JANUARY 16TH, ST. MARCELLUS I., POPE AND MARTYR

Month in honor of the Most Holy Name of OLJC.

This Marcellus was a Roman, and held the supreme Pontificate from the year of our Lord 304, in the reign of Constantius and Galerius, till 310, in that of Maxentius. It was through his persuasion that the Roman lady Lucina left the whole of her property to the Church of God. As the believers increased, he instituted new titles in the City, which he divided after the manner of dioceses for their convenience, and for the baptism and penance of heathens converted to Christianity, and for the burial of the martyrs. These proceedings excited the wrath of Maxentius, who threatened Marcellus with the heaviest punishment, unless he would lay down the papal office and sacrifice to idols. The servant of God treated with contempt the mad cries of this man, who accordingly took him and sent him to a menagerie, to take care of the beasts which were fed at the public cost. Marcellus remained at this place for nine months, which he spent in continual fasting and prayer, and, as he could not visit the parishes in person, he wrote letters to them. Some clerks rescued him, and the blessed Lucina hospitably received him into her house, in which he dedicated a Church, which is now called St. Marcellus'. Here the Christians met to pray, and the blessed Marcellus himself preached. These proceedings came to the knowledge of Maxentius, who thereupon had the wild beasts brought from the menagerie and located in the church, where Marcellus was made to feed them. The noisomeness of the place and the filthiness of his occupation broke down a constitution already enfeebled by many ailments, and he fell asleep in the Lord. The blessed Lucina buried his body in the cemetery of Priscilla, on the Salarian Way, on the 16th of January. He sat on the throne of Peter for five years, one month, and twenty-five days. He wrote an epistle to the Bishops of the Patriarchate of Antioch on the primacy of the Roman Church, wherein he proveth the right of the same Church to be called the head of all the Churches. In this letter he likewise saith that no Council can be lawfully gathered together except by the authority of the Roman Pontiff. He ordained at Rome in the month of December twenty - five Priests, two Deacons, and twenty-one Bishops for diverse Sees.