Hieromartyr Marcellinus, Pope of Rome

Life

Marcellinus was the predecessor on the Roman throne to Pope Marcellus. When Emperor Diocletian summoned him and threatened him with torture, he offered sacrifice to the idols, for which the emperor rewarded him with a precious garment. But Marcellinus bitterly repented and began to weep day and night over his denial of Christ, as once did the Apostle Peter. At that time a certain council of bishops was held in Campania. The pope dressed in sackcloth and sprinkled his head with ashes, then entered the council and before all confessed his sin, begging them to judge him. The Fathers told him to judge himself. Then he said: I deprive myself of the priestly rank, of which I am unworthy; and further: let my body after death not be buried but cast to the dogs! This he said, and he pronounced a curse upon anyone who would dare to bury him. Then he went to Emperor Diocletian, cast before him that precious garment, confessed his faith in Christ, and reviled the idols. The enraged emperor ordered him tortured and then killed outside the city, together with three good men: Claudius, Cyrinus, and Antoninus. The bodies of these three were immediately buried, but the body of the pope lay for thirty-six days. Then Saint Peter appeared to the new Pope Marcellus and commanded him to bury the body of Marcellinus, for, he said: "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted."