Marcellus I
St. Marcellus I was a rigorist, who did not accept the repentance of the lapsed. Elected pope in 308, he was hard on Christians who had given sacred books to the authorities during Diocletian's persecution. Christian Rome rioted in response to the harshness of the pope. Emperor Maxentius exiled Marcellus as a trouble-maker, and Damasus I says that the emperor forced the pope to work as a stablehand in the oratory of a church that had been siezed and converted into a stable. Marcellus died in 309.
Karen Rae Keck
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