Saint Marinus

Template:Infobox saint Marinus (Template:IPAc-en; Template:Langx) is a Christian saint, who according to hagiographical accounts recorded centuries after his lifetime was the founder of a chapel and monastery in 301 from whose initial community the state of San Marino later grew.<ref name=":42">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Life

Tradition holds that he was a stonemason by trade who came from the island of Arba (today Rab), on the other side of the Adriatic Sea (in what is now part of modern-day Croatia, then part of the Roman Empire), fleeing persecution for his Christian beliefs in the Diocletianic Persecution.

File:Marino als steinhauer.png

Illustration of Saint Marinus working at the chapel-monastery

Known only by the single name Marinus (lit. of the sea), he was ordained a deacon by Gaudentius of Rimini;<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":4">Template:Cite web</ref> later, he was recognised and accused by an insane woman of being her estranged husband, so he quickly fled to Monte Titano to build a chapel-monastery and live as a hermit.<ref name="Radovinovič">Radovan Radovinovič, The Croatian Adriatic Tourist Guide, p. 127, Zagreb (1999), Template:ISBN</ref>

Another version of the story says that hearing that the town of Rimini (Italy) was being rebuilt, he travelled there and was astonished to find among the workmen many Christians of formerly high position who had been sentenced to hard labour because of their refusal to sacrifice to the gods. He sought to comfort them and to alleviate their sufferings, so far as was in his power.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In his old age Marinus withdrew to a hermitage and decided to seclude himself on Mount Titano, living the life of a hermit in holy contemplation. As his reputation for his sanctity grew, others started to follow him there, until finally a lady from Rimini and the owner of Mount Titano decided to give him the mountain as a gift.<ref>Hamilton, J. Arnott. "The Republic of San Marino." The Scottish Geographical Magazine 39.4 (1923): 244–245.</ref>

File:San Marino Palazzo Pubblico painting.jpg

Painting of Saint Marinus descending from heaven surrounded by the people of San Marino, painting located within the Palazzo Pubblico

Marinus was canonised as a saint, and later, the State of San Marino grew up from the centre created by the monastery.<ref name="Radovinovič"/> His feast day/memorial day is 3 September, commemorating the day, in 301, when he founded what became known as San Marino, which is also the state's national holiday. He is venerated in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox faiths.

According to legend, he died in the winter of 366 and his last words were: "Template:Lang" ("I leave you free from both men"). This somewhat mysterious phrase is most likely to refer to the two "men" from whose oppressive power Marinus had decided to separate himself, becoming a hermit on Mount Titano: respectively the Emperor and the Pope. This affirmation of freedom (first and foremost fiscal franchise) from both the Empire and the Papal States, however legendary, has always been the inspiration of the republic.<ref name=Miller1901>"The Republic of San Marino", William Miller, The American Historical Review, Vol. 6, No. 4 (July 1901), pp. 633–649. Link to journal. Link to copy of paper.</ref>

Historicity

According to American historian William Miller, the account of Marinus and the origin of San Marino "are a mixture of fables and miracles, but perhaps contain some grains of fact". The earliest historical evidence for a monastic community in San Marino dates to the 5th or 6th century AD, when a monk named Eugippus recorded that another monk had lived in a monastery in the area.<ref name=":42" />

Sources

The earliest manuscripts mentioning Marinus and his life date to the 10th century.<ref>Edwards, Adrian, and Chris Michaelides. San Marino. Vol. 188. Abc-Clio Inc., 1996, 19.</ref> Another principal source of the events of Marinus's life was compiled in the Acta Sanctorum.<ref name=Miller1901/>

See also

• History of San Marino
• Leo of Montefeltro

External links

• Patron Saints Index: Saint Marinus