Cletus, the son of Emilianus, was a Roman from
Region V, and of the patrician street. He governed the Church during
the reigns of the emperors Vespasian and Titus. Agreeably to the
order given him by the Prince of the Apostles, he established 25
priests in the city. He was the first who in his letters used the
words “Health and Apostcolic benediction.” Having put the Church
into admirable order and having governed it 12 years, 7 months and 2
days, he was crowned with martyrdom under the emperor Domitian in the
Second Persecution following that of Nero, and was buried in the
Vatican near the body of Saint Peter.
Marcellinus, a Roman by birth, was overcome by
fear in the terrible persecution under the emperor Diocletian, and
offered incense to the idols of the gods. But such was his sorrow for
his fall that he immediately repaired to Sinuessa where a council of
several bishops was being held and, entering in, covered with
sackcloth and shedding floods of tears, he publicly confessed his
sin. No one, however, dared to condemn him, but all, with one voice,
exclaimed: “Judge yourself by your own lips, not by our judgement,
for the first See is judged by no-one. They added that Peter, too,
sinned through the same weakness and by the like tears, obtained
pardon from God. Having returned to Rome, Marcellinus went to the
emperor and severely reproached him for having driven him to so great
a crime. Whereupon, the emperor ordered him to be beheaded, together
with three other Christians, Claudius, Cyrinus and Antoninus. Their
bodies, by the emperor’s order, were left 36 days without burial,
after which the blessed Marcellus (in consequence of his receiving
while asleep, an admonition from Saint Peter) had them buried in the
Cemetery of Priscilla on the Via Salaria, at which burial were
present many Priests and Deacons who, with torches in their hands,
sang hymns in honour of the martyrs. Marcellinus governed the Church
7 years, 11 months and 23 days. During this period, he gave two
ordinations in December, at which four were made Priests and five
were made Bishops.
Dom Prosper Guéranger:
Two bright stars appear this day
on the Ecclesiastical Cycle proclaiming the glory of our Jesus, the
Conqueror of death. Again, they are two Pontiffs and Martyr-Pontiffs.
Cletus leads us to the very commencement of the Church, for he was a
disciple of Peter and his second Successor in the See of Rome.
Marcellinus was a witness of the great Persecution under Diocletian.
He governed the Church on the eve of her triumph. Let us honour these
two fathers of Christendom who laid down their lives in its defence,
and let us offer their merits to Jesus, who supported them by His
grace and cheered them with the hope that, one day, they would share
in His Resurrection.
In the short notice on the life
of Saint Marcellinus the reader will meet with a circumstance which,
by some learned historians, is rejected as utterly untrue, whilst, by
others equally learned, it is considered as authentic. The holy
Pontiff is said to have flinched before his persecutors and to have
gone so far as to offer incense to the idols, but the statement adds
that he repaired his fault by a second and courageous profession of
his faith which secured for him the crown of martyrdom. The plan of
our work does not admit critical disquisitions. We will therefore not
attempt to clear up this difficulty of history. It is enough for us
to know that all are agreed upon the martyrdom of this holy Pope. At
the time when the Lesson, which is now in the Breviary, was drawn up,
the fall of Marcellinus was believed as a fact. Later on, it was
called in question and the arguments used against it are by no means
to be despised. The Church, however, has not thought well to change
the Lesson as it first stood, the more so as questions of this nature
do not touch upon faith. We scarcely need to remind the reader, that
the fall of Marcellinus, supposing it to be a fact, would be no
argument against the infallibility of the Roman Pontiff. The Pope
cannot teach error, when he addresses himself to the Church. But he
is not impeccable in his personal conduct.
* * * * *
Pray for us, O holy Pontiffs, and
look with fatherly love upon the Church on Earth which was so
violently persecuted in your times and, at the present day, is far
from enjoying peace. The worship of idols is revived, and though they
be not of stone or metal, yet they that adore them are as determined
to propagate their worship as were the pagans of former days to make
all men idolaters. The gods and godesses now in favour are called
Liberty, Progress and Modern Civilisation. Every measure is resorted
to in order to impose these new divinities upon the world. They that
refuse to adore them are persecuted. Governments are secularised,
that is, un-Christianised. The education of youth is made independent
of all moral teaching. The religious element is rejected from social
life as an intrusion: and all this is done with such a show of
reasonableness that thousands of well-minded Christians are led to be
its advocates, timid perhaps, and partial, but still its advocates.
Preserve us, O holy Martyrs, from
being the dupes of this artful impiety. It was not in vain that our
Jesus suffered death and rose again from the grave. Surely, after
this He deserves to be what He is — King of the whole Earth under
whose power are all creatures. It is in order to obey Him that we
wish no other Liberty save that which He has based upon his Gospel;
no other Progress save that which follows the path He has marked out;
no other Civilisation save that which results from the fulfilment of
the duties to our fellow men, which He has established. It is He that
created human nature and gave it its laws. It is He that redeemed it
and restored it to its lost rights. Him alone, then, do we adore. O
holy Martyrs, pray that we may never become the dupes or slaves of
the theories of human pride, not even should they that make or uphold
them, have power to make us suffer or die for our resistance.
Also on this day according to the ROMAN
MARTYROLOGY:
At Amasea in Pontus, St. Basileus, bishop and
martyr, whose illustrious martyrdom occurred under the emperor
Licinius. His body was thrown into the sea, but being found by
Elpidiphorus through the revelation of an angel, it was honourably
entombed.
At Braga in Portugal, St. Peter, martyr, the first
bishop of that city.
At Venice, St. Clarence, bishop and confessor.
At Verona, St. Lucidius, bishop.
In the monastery of Centula, St. Richarius, priest
and confessor.
At Troyes, St. Exuperantia, virgin.
And in other places, many other holy martyrs,
confessors and virgins.
Thanks be to God.