The Libellus precum of Faustinus and Marcellinus, a petition to the emperor Theodosius from two presbyters belonging to the schismatic group known as Luciferians, attributes the power of exorcism to the presbyter Macarius (confessor of Rome, ob. 366/384, S02317), and describes his death through injuries inflicted by supporters of Pope Damasus, after which he was buried in the basilica of *Asterius (martyr of Ostia, S01550) at Ostia. Written in Latin, probably in Constantinople, 383/385.
E06240
Literary - Letters
Libellus precum Faustini et Marcellini 78-82
(78) In Macarium uero presbyterum multa impiorum commnissa sunt. Hic erat in eadem urbe Roma presbyter mirae continentiae, non uino stomachum releuans, non carnis esculentia corpus curans, sed oleo solo escas asperiores mitigans, ieiuniis et orationibus uacans. Sane pro merito fidei et abstinentia habebat gratiam sancti spiritus in hoc, ut de obsessis corporibus eiceret daemonia. Ideo uitam eius meritumque memorauimus, ut tanto magis impii iudicentur hi, qui tales uiuere non sinunt in Romano imperio.
'(78) Many things were done by the impious against the presbyter Macarius. He was a presbyter in the same city of Rome, of extraordinary continence, not relieving his stomach with wine, not caring for his body by eating meat, but softening more bitter foods only with oil, focussing entirely on fasts and prayers. It was clear that by merit of his faith and abstinence he possessed the grace of the Holy Spirit to the extent that he expelled demons from possessed bodies. Thus we recall his life and his merit, so that those who do not allow such people to live in the Roman Empire should judged to be all the more impious.'
Faustinus and Marcellinus then describe (§§ 79-80) how the bishop of Rome, Damasus, persecuted the Luciferians, and prevented them from holding services, which Macarius then organised in secret.
(80) [...] Denique tendunt insidias clerici Damasi et, ubi cognouerunt, quod sacras uigilias celebrat cum plebe presbyter Macarius, irruunt cum officialibus in illam domum et plebem dissipant non resistentem ipsumque presbyterum comprehensum non iam ducere dignantur sed per silices trahunt, ita ut in coxa eius perniciosum uulnus fieret, atque alio die sistunt eum ante iudicem ut magni criminis reum. (81) Cui quidem iudex ueluti sub imperiali rescripto et minis extorquere contendit, ut cum Damaso conueniat. Sed presbyter memor diuini iudicii praesentem iudicem non timens reppulit perfidi communionem atque ideo datur in exilium et, cum est apud Ostiam, atrocitate illius uulneris moritur. (82) Cuius quidem tanta fuit sanctitas, ut eum etiam episcopus loci illius nomine Florentius communicans Damaso cum quadam ueneratione suspexerit. Namque cum in quodam uetusto monumento eum fratres sepelissent, non est passus idem Florentius iacere eum illic, ubi indigna sepultura uideretur, sed transfert eum inde et sepelit in basilica martyris Asterii, ubi in loco presbyterii qui<escit> iuxta sepulturam. Hoc pio suo obsequio, in quantum poterat, Damasi scelus a se facere contendebat alienum.
'(80) ... Eventually Damasus' clerics planned an ambush, and when they knew that the presbyter Macarius was celebrating sacred vigils with the people, they burst into into the house with officials and dispersed the unresisting people, and seized the presbyter; they did not deign to lead him away but dragged him through stones, so that they made a dangerous wound in his hip, and on another day they placed him before a judge, like the defendant for a great crime. (81) The judge, like someone under an imperial rescript, also tried to use threats to pressure him to join with Damasus. But the presbyter, mindful of the divine judgement and not fearing the present judge, rejected communion with someone faithless and so was sent into exile, and, when he was at Ostia, died from the severity of his wound. (82) His sanctity was indeed so great that even the bishop of that place, Florentius by name, who was in communion with Damasus, regarded him with a certain reverence. For when the brothers buried him in an ancient tomb, Florentius did not allow him to lie there, where burial seemed unworthy, but moved him from there, and buried him in the basilica of the martyr Asterius, where he lies in the presbytery next to the tomb. By this pious service, Florentius tried, as far as he was able, to distance himself from Damasus' crime.'
Text: Günther 1895, 28-29.
Translation: David Lambert.
Cult building - independent (church)
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
MiraclesMiracle during lifetime
Exorcism
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - lesser clergy
Ecclesiastics - bishops
Source
The Libellus precum – 'pamphlet of requests', or 'petition of requests' – is a petition submitted to the emperor Theodosius by two presbyters named Faustinus and Marcellinus, sometime between the autumn of 383 and the spring of 385. The date range is established by the fact that it was written after the death of the emperor Gratian in August 383, but before that of Damasus bishop of Rome in December 384 (or before news of his death had reached the authors, which may not have been until early 385).Various passages in the Libellus show that Faustinus and Marcellinus were resident in Constantinople when they wrote it but were Italian by origin (see PCBE 2, 'Faustinus 2' and 'Marcellinus 3'). They belonged to the group known as 'Luciferians', after Lucifer of Cagliari (ob. 370; PCBE 2, 'Lucifer 1'). These were particularly intransigent opponents of the attempts by the emperor Constantius II (r. 337-361) to impose Homoian (or as his opponents put it, Arian) doctrines on the church. The Luciferians continued the controversy after Constantius' death by demanding that all those in the church who had compromised with him, or were willing to be in communion with those who had, should be removed from their positions. Since this included the majority of bishops in both East and West, their demands met general opposition and they quickly came to be regarded as schismatics themselves, though they were never formally condemned (for an overview, see Whiting 2019, 1-23).
The petition by Faustinus and Marcellinus complains that they are being treated as heretics, and asks the emperor to vouch for their orthodoxy. It is very long (39 pages in the CSEL edition of the Collectio Avellana), amounting to a short treatise. In effect it is a polemical church history of Constantius' reign and its aftermath from the point of view of his bitterest opponents (for more detailed discussions, see Canellis 2006, 40-65; Whiting 2019, 24-39). There is no reason to doubt that it is an actual petition submitted to the emperor: in several manuscripts it is followed by a rescript recognising Faustinus and Marcellinus as orthodox and instructing the Praetorian Prefect to ensure they were protected. However, the length and literary ambition of the text suggest that it was also intended for wider circulation as a pamphlet justifying the Luciferian position. A substantial proportion of the Libellus is devoted to stories of persecution, but there is an important difference between those from the period before the death of Constantius in 361 and the more recent incidents described later in the Libellus. For the earlier period the victims – figures like Paulinus of Trier, Maximus of Naples, or Gregory of Elvira – were regarded by all Nicene Christians as victims of persecution by a heretical regime. In the subsequent period, the victims are dissidents who rejected the position of the mainstream church (such as the Luciferian presbyter Macarius in E06240), and the persecutors are members of the ecclesiastical hierarchy such as Damasus of Rome. One of the purposes of the Libellus is to deny any distinction between the victims in the earlier and later periods.
In its surviving manuscripts, the Libellus precum is always transmitted as part of large collections of ecclesiastical documents such as the Collectio Avellana or the Collectio Corbeiensis (Canellis 2006, 66-83), but it is likely that in antiquity it circulated as an independent work. Faustinus has an entry in Gennadius of Marseille's De viris illustribus in which it is mentioned (Vir. ill. 16). Gennadius notes that one can tell that Faustinus and Marcellinus were Luciferians since they condemn figures in good standing with the church, such as Hilary of Poitiers and Damasus, as compromisers with the Arians.
Discussion
Macarius (PCBE 2, 'Macarius I') is not known from any source except the Libellus precum. His persecution must have taken place between Damasus' accession as bishop of Rome in October 366 and the composition of the Libellus (after the death of Gratian in August 383, but before the authors were aware of the death of Damasus in December 384). It forms part of a wider narrative of the harassment of the Luciferian community at Rome by Damasus (§§ 77-85), who is portrayed throughout as a brutal persecutor. In the course of the narrative, Faustinus and Marcellinus reveal several otherwise unknown details about the community, of which they themselves had been members, including the names of three Luciferian bishops, Aurelius (§ 77), Ephesius, and Taorgius (§ 84), who are said to be victims of persecution but are not credited with the saintly qualities of Macarius.As well as its depiction of the Luciferian community in Rome, this passage also contains what seems to be the earliest extant reference to the basilica in Ostia of the martyr Asterius (Meiggs 1973, 391, 524). Sághy 2000, 283, suggests that by permitting Macarius to be buried in the basilica, Florentius hoped to appropriate his cult for the mainstream church.
Bibliography
Editions and translations:Günther, O., Collectio Avellana, vol. 1 (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 35.1; Vienna, 1895), 5-44.
Simonetti, M., Faustini opera (Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 69; Turnhout: Brepols, 1967), 361-391.
Canellis, A., Supplique aux empereurs (Libellus precum et lex Augusta); Précédé de Faustin, confession de foi (Sources chrétiennes 504; Paris, 2006), with annotated French translation.
Whiting, C.M., Documents from the Luciferians: In Defense of the Nicene Creed (Writings from the Greco-Roman World 43; Atlanta: SBL Press, 2019), 62-169. Canellis' text with annotated English translation.
Further reading:
Meiggs, R., Roman Ostia. 2nd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973).
Pietri, C., and Pietri, L., Prosopographie chrétienne du Bas-empire, 2 Prosopographie de l'Italie chretienne (313–604) (Rome 2000: École française de Rome), vol. 1, 747-749, "Faustinus 2;" vol. 2, 1368-70, "Marcellinus 3;" vol. 2, 1345-46, "Macarius 1."
Sághy, M., "Scinditur in partes populus: Pope Damasus and the Martyrs of Rome," Early Medieval Europe 9:3 (2000), 273-287.
David Lambert
17/02/2026
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S01550 | Asterius, martyr of Ostia | Asterius | Certain | S02317 | Macarius, confessor of Rome, ob. after 366 | Macarius | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
David Lambert, Cult of Saints, E06240 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E06240