St. Marcellinus and St. Peter
Beloved in the Lord, today is the Feast of St. Marcellinus and Peter, two saints who have been listed in Eucharistic Prayer I since ancient times. Marcellinus was a prominent priest in Rome during the reign of Emperor Diocletian; Peter, athough he was not a priest, was an exorcist. Well, they were arrested, and cast into prison because they had brought many to the Catholic faith.
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In jail, the guard of the prison was named Archemius. His daughter was possessed, so Peter the exorcist said to him, ‘If you believe in Christ, your daughter will be freed from the demon. Archemius answered: ‘How is it that your God will free my daughter, but he cannot free you?’ ‘My God HAS the power to free me if he wishes, said Peter, but it is only through suffering that we arrive at eternal glory.’ Archemius said, ‘if I clamp double chains on you and your God frees you and cures my daughter, I will believe in Christ immediately!’ At that, the power of God stirred, the chains fell free, the girl was cured; and so not only Archemius, but his whole family were baptized by Marcellinus, the priest. He also allowed the other prisoners to go free.
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The prefect hearing of this, and that even in prison these two were making more Christians, he ordered Archemius to sacrifice to the gods, but he refused, and so the judge ordered he and his wife to be strangled in an underground crypt. This order was not carried out however, but when the pagans heard that Archemius himself had become a Christian, he was beheaded, and his wife and daughter were buried alive under a pile of stones.
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Then Marcellinus was laid out naked on broken glass in his cell, and Peter was bound to a stake in his cell. In 304 AD, they were taken to the black forest and beheaded for the Faith. This account is given on the authority of Pope Damasus, who learned the details of the story when he was a boy, having heard them from the lips of the executioner himself. The executioner also became a Christian.
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Friends, as we live out our own lives in the paganizing culture around us, there are plenty of opportunities to witness to the Truth. We should do so, and like Sts. Marcellinus and Peter, we should always be ready to give our lives for the teachings of the Holy Faith.
