Saint Marcellus of Tangier or Saint Marcellus the Centurion ( es, San Marcelo) (c. mid 3rd century – 298 AD) was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

centurion who is today venerated as a martyr-saint by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

and the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...

. His

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context do ...

is celebrated on October 30.

Life

Marcellus was said to have been a

centurion A centurion (; la, centurio , . la, centuriones, label=none; grc-gre, κεντυρίων, kentyríōn, or ) was a position in the Roman army during classical antiquity, nominally the commander of a century (), a military unit of around 80 ...

stationed at

Tingis Tingis ( Latin; grc-gre, Τίγγις ''Tíngis'') or Tingi ( Ancient Berber:), the ancient name of Tangier in Morocco, was an important Carthaginian, Moor, and Roman port on the Atlantic Ocean. It was eventually granted the status of a Roman ...

(modern-day

Tangiers Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the capi ...

) who refused to participate in the general birthday celebrations of the Emperor

Maximian Maximian ( la, Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus; c. 250 – c. July 310), nicknamed ''Herculius'', was Roman emperor from 286 to 305. He was '' Caesar'' from 285 to 286, then ''Augustus'' from 286 to 305. He shared the latter title with his ...

, which would have entailed sacrifice to the

Roman gods The Roman deities most widely known today are those the Romans identified with Greek counterparts (see '' interpretatio graeca''), integrating Greek myths, iconography, and sometimes religious practices into Roman culture, including Latin li ...

. Throwing off his military belt, weapons, and

vine staff __NOTOC__ The vine staff, vine-staff, or centurion's staff ( la, vitis) was a vinewood rod of about in length used in the ancient Roman Army and Navy. It was the mark and tool of the centurion: both as an implement in the direction of drill and ...

(the insignia of his rank), Marcellus was soon brought before a judge named Fortunatus. The judge remanded the saint to lay his case before Maximian and Constantius; the latter was friendly to Christians. However, Marcellus was taken to the deputy Praetorian prefect Aurelius Agricolanus instead. Marcellus pleaded guilty to repudiating his allegiance to an earthly leader. Marcellus was

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

ed with a

sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

by the deputy Praetorian prefect. Afterwards, it is said that the official

shorthand Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''s ...

writer, a man named Saint Cassian, was so angry at the sentence that he refused to record the court proceedings and was martyred as well. St Marcellus'

relics In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

were later brought to and enshrined at León, and he became a

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

of the city. The Plaza de San Marcelo in this city is named for him. The church of San Marcelo dates from the 10th century.

Alternative version

An alternative version of his legend states that he was a centurion of the Legio VII Gemina Pia Felix, and was born in what is now León in the middle of the third century. This version, however, has been shown to be largely apocryphal. The story relates that Marcellus lived close to the

city walls A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...

. During the birthday celebrations for the Emperor

, in July 298, Marcellus publicly demonstrated his Christian faith by throwing down the insignia of his rank, and proclaimed that he only venerated one God. He was then sent to Tangiers to be judged by the vice-prefect (vicar), Agricolanus. He was condemned to death and

decapitated Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the i ...

on October 29, 298, together with his wife Nona and his twelve sons (Claudius, Lupercus, Victorius, Facundus, Primitivus, Servandus, Germanus, Faustus, Januarius, and Martial). Included in this group of sons are the martyrs

Emeterius and Celedonius :''Another Saint Emeterius is associated with the legend of Saint Severus of Barcelona.'' Saints Emeterius (or Hemeterius, Madir) and Celedonius ( es, San Emeterio y San Celedonio; la, Emeterius et Caeledonius; died 300 AD) are venerated as sain ...

, though their connection to Marcellus is probably

apocryphal Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...

Servandus and Germanus Saints Servandus and Germanus ( es, San Servando y San Germán) (d. 305 AD) were Spanish martyrs who are venerated as Christian saints. They were killed near Cádiz. Tradition states that they were from Mérida, and sons of Saint Marcellus the ...

(or Cermanus) were venerated separately at Cadiz, and their association with Marcellus is also apocryphal.

Claudius, Lupercus, Victorius

Saints Claudius, Lupercus or Lupercio, and Victorius or Victoricus (d. c. 300) are said to have been the sons of St Marcellus. They were said to have been martyred at León, Spain, during the reign of the Emperor

Diocletian Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...

. Their relationship to Marcellus is probably

, though it was accepted in subsequent breviaries and

hagiographies A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies might ...

as well as the ''

Roman Martyrology The ''Roman Martyrology'' ( la, Martyrologium Romanum) is the official martyrology of the Catholic Church. Its use is obligatory in matters regarding the Roman Rite liturgy, but dioceses, countries and religious institutes may add duly approve ...

'', which placed all four saints under October 30. However, it is quite possible that Claudius, Lupercus, and Victorius were soldiers of Spanish origin who were killed at León, as tradition states. Many churches in Spain were dedicated to them, including the ancient

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

abbey of San Claudio, in

Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...

. The town of

San Claudio San Claudio (''San Cloyo'' in Asturian) is a town situated in the municipality of Oviedo, Spain. It lies three kilometers and a half from Oviedo. It is named after Saint Claudius, a martyr of León, Spain León (; ) is a city and municipali ...

, near

Oviedo Oviedo (; ast, Uviéu ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city. Oviedo is located a ...

, takes its name from this group of martyrs. Their

were

translated Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

several times in succeeding centuries. King Ferdinand I of Castile transported some of their relics to the church of San Isidoro in León. In 1173, the relics were translated to a new church dedicated to the three martyrs. This church was destroyed in 1834 and the relics were moved to the church of San Marcelo, dedicated to their presumed father. Their feast day is celebrated in Spain and Portugal on October 30. Victorius or Victoricus should not be confused with the French saint of the same name. Another Lupercus or Luperculus was a

bishop of Eauze The former Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Eauze (Latin Elusa), in Aquitaine, south-west France, existed from circa 300 to 879. Its Ancient cathedral was so utterly destroyed it hasn't even been located. The present Eauze Cathedral, ...

who was venerated as a martyr, and sometimes identified as an uncle of the Spanish saint

Saint Engratia Saint Engratia ( pt, Santa Engrácia, es, Santa Engracia) is venerated as a virgin martyr and saint. Tradition states that she was martyred with eighteen companions in 303 AD. She should not be confused with the 8th-century Spanish martyr of th ...

References

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