Tuesday – 9th Week in Ordinary Time – A – Optional Memorial of Saints Marcellinus and Peter, Martyrs

The two martyrs honoured today, Saints Marcellinus and Peter, were among the most beloved martyrs of the early Roman Church. Even though relatively little is known about them historically compared to more famous saints like Saint Peter himself, the Apostle, or Saint Lawrence, suffice it to say that Marcellinus was a priest and Saint Peter was an exorcist in the early Church of Rome during the terrible persecution under the Emperor Diocletian around the year 304.

What is beautiful is that they were not bishops or famous theologians. One was a simple priest and the other exercised the ministry of exorcism and prayer over those tormented spiritually. Yet the Church remembers them with enormous affection. So loved were they that the Emperor Constantine himself later built a basilica over their tomb along the Via Labicana in Rome, near the catacombs where they were buried. Even today, their names appear in the ancient Roman Canon of the Mass alongside the great martyrs of the Church.

One fascinating and lesser known tradition about these two saints comes from the account recorded by Pope Damasus in the fourth century. Damasus says he learned the story directly from the executioner himself. When the man was already old, according to the tradition, the authorities secretly led Marcellinus and Peter deep into a hidden forest so that Christians would never find their bodies or honour them publicly.

The martyrs, however, realised what was happening. Rather than resisting, they peacefully removed their own outer garments and began digging their own grave with their hands while encouraging one another in faith. Then they were beheaded, and afterwards a Christian woman named Lucila eventually recovered their bodies and gave them honourable burial.

What stands out is their extraordinary serenity. They did not die in panic, bitterness, or rage, but in profound peace and unity with Christ. And what a blessing it is to encounter people along my own life's journey who die in profound peace and tranquillity, knowing that Jesus and Mary will be looking after them on the other side.

My dear brothers and sisters, the first reading from Second Corinthians fits these two saints perfectly. Saint Paul describes ministers of God as enduring, and I quote, “afflictions, hardships, constraints, beatings, imprisonments” (2 Corinthians 6:4-5). That was literally the life of these two martyrs.

But Saint Paul then says something extraordinary. And I quote, “as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet enriching many; as having nothing and yet possessing all things” (2 Corinthians 6:10).

This paradox is exactly what the martyrs embodied. Outwardly, they lost everything: freedom, reputation, even their lives. Yet spiritually and eternally, they possessed everything because they possessed Christ.