The Ante-Nicene Church · AD 180–313
Marcellinus of Rome
d. c. 304 · Bishop of Rome · Rome
The Ante-Nicene Church
Who Marcellinus of Rome was
Bishop of Rome when Diocletian’s edicts fell in 303. The sources are painfully divided: Donatist polemic and the later Acts charged that he had, under terror, handed over the scriptures and even offered incense — a traditor pope — before repenting and dying; defenders held the story a slander. Augustine treated the charge as false. Whatever the truth, his episcopate ended in the chaos of the persecution, and the Roman see stood vacant for years afterward. The archive records the accusation as the sources present it — grave, early, and unresolved.
Also listed in the bishops of Rome.
Common questions
When did Marcellinus die?
Marcellinus of Rome is dated d. c. 304 in the archive, which places Marcellinus in the Ante-Nicene Church (AD 180–313). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.
Which early sources mention Marcellinus?
Marcellinus of Rome is named in 3 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Eusebius of Caesarea, The chronographer of 354 and Augustine of Hippo. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Marcellinus from?
The archive associates Marcellinus of Rome with Rome.
Who were Marcellinus’ contemporaries?
The archive links Marcellinus of Rome to 3 other figures, including Emperor Diocletian, Julius I of Rome and Marcellus I of Rome. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Primary-source mentions (3)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Ecclesiastical History VII.32.1 ('overtaken by the persecution')
c. AD 325Marcellinus, who was overtaken by the persecution.Eusebius of Caesarea · Ecclesiastical History VII.32 · source text
Liberian Catalogue ('in whose time was the persecution, and the churches were destroyed')
c. AD 354Quo tempore fuit persecutio — in whose time was the persecution, and the bishopric ceased for seven years.The chronographer of 354 · Liberian Catalogue · source text
Against the Letters of Petilian / De unico baptismo
c. AD 410They bring up against us Marcellinus and the presbyters Melchiades, Marcellus, and Silvester, as though they had delivered up the sacred books and offered incense; but they prove nothing.Augustine of Hippo · source text
Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- AD 235 · Maximinus Thrax targets the clergy, AD 235
- AD 250 · The Decian persecution, AD 250
- AD 251 · The Novatianist schism, AD 251
- AD 257 · The Valerian persecution, AD 257
- AD 260 · Gallienus’ edict of toleration, AD 260
- AD 268 · Antioch deposes Paul of Samosata, AD 268
- AD 272 · Aurelian awards the Antioch church, AD 272
- AD 301 · Hripsime and her company, AD 301
- AD 303 · The Great Persecution begins, AD 303
- AD 303 · The search of the church at Cirta, AD 303
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Marcellinus.
- 1Rome