Marinus Gallese

Born [date unknown] in Gallese, Italy

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Biography

Pope Marinus I Gallese is Notable.

Marinus was born in Gallese, Papal States in the 9th Century, the son of a priest.^[1]

He was bishop of Caere, and legate to Constantinople.^[1]

He became pope in December 882 and his pontificate ended with his death on 14 May 884.^[2]

Platina^[3] states:

Martin the Second, a Frenchman, son of Palumbus, succeeded John. ... He died having sat but one year and five days, and in that time doing nothing remarkable.

He died on 15 May 884.^[2]

Flocknote Popes in a Year^[4] tells us:

The son of a priest, Marinus I was a churchman practically his whole life. He was tabbed by Leo IV at the age of 12 to serve as a subdeacon, then was made a deacon by St. Nicholas I. Marinus was well established as a diplomat by the time of his election, having been sent east to Constantinople three times, one of which was to preside over the Fourth Council of Constantinople in 869.

He took office on December 16, 882, near the day (if not on the day) of John VIII’s death. As pope, Marinus was moderate in relation to his predecessor’s policies, affirming some and disregarding others. Notably, he absolved and reinstated Formosus, who would become pope in the early 890s, as a peace offering to get Rome’s bickering factions to cool their jets a bit. Marinus also held great respect for King Alfred of England, and as a result allowed Anglo-Saxons living in Rome to reside there tax-free. In office not even 17 months, Marinus I died May 15, 884, and was buried in St. Peter’s Basilica.

The choice of Marinus I to succeed John VIII was a papal first, considering that he was already a bishop in another diocese at the time of his election. Never before had a bishop been allowed to move dioceses to become Bishop of Rome, after a law struck over 400 years earlier at the Council of Nicaea required that clergy not be transferred from their home diocese. So, regardless of the reason to choose Marinus I as pope, the pick set a new precedent for where popes could come from.

Some medieval typos have made it unclear whether Marinus was actually the proper spelling of this pope’s name. Given that there had been a Pope Martinus (We know him as St. Martin I) in the mid-7th Century, some papal histories had referred to Popes Marinus I and II as Martinus II and Martinus III. This is presumably the reason Pope Martin IV, elected in 1281, took that name and not “Martin II.”

At this time: In 883, the great Abbey of Monte Cassino, built in the 6th Century by St. Benedict of Nursia, was sacked and burned down by the Saracens.

Research Notes

This profile is being updated by the Popes Project.

It is worth noting that Gallese is in Italy (the same city that Pope Romanus originated) and not France so Platina must have mistaken it for Gaul (France). The Vatican states he was born in Gallese.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Wikipedia Pope Marinus I
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Vatican
3. ↑ Platina, Bartolomeo (1479) The Lives of the Popes From the Time of Our Saviour Jesus Christ to the Accession of Gregory VII, I, London: Griffith Farran & Co., p233-234, retrieved 2021-04-04.
4. ↑ Flocknote Popes in a Year
   SOURCES (and further reading)
   John, E. (1964). The Popes: A concise biographical history. New York: Hawthorn Books.
   Guruge, A. (2010). The Next Pope. New Hampshire: WOWNH
   Pope Marinus I - http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09670b.htm
   Pope Marinus I - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Marinus_I
   880s - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/880s