostolic See, after the abdication of the Pope himself, Marcellin, made it possible to consider such procedures already obsolete and outdated.

Pontificate

Once elected, Marcelo immediately set out to reorganize the Church. According to the Liber Pontificalis, he divided the metropolitan territory into 25 districts (tituli), headed by a presbyter who supervised the preparation of catechumens, baptism, the administration of penances, the liturgical celebrations and the care of places of burial and memory. However, his name is mainly related to the founding of the Cœmeterium Novellœ, in Via Salaria, in front of Priscilla's catacomb.

In Liber Pontificalis it was reported:

«Hic fecit cymiterium Novellae via Salaria et XXV titulos in urbe Rome constitute almost dioecesis propter bautismum et pœnitentiam multorum qui convertebantur ex paganis et propter sepulturas Inartyrum»

"He set up a cemetery in the Salary Way and appointed 25 "title" churches as jurisdictions within the city of Rome to provide baptism and penance to the many who worked among the pagans and buried the martyrs. »

Liber Pontificalis

At the beginning of the 7th century, there were probably 25 titular churches in Rome and there is a historical tradition that relates how the ecclesiastical administration was reformed after the persecution of Diocletian, for which reason the compiler of Liber Pontificalis he attributed it to Marcelo.

The Pope's work, however, was soon interrupted by the lapsi controversy. Marcelo, a firm supporter of the ancient traditions, hardened his position and demanded penance from those who wanted to be reinstated. As proof of this position, there is the epigraph composed by Pope Damasus I for his tomb:

“True pastor, because he manifested to the lapsis the obligation they had to atonement for their crime with the tears of penance, he was regarded by those miserable as a terrible enemy. Hence anger, hatred, discord, sedition, death. For the crime of those who denied Christ even during peace, Marcelo was deported, a victim of the cruelty of a tyrant."

Head of his grave.

Due to this situation, a party was formed that opposed the Pope and quarrels, seditions and massacres broke out. Maxentius, who gave credence to the accusations of the turbulent, blamed Marcellus for the riots and exiled him to a place that is still unknown. All this took place at the end of 308 or beginning of 309, as reported in the Liberian Catalogue, which speaks of a pontificate not exceeding 1 year, 6 (or 7) months and 20 days.

Marcellus died in exile shortly after leaving Rome and was immediately venerated as a saint.

Other versions

Passio Marcelli

A different version of Marcellus' death is related in the Liber Pontificalis and in the Roman Breviary, a version handed down from a fifth-century Passio Marcelli contained in the Acta Sanctorum:

"Majencio, enraged by the reorganization of the Church undertaken by Marcelo, demanded of the Pope to renounce his episcopal dignity and sacrificed the pagan gods, as well as his predecessor. When he refused, he was sentenced to work as a slave in a post office (catabulum) in Rome. After nine months he was released by the Roman clergy, but again he was condemned for consecration of the house of the matron Lucina in Via Lata. The sentence was to take care of the horses admitted to the same catabulum. A few days later, Marcelo died. »

Passio Marcelli

This version was perhaps created to somehow locate the place of the Pope's martyrdom: the Title of Marcellus, which was located in the public post office, hence the name "San Marcello in catàbulo". For this reason he is considered the patron saint of grooms and horse breeders.

The present Church of San Marcello al Corso dates from the beginning of the 16th century, and was probably built on the remains of the previous church, which, in turn, was perhaps on the site of the catabulum where Marcello died.

Mommsen's Hypothesis

According to the famous German scholar Theodor Mommsen, Marcellus would not have been the bishop of Rome, but a simple Roman presbyter entrusted with the regency of the ecclesiastical administration during the last period of the vacancy of Peter's throne. On the basis of this theory, January 16, 309 would only be the date of the death of Marcellinus (who would no longer be Pope since his abdication on October 25, 304), who would be succeeded by Pope Eusebius. This hypothesis would be supported by the fact that in some catalogs only one Pope is mentioned, sometimes called Marcellinus and sometimes Marcelo, as if he wanted to deny Marcellinus or confuse the two names in one. However, there is no historical evidence that can support this thesis.

Veneration

According to the Depositio episcoporum, the Chronography of 354, and other documents, his feast day is January 16. Despite this, both the place of exile and the exact date of his death are unknown. death, hypothesized around January 16. It is certain, however, according to the Martyrologium Hieronymianum, that he was transferred to Rome and buried in the catacomb of Priscilla. His remains are deposited in the ancient green basalt urn on the high altar of the Church of San Marcello al Corso.

The Catholic Church celebrates his liturgical memory on January 16; the Orthodox Churches, on the other hand, remember him on June 7.

Martyrologium Hieronymianum:

In Rome, in the cemetery of Priscilla, in the way Salaria Nueva, tomb of St. Marcelo I, Pope, who, as Pope St. Damasus recalls, was a true pastor, so he suffered much, being expelled from his homeland and dying in exile for having been falsely denounced before the tyrant by some who despised the penance imposed on them (309).