The Feast of St. Marcellus, Pope and Martyr

January 16th is the Feast Day of a little known yet mighty Holy Pontiff of the early 4th century, Pope St. Marcellus. On Feast Days commemorating the life of a Pope, I always make it a habit to ask for the Saint's intercession for the current occupant of the See of Rome. Especially since we are living in times of confusion, laxity, and turmoil, wherein we see the Bishop of Rome compromised with the spirit of the world and the insidious ideals of the Modernist heresy. May Pope St. Marcellus pray for the repentance of Francis, may he pray for Benedict XVI, may he pray for an end to the current crisis, and for the restoration of Holy Mother Church.

The following account comes from selected portions of The Catholic Encyclopedia:

January 16 – When the Emporor insisted that the lapsed be readmitted to communion without penance, one man stood in his way. This is his story: Pope St. Marcellus.

His date of birth unknown; elected pope in May or June, 308; died in 309. 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, nearly two years passed before a new Bishop of Rome was elected. Then in 308, according to the “Catalogus Liberianus”, Pope Marcellus first entered on his office.

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, and the ordinary life and activity of the Church was interrupted. Added to this were the dissensions within the Church itself, caused by the large number of weaker members who had fallen away during the long period of active persecution and later, under the leadership of an apostate, violently demanded that they should be readmitted to communion without doing penance. According to the “Liber Pontificalis” Marcellus divided the territorial administration of the Church into twenty-five districts (tituli), appointing over each a presbyter, who saw to the preparation of the catechumens 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 St. Priscilla), laid out. At the beginning of the seventh century there were probably twenty-five titular churches in Rome; even granting that, perhaps, the compiler of the “Liber Pontificalis” referred this number to the time of Marcellus, there is still a clear historical tradition in support of his declaration 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 the controversies to which the question of the readmittance of the lapsi into the Church gave rise. As to this, we gather some light from the poetic tribute composed by Damasus in memory of his predecessor and placed over his grave. Damasus relates that the truth-loving leader of the Roman Church 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, and every bond of peace was broken.

At the head of this band of the unfaithful and rebellious stood an apostate who had denied the Faith even before the outbreak of persecution. The tyrannical Maxentius had the pope seized and sent into exile. This took place at the end of 308 or the beginning of 309, which gives the length of the pontificate as no more than one year, six (or seven) months, and twenty days. Marcellus died shortly after leaving Rome, and was venerated as a saint. His feast-day was 16 January, according to the “Depositio episcoporum” of the “Chronography” of 354 and every other Roman authority. 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 quarter to which he had been exiled. He was buried in the catacomb of St. Priscilla where his grave is mentioned by the itineraries to the graves of the Roman martyrs as existing in the basilica of St. Silvester.

The following prayers are offered today at the Holy Mass in commemoration of the Holy Pope:

Commemoration of St. Marcellus, Pope and Martyr

Collects: MERCIFULLY HEAR, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the prayers of Thy people; that we who rejoice in the martyrdom of Blessed Marcellus, Thy Martyr and Pontiff, may be helped by his merits.

Secrets: WE BESEECH THEE, O Lord, having offered our gifts, benignly enlighten Thy Church, both that the success of Thy flock may everywhere progress, and under Thy guidance Thy Pastors may be pleasing to Thy Name.

Post Communion: BE APPEASED, O Lord, we beseech Thee; that Thy Church, nourished with this holy refreshment, and guided by wise direction, may receive both a growth in freedom and continue steadfast in soundness of religion.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. We love you. Save souls. Amen.

Pope St. Marcellus, pray for us and for the Church. Amen.