Marcellinus and Peter

Saints Marcellinus and Peter
Statue of St. Marcellinus at Seligenstadt.
Martyrs
Died	~304 AD Rome
Venerated in	Eastern Orthodox Church Roman Catholic Church
Major shrine	Church of Santi Marcellino e Pietro, Rome; Seligenstadt, Germany; relics also claimed by cathedral of Cremona
Feast	2 June
Attributes	Depicted as two tonsured men holding crowns; palms of martyrdom; depicted alongside St. Pollio

Saints Marcellinus and Peter (sometimes called Petrus Exorcista - Peter the Exorcist;Italian: Marcellino e Pietro) were two 4th century Christian martyrs in the city of Rome.

Very little is known about the two martyrs' lives. Marcellinus, a priest, and Peter, an exorcist, died in the year 304, during the Diocletianic Persecution. Pope Damasus I claimed that he heard the story of these two martyrs from their executioner who became a Christian after their deaths. Damasus' account is the oldest source concerning these two martyrs. Damasus states that they were killed at an out-of-the-way spot by the magistrate Severus or Serenus, so that other Christians would not have a chance to bury and venerate their bodies. The two saints happily cleared the spot chosen for their death: a thicket overgrown with thorns, brambles, and briers three miles from Rome. They were beheaded and buried in that spot.

Two women, Lucilla and Firmina, assisted by divine revelation, found the bodies, however, and had them properly buried. They buried their bodies near the body of St. Tiburtius on the Via Labicana in what became known as the Catacombs of Marcellinus and Peter.Alban Butler writes that “it was thought at one time that forty-four other martyrs died with Marcellinus and Peter, but this is due to a misreading of the Hieronymianum.”

Around the 6th century, a passio connected the martyrdom of Marcellinus and Peter with that of the jailer Art(h)emius, who was converted to Christianity by Marcellinus. Artemius’ wife Secunda (or Candida) and daughter Paulina were also converted. Artemius was beheaded; Secunda and Paulina were buried alive under a pile of stones. The passio states that they were killed at the 12th milestone on the Via Aurelia in a place called Silva Candida ("Whitewood", also called Silva Nigra, "Blackwood", or at Lorium). Their executioner, Dorotheus, was said to have been converted by Pope Julius I.