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Saint Marcellinus, Pope, according to the Liberian
Catalogue, became bishop of Rome on June 30, 296;
his predecessor was Pope Caius. He is not
mentioned in the Martyrologium hieronymianum, or
in the Depositio episcoporum, or in the Depositio
martyrus. 

Marcellinus' pontificate began at a time when
Diocletian was emperor of Rome, but had not yet
started to persecute the Christianity|Christians.
He left Christianity rather free and so the
church's membership grew. Caesar Galerius led the
paganism|pagan movement against Christianity and
arrived to bring up Diocletian against
Christianity in the year 302: First Christian
soldiers had to leave the army, later the Church's
property was confiscated and Christian books were
destroyed. After two fires in Diocletian's palace
he took harder measures against Christians: they
had either to apostatize or they were sentenced to
death.

The Liber Pontificalis, basing itself on the Acts
of St Marcellinus, the text of which is lost,
relates that during Diocletian’s persecution
Marcellinus was called upon to sacrifice, and
offered incense to idols, but that, repenting
shortly afterwards, he confessed the faith of
Christ and suffered martyrdom with several
companions. Other documents speak of his
defection, and it is probably this lapse that
explains the silence of the ancient liturgical
calendars. In the beginning of the 5th century
Petilianus, the Donatist bishop of Constantine,
Algeria|Constantine, affirmed that Marcellinus and
his priests had given up the holy books to the
pagans during the persecution and offered incense
to false gods. Augustine of Hippo|St Augustine
contents himself with denying the affair. The
records of the pseudo-council of Sinuessa, which
were fabricated at the beginning of the 6th
century, state that Marcellinus after his fall
presented himself before a council, which refused
to try him on the ground that prima sedes a nemine
iudicatur ("The first See is judged by none"). 

According to the Liber Pontificalis, Marcellinus
was buried, on April 26, 304, in the cemetery of
Priscilla, on the Via Salaria, 25 days after his
martyrdom; the Liberian Catalogue gives as the
date October 25. The fact of the martyrdom, too,
is not established with certainty. After a
considerable interregnum he was succeeded by
Marcellus, with whom he has sometimes been
confused.
During his pontificate, Armenia became the first
Christian nation in 301.

Pope|
Predecessor=Pope Caius|Saint Caius|
Successor=Pope Marcellus
I|Marcellus|Dates=296–304

based on a 1911 encyclopedia