St. Marcellinus and St. Peter, Martyrs

The feastday of St. Marcellinus and St. Peter is June 2nd.

Also view these parts of Saint Marcellinus, Priest, and Saint Peter, Exorcist:
Lessons - Lessons from Saint Marcellinus (Priest and Martyr)

Saints Marcellinus and Peter were Roman Christians who suffered martyrdom for their faith at the beginning of the fourth century. Marcellinus was a priest in Rome and Peter was an exorcist. (At one point in the Church's history, exorcists comprised a minor order in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, ranking below deacons and sub-deacons.) During the intense persecution of the Church ordered by the Emperor Diocletian, both men were arrested and imprisoned.

According to legend, Marcellinus and Peter not only strengthened the faith of other Christians imprisoned with them; they also made new converts, including the jailer — a man named Arthemius — and his wife and daughter. Along with the other Christians, Marcellinus and Peter were condemned to death about the year 304; the two saints were taken to a wood outside Rome named Silva Nigra, where they were beheaded in secret (so that their place of burial wouldn't be known to the Church, and in the hopes that their example of courage and faith would be forgotten).

Ironically, their names have been preserved and venerated over the centuries in the Roman Canon (Eucharistic Prayer I) used at Mass. Pope St. Damasus (d. 384) had, while a boy, talked to Arthemius about the two saints; as pope, he later wrote an epitaph for their tombs.

Lessons from St. Marcellinus

Lessons from Saint Marcellinus (Priest and Martyr)
1. As Jesus said, "Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be made known" (Mt 10:26). The Roman authorities attempted to execute Saints Marcellinus and Peter in secret so as to erase their memory — but through their courageous martyrdom, God has granted them eternal renown.

2. Difficulties and misfortunes can actually provide opportunities for spreading the gospel; Marcellinus and Peter used their imprisonment as a way of bringing still more people to know and follow Christ.

Another tidbit about St. Marcellinus and St. Peter

Sts. Marcellinus and Peter (304). Marcellinus was a priest and Peter an exorcist (one of the minor orders), who both lived in Rome and labored there under the cruel Emperor Diocletian. They were martyred together. So great was the veneration of the Catholics for them that a basilica was built over their tomb in Rome. Their names are mentioned in the Roman Canon of the Mass. If “the law of praying is the law of believing,” we may know from this simple recognition how great and heroic these two martyrs were, and how much they should be remembered and invoked.

bttt

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American Cathlic's Saint of the Day

June 2, 2005

Sts. Marcellinus and Peter

(d. 304)

Marcellinus and Peter were prominent enough in the memory of Church to be included among the saints of the Roman Canon. Mention of their names is optional in our present Eucharistic Prayer I.

Marcellinus was a priest and Peter was an exorcist, that is, someone authorized by the Church to deal with cases of demonic possession. They were beheaded during the persecution of Diocletian. Pope Damasus wrote an epitaph apparently based on the report of their executioner, and Constantine erected a basilica over the crypt in which they were buried in Rome. Numerous legends sprang from an early account of their death.

Comment:

Why are these men included in our Eucharistic prayer, and given their own feast day, in spite of the fact that almost nothing is known about them? Probably because the Church respects its collective memory. They once sent an impulse of encouragement through the whole Church. They made the ultimate step of faith.

Quote:

"The Church has always believed that the apostles, and Christ's martyrs who had given the supreme witness of faith and charity by the shedding of their blood, are quite closely joined with us in Christ" (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 50).

Cool post! I learn something old everyday. =D

BUMP

BTTT on the Optional Memorial of Sts. Marcellinus and Peter, June 2, 2006!

LOL! I figure I have to learn something everyday too.

BTTT on the Optional Memorial of Sts. Marcellinus and Peter, June 2, 2007!

And they say we aren’t ‘old’ if we keep learning something everyday! LOL!

Vultus Christi

Saints Marcellinus and Peter

O God, Who by the glorious confession of the holy martyrs
Marcellinus and Peter,
dost surround and protect us,
grant that we may go forward under their protection
and be sustained by their prayer.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

Saints of the Roman Canon

The names of today’s martyrs are familiar to us. Saints Marcellinus and Peter are commemorated in the Roman Canon. Just think! For over 1500 years not a single Mass was offered without the names of these two saints being whispered by the priest at the altar. Saint Marcellinus was a Roman priest; Saint Peter was an exorcist . . . yes, an exorcist. Both were put to death for the faith under Diocletian in the year 303. So dear were these two saints to the Church of Rome that Constantine built a basilica in their honour.

Special to Me

Last year on this day, which also happens to be my birthday, I was privileged to offer Holy Mass in the Basilica of Saints Marcellinus and Peter on the Via Merulana, not far from Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. D. Ryan-Maria, from my own community of Santa Croce, and Sister Barbara, A.S.C.J. shared the graces of the day with me.

Invoke the Saints

The repeated invocation of the saints — simply naming them day after day — forges a wonderful friendship with them. The psalmist is right to say: “There are saints who dwell in His land; wondrous delight He gives me in their companionship” (Ps 15:3). Mother Church teaches us to speak the names of the saints: each name evokes a face, a heart, the mystery of a life and death transfigured by the Holy Spirit and taken up into the death and glory of Christ.

Blessed Companionship

The companionship of the saints is one of the boons of our Catholic faith. (I so pity the Protestants with their empty calendars looking rather like a ghost town.) It is comforting to know that no matter what temptations, trials, and struggle we are experiencing, there is in the kingdom of heaven someone who has already been through them all, someone disposed to comfort and help us. Frequent the saints, cultivate their friendship. Take a lesson from the Church who never tires of naming them in her liturgy.