From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Unless it be given him from heaven   
      
   A man cannot receive any thing, unless it be given him from heaven.   
   You yourselves do bear me witness, that I said, I am not Christ, but   
   that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride, is the bridegroom:   
   but the friend of the bridegroom, who standeth and heareth him,   
   rejoiceth with joy because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy   
   therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.   
   -- Saint John the Baptist from John 3: 27-30   
      
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   January 16th - Saint Marcellus, Pope and Martyr   
   (d. 310)   
      
   During the third century paganism and Christianity vied for supremacy in the   
   Roman Empire. Hoping to stifle the Church completely, the emperor Diocletian   
   in 303 began the last and fiercest of the persecutions. In time, Christian   
   charity conquered pagan    
   brutality, and as the Church attracted more and more members, the Roman   
   government would be compelled to recognize its existence, but it was only   
   after almost 300 years, during which persecutions had forced Christian worship   
   underground, that the Church    
   would finally come out into the open after the Edict of Nantes in 313. It was   
   still young and disorganized, vulnerable to heresy and apostasy, and needed a   
   strong leader to settle questions of doctrine and discipline.   
      
   Such a leader came to the Chair of Peter in 304, when Saint Marcellus was   
   elected pope. Saint Marcellinus, his predecessor, while being taken to   
   torture, had exhorted him not to cede to the decrees of Diocletian, and it   
   became evident that Marcellus did    
   not intend to temporize. He established new catacombs and saw to it that the   
   divine mysteries were continually celebrated there. Then three years of   
   relative peace were given the church when Maxentius became emperor in 307, for   
   he was too occupied with    
   other difficulties to persecute the Christians.   
      
   After assessing the problems facing the Church, Saint Marcellus planned a   
   strong program of reorganization. Rome then as now was the seat of   
   Catholicism, and his program was initiated there. He divided the territorial   
   administration of the Church into    
   twenty-five districts or parishes, placing a priest over each one, thus   
   restoring an earlier division which the turmoil of the persecutions had   
   disrupted. This arrangement permitted more efficient care in instructing the   
   faithful, in preparing candidates    
   for baptism and penitents for reconciliation. With these measures in force,   
   Church government took on a definite form.   
      
   Marcellus’ biggest problem was dealing with the Christians who had   
   apostatized during the persecution. Many of these were determined to be   
   reconciled to the Church without performing the necessary penances. The   
   Christians who had remained faithful    
   demanded that the customary penitential discipline be maintained and enforced.   
   Marcellus approached this problem with uncompromising justice; the apostates   
   were in the wrong, and regardless of the consequences, were obliged to do   
   penance. It was not long    
   before the discord between the faithful and the apostates led to violence in   
   the very streets of Rome.   
      
   An account of Marcellus’ death, dating from the fifth century, relates that   
   Maxentius, judging the pope responsible for the trouble between the Christian   
   factions, condemned him to work as a slave on the public highway. After nine   
   months of this hard    
   labor, he was rescued by the clergy and taken to the home of a widow named   
   Lucina; this woman welcomed him with every sign of respect and offered him her   
   home for a church. When the emperor learned that Christian rites were being   
   celebrated there, he    
   profaned the church by turning it into a stable and forced the Holy Father to   
   care for the animals quartered there. In these sad surroundings, Marcellus   
   died on January 16, 310. He was buried in the catacombs of Priscilla, but   
   later his remains were    
   placed beneath the altar of the church in Rome which still bears his name.   
      
   Source: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Go forth in peace, for you have followed the good road. Go forth without fear,   
   for he who created you has made you holy, has always protected you, and loves   
   you as a mother. Blessed be you, my God, for having created me.    
   -- Saint Clare of Assisi    
      
   Bible Quote:   
   In thy sight are all they that afflict me; my heart hath expected reproach and   
   misery. And I looked for one that would grieve together with me, but there was   
   none: and for one that would comfort me, and I found none. And they gave me   
   gall for my food,    
   and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink."  (Ps. 68:21-22)   
      
      
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   O Holy Trinity!   
   For Perseverance In the One True Faith   
   By St Hilary of Poitiers   
      
   Father, keep us from vain strife of words.   
   Grant to us constant profession of the Truth!   
   Preserve us in a true and undefiled faith   
   so that we may hold fast to that   
   which we professed when we were baptised   
   in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,   
   that we may have You for our Father,   
   that we may abide in Your Son   
   and in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.   
   Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord.   
   Amen   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)