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Little is known about him, but he was held in great veneration at Rome. Pope St. Damasus says that he heard the story of this martyr from his executioner, Dorotheus, who became a Christian after his death.
Marcellinus, a priest, was arrested after Diocletian proclaimed his edict against Christian clergy. The Roman saw his imprisonment as an opportunity to evangelize and converted his jailer and his wife and daughter. The jailer and his family were then crushed to death while Marcellinus was led to a forest and told to clear brambles from the place of his execution. They were beheaded secretly so that his body wouldn't be venerated. The executioner, however, divulged the location of the body to two Christian women who buried him. His name appears in the first Eucharistic prayer and Constantine built a basilica over his tomb.
In 827, Pope Gregory IV sent their relics to Einhard, former secretary and biographer of Charlemagne, to enrich his monastery at Seligenstadt; records of the miracles which then took place survive. His feast is on June 2. |