Pope Marcellus I

From New World Encyclopedia
Saint Marcellus I
Papa Marcelo I.jpg
Birth name Marcellus
Papacy began May 308
Papacy ended 309
Predecessor Marcellinus
Successor Eusebius
Born ???
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Died 309
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Other popes named Marcellus

Pope Saint Marcellus I, pope from May 308 to 309, succeeded Marcellinus, after a considerable interval, most probably in May or June 308. He is credited with having reorganized and re-invigorated the the Roman church after a period of harsh persecution under Emperor Diocletian. However, he faced a serious challenge due to internal strife within the church over the question of re-admitting to communion those who faith had lapsed and had offered sacrifice to pagan gods. Marcellinus took a hard line in demanding strict penances for those who had lapsed before they could be readmitted. Outbreaks of serious violence soon disrupted his flock.

Emperor Maxentius banished Marcellus from Rome in 309 on account of the tumult caused by the severity of the penances he had imposed. He died the same year, being succeeded by Eusebius. His relics are under the altar of the church of San Marcello al Corso, in Rome. His feast day is commemorated on January 16. It is no longer on the Universal Roman Calendar but is still celebrated in the Tridentine rite.

Reign as Pope

For some time after the death of Marcellinus in 304 the Diocletian persecution continued with unabated severity. After the abdication of Diocletian in 305, and the accession in Rome of Maxentius to the throne of the Caesars in October of the following year, the Christians of the capital again enjoyed comparative peace. Nevertheless, the threat of renewed persecution made the episcopacy of Rome a dangerous for its occupant. Nearly two years passed before a new bishop of Rome was elected. Then in 308, according to the Catalogus Liberianus, Pope Marcellus was elected to his office.[1]

At Rome, Marcellus found the Church in the greatest confusion. The meeting places and some of the burial places of the faithful had been confiscated by the state due to Diocletian's earlier edicts. Thus, the ordinary life and activity of the Roman church had been interrupted. Added to this were the dissensions within the church itself, caused by the large number of members—in some traditions including even the previous pope himself—who had fallen away during the long period of active persecution. Some members who had kept the faith held that these lapsed Christians should not be readmitted to communion, while others believed they should be shown compassion after a period of penance. Meanwhile some of the lapsed themselves loudly demanded that they should be readmitted to communion even without doing penance.

According to the Liber Pontificalis, Marcellus divided the territorial administration of the Church into 25 districts (tituli), appointing over each a presbyter (priest-elder), who saw to the preparation of the catechumens (prospective new members) for baptism and directed the performance of public penances. The presbyter was also made responsible for the burial of the dead and for the celebrations commemorating the deaths of the martyrs. The pope also had a new burial place, the Cœmeterium Novellœ on the Via Salaria (opposite the Catacomb of Saint Priscilla), laid out. As late as the beginning of the seventh century there were still 25 titular churches in Rome. Thus, there is a clear historical tradition in support of the idea that the ecclesiastical administration in Rome was reorganized by this pope after the great persecution.

The work of the pope was, however, quickly interrupted by controversies over the question of the re-admittance of the lapsi (lapsed Christians) into the church. In a poetic tribute composed by Pope Damasus (d. 384) it is related that Marcellus was looked upon as a wicked enemy by all the lapsed, because he insisted that they should perform the prescribed penance for their guilt. As a result serious conflicts arose, some of which ended in bloodshed. The peace of the Roman church was thus utterly broken. At the head of the dissenters was a lapsed Christian who had reportedly denied the faith even before the outbreak of severe persecution. As a result of the disruption of civic peace resulting from internal disputes within the church, Emperor Maxentius had the pope seized and sent into exile. This took place at the end of 308 or the beginning of 309 according to the Catalogus Liberianus, which gives the length of Marcellus' pontificate around a year and a half. Marcellus died shortly after leaving Rome. After his death, he was venerated as a saint and confessor.

A fifth-century account of Marcellus' death was included in the legendary account of the martyrdom of Saint Cyriacus. This tradition, which was adopted by the Liber Pontificalis, gives a different account of the end of Marcellus. According to this version, the pope was required by Maxentius, who was enraged at his reorganization of the Church, to lay aside his episcopal dignity and make an offering to the gods. When Marcellus refused, he was condemned to work as a slave at a station on the public highway. At the end of nine months he was set free by the clergy. However when he proceeded to consecrate the house of a matron named Lucina as "titulus Marcelli" he was again condemned to work as a slave, this time attending to the horses brought into the above-mentioned station. It was while working in this menial occupation that he died.

The tradition related in the verses of Damasus cannot be completely reconciled with the legendary account above, although it is possible that more than one factor—both the civil strife among Roman Christians and Maxentius' anger at Marcellus' re-invigoration of the Roman church—may have provided reasons for Marcellus' exile.

Legacy

The feast of Pope Saint Marcellus is celebrated on January 16. This is ccording to the Depositio episcoporum of the Chronography of 354 and other Roman authorities. Nevertheless, it is not known whether this is the date of his death or that of the burial of his remains, after these had been brought back from the unknown place to which he had been exiled. He was buried in the Catacomb of Saint Priscilla, where his grave is mentioned by the itineraries to the graves of the Roman martyrs.

Marcellus' name is to this day borne by the church at Rome mentioned in the above legend. In art, he is also pictured with symbols related to the story of his work as a slave, sometimes with a donkey or horse nearby, or standing in a stable.

References
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  • Liber Pontificalis, ed. Louis Duchesne, I, 164-6; cf. Introduction, xcix-c; Acta SS., Jan., II, 369
  • Joseph Langen, Geschichte der Römischen Kirche I, 379 sqq.
  • Paul Allard, Histoire des persécutions, V, 122-4
  • Louis Duchesne, Histoire ancienne de l'Église, II, 95-7.

Notes

  1. The tradition that Marcellus was already serving as pope when his predecessor Marcellinus was buried under miraculously circumstances is dismissed by most scholars as legendary.

External links

This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.


Roman Catholic Popes
Preceded by:
Marcellinus
Bishop of Rome Pope
308–309
Succeeded by: Eusebius


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