Saint of the Day: Sts Marcellinus and Peter

Martyrs (d. ca. 304)

Their story

+ Marcellinus, a Roman priest, and Peter, an exorcist, were killed during the persecutions of the Emperor Diocletian.

+ After being imprisoned, they were condemned to death and taken in secret to a forest called the Silva Negra where, after being forced to dig their own graves, they were beheaded.

+ Their bodies were later recovered and they were buried in the catacomb that was later renamed in their honor.

+ The Emperor Constantine built a basilica over their grave and his mother, Saint Helen, was buried there in 330.

+ The liturgical celebration of these two martyrs was added to the Roman calendar in 555 and their names are included in the list of martyrs included in the Roman Canon (the First Eucharistic Prayer).

For prayer and reflection

“Broken was the snare,

and we were freed.

Our help is in the name of the LORD,

who made heaven and earth.”—Psalm 124:7b-8

Spiritual bonus

On June 2, we also remember a group of 49 Dominican friars who were martyred in Sandomierz, Poland, in 1260, by invading Tartars, as they were singing the Salve Regina at the end of compline. Pope Pius VII officially recognized devotion to the “Blessed Martyrs of Sandomierz” in 1807.

Prayer

O God, who surround us with protection
through the glorious confession
of the Martyrs Saints Marcellinus and Peter,
grant that we may profit by imitating them
and be upheld by their prayer.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from The Roman Missal)

Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.