Pope Marinus I (; died 15 May 884) was the

bishop of Rome A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

and ruler of the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

from 882 until his death. Controversially at the time, he was already a bishop when he became

pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

, and had served as

papal legate 300px, A woodcut showing Henry II of England greeting the pope's legate. A papal legate or apostolic legate (from the ancient Roman title '' legatus'') is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic ...

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

. He was also erroneously called Martin II (Martinus II) leading to the second pope named Martin to take the name Martin IV.

Ecclesiastical career

Born at

Gallese Gallese is an Italian '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Viterbo, from Viterbo. It was taken by Duke Thrasimund II of Spoleto in 737 or 738, at which time it was essential to communications between Rome and Ravenna and had a large ...

, Marinus was the son of a priest. He was ordained as a deacon by

Pope Nicholas I Pope Nicholas I ( la, Nicolaus I; c. 800 – 13 November 867), called Nicholas the Great, was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 24 April 858 until his death. He is remembered as a consolidator of papal authority, exerting d ...

. He first served as bishop of Caere. On three separate occasions, he had been employed by the three popes who preceded him as

legate Legate may refer to: * Legatus, a higher ranking general officer of the Roman army drawn from among the senatorial class :*Legatus Augusti pro praetore, a provincial governor in the Roman Imperial period *A member of a legation *A representative, ...

, his mission in each case having reference to the controversy started by Patriarch

Photios I of Constantinople Photios I ( el, Φώτιος, ''Phōtios''; c. 810/820 – 6 February 893), also spelled PhotiusFr. Justin Taylor, essay "Canon Law in the Age of the Fathers" (published in Jordan Hite, T.O.R., & Daniel J. Ward, O.S.B., "Readings, Cases, Materia ...

. In 882, he was sent on behalf of Pope John VIII to Duke Athanasius of Naples to warn him not to trade with the Muslims of southern Italy. Marinus I was elected to succeed John VIII as

from around the end of December 882. This papal election was controversial because Marinus had already been

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different gro ...

as bishop of Caere; at the time, a bishop was expected never to move to another see. Among his first acts as pope were the restitution of

Formosus Pope Formosus (896) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 6 October 891 until his death on 4 April 896. His reign as pope was troubled, marked by interventions in power struggles over the Patriarchate of Constantinople, th ...

as cardinal bishop of

Portus Portus was a large artificial harbour of Ancient Rome. Sited on the north bank of the north mouth of the Tiber, on the Tyrrhenian coast, it was established by Claudius and enlarged by Trajan to supplement the nearby port of Ostia. The archa ...

and the anathematizing of Photius I. Due to his respect for

Alfred the Great Alfred the Great (alt. Ælfred 848/849 – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who bo ...

(r. 871–899), he freed the

Anglo-Saxons The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened ...

of the ''Schola Anglorum'' in Rome from tribute and taxation. He also is recorded to have sent a piece of the

True Cross The True Cross is the cross upon which Jesus was said to have been crucified, particularly as an object of religious veneration. There are no early accounts that the apostles or early Christians preserved the physical cross themselves, althoug ...

to Alfred as a gift. He died in May or June 884, his successor being

Adrian III Pope Adrian III or Hadrian III ( la, Adrianus or ''Hadrianus''; died July 885) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 17 May 884 to his death. He served for little more than a year, during which he worked to help the people of I ...

Name error

Because of the similarity of the names, Marinus I and Marinus II were, in some sources, mistakenly called Martinus II and Martinus III.

References

External links

Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina with analytical indexes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marinus 1 Popes Italian popes Diplomats of the Holy See 884 deaths 9th-century archbishops Year of birth unknown 9th-century popes 830 births Burials at St. Peter's Basilica

Ecclesiastical career

Name error

References

Further reading

External links