Marcellinus and Peter, Ss.
MARCELLINUS AND PETER, SS.
Martyrs under Diocletian in Rome, 303. Marcellinus, a priest, and Peter, an exorcist, were, according to the martyrology of jerome and itineraria of the seventh century, buried in the cemetery ad duas lauros on the Via Labicana. They are also commemorated in the Gelasian and Gregorian sacramentaries. Constantine had a basilica built in their honor over the crypt in which they were buried. The crypt, with a fresco of the martyrs from c. 400, was discovered in 1896. Pope damasus i (366–384) composed a poetic epitaph for them that was apparently founded on the report of their executioner. This epitaph seems to be the source of a legendary passio, composed perhaps when Pope vigilius (537–555), who introduced their names into the Canon of the Mass, restored their tomb. The legend states that the martyrs were beheaded after they had dug their graves in a woods, but their relics were miraculously discovered and brought to the crypt.
Feast: June 2.
Bibliography: einhard, The History of the Translation of the Blessed Martyrs of Christ, Marcellinus and Peter, tr. b. wendell (Cambridge 1926).
[e. g. ryan]