(ABOUT A.D. 309.)
[The Greeks have confounded Marcellus with his predecessor,
Marcellinus, who is commemorated on April 26th. Roman Martyrology,
that of Bede, Ado, Notker, &c. The Acts are not to be trusted.]
Saint Marcellus succeeded Pope Marcellinus, in 308, after the see had
been vacant for three years and a half. An epitaph written on him by
Pope Damasus, says that by enforcing the penitential canons, he drew on
himself the hostility of lukewarm Christians. For his severity to an
apostate he was exiled by the tyrant Maxentius.
Relics, in the church of S. Marcellus at Rome; also at Mons and Namur,
in Belgium.