Ecstasy
of September 12, 1878
“I
am Saint Marcellin, who lived among the heretics. I was
persecuted for refusing to apostatize my Faith ... I was among those
who had a passionate love for Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. This
love was my strength, my consolation, my sublime happiness.
I
had a thought that urged me strongly to go among this heretic people,
although I did not rush forth to engage in any order, neither of
heaven nor earth. This thought was always pressing me and my desire
grew to go carry the name of God to these infidel people. So I went
there voluntarily, having in myself the One who strengthens me. This
was my last meal at the Banquet of Love.
Upon
arriving, among this people, I was taken first to the chief of the
heretics. Unknown, I knocked and he opened. I approached this robust
man, proud of himself and he saluted, genuflecting to earth. He got
up and said,
"Are
you one of the impostors of the One who wants to destroy our
religion?"
I
replied proudly: "I am a Christian, child of God by baptism."
He
then asked me: "Do you eat the food that they say (is) God?"
I
said, "I (am) nourished by the God of the Cross and the
Eucharist."
He
raised his hand over me and said, "You are then one of the
associates of the One whom they call the Christ, King of the World?”
I
said, "I am, and I am proud of it."
Then
he cursed me, pushed me roughly outside his palace and ordered guards
to bind and chain me. At the same time, I searched and found the
cross with which I lived. It
was enough. The order was a gift born to kill me. (A
rough translation from the French that is probably an expression,
i.e. that it was a special gift to die in this manner.) I
was abused, insulted, robbed, dragged, overwhelmed. I asked the king
to grant that I may die the next day, so that, one last time, I
(could) receive the Bread of the Strong. But they soon laid me on a
rack of iron and I was pressed by springs so terribly that my pains
were incredible. The next day I received the palm of martyrdom, I was
first extended on the rack, then thrown on a burning pile. This is
how I was slain by sacrilegious hands. The king ordered them to open
my chest, (not a box or a
tabernacle, the text seems to imply his actual breast), to
find the God of my soul, to trample Him underfoot, to crucify Him, to
dishonour Him. Then I was left several days next to a river and I
from there was thrown down. (A
ravine? A waterfall? This part is not made clear.) But
soon a strange (I.e foreign) woman came to take my body to give it
burial, and I was transported to a blessed cemetery.
I
have, at present, a word to say on behalf of Our Lord. Dear brothers
in the Lord and His Holy Cross, you suffer right now, but will a time
not much farther away give and spread again the greatest sufferings?
(This expression seems to say; After
death, will you still continue to suffer? No …)
Therefore suffer the joy of going closer to God each day. You who
are suffering right now, for the God we all worship, be confident
that, well accepted by your suffering, you withhold justice from the
Lord for all your brothers who dishonour Him and blaspheme Him
... At this moment, you need to be attached to God more than ever
before and detach yourself from everything else that God despises ...
Today
is the time to be stoned, crucified, trampled upon, covered with
filth to the eyes of the world. That is the mantle now worn by the
children of God. But God does not regard you in the same way as the
world. You are brilliant in the eyes of God. What happiness! I envy
your fate! I want to live with you! I will pray for you at the Throne
of eternal glory of our
Father.
*****
CORRECTION
/ ADDITION to the notes in “We Are Warned: The Prophecies of
Marie-Julie Jahenny” for St. Marcellinus:
The
“Friends of Marie Julie / Sanctuary Website” were correct in
assuming this was not Marcellinus the Pope as popes who visited
Marie-Julie would inform her of this, so they thought this saint must
be the martyr mentioned in the canon of the Mass, who died with St.
Peter an exorcist, however, they may have been mistaken.
Marcellinus
in the vision mentions a desire to convert heretics and apostates,
reveals his persecutors attempting to make him apostatize from the
Faith, and he also speaks of his great love for the Blessed
Sacrament. This could be St. Marcellinus of Carthage who defended
the Catholic Faith against the Donatist heretics. The Donatists
claimed that the validity of the sacraments depended on the moral
character of the minister, and that sinners could not be members of
the Church, and could not be tolerated by a true Church unless their
sins were secret. These teachings certainly undermined belief in the
power of Transubstantiation and endangered belief in the existence of the Blessed Sacrament, which they aught depended on the worthiness of the priest. The sect came into
existence in Africa during the disorders following the persecution
under Diocletian (303–305AD). The date of this ecstasy also took
place a day before his death, which occurred on 13th
of September. His traditional feast day was April 6, and now changed
to September 13th.
Considering he corresponded with St. Jerome, was a friend of the
great theologian St. Augustine, who dedicated his work “The City of
God” to him, and that many theologians and doctors of the Church
came to Marie-Julie when teaching her about the treasury contained in suffering the Cross, this is convincing evidence of the correct
identity of the visiting saint.
However,
Marcellin in the ecstasy gives an account he was left by a river for
days, and then his body was thrown down unlike the history of
Marcellinus of Carthage who was beheaded. Strangely, this death by a
river resembles the death of St. Marcellus of Chalon-sur-Saône, a
priest who was martyred c. 178 AD. St. Marcellus was a priest of
Lyon who was imprisoned by the Roman government along with other
Christians of Lyon and their bishop, Pothinus, ca. 177 in the reign
of Marcus Aurelius (161-180). The rest of his Christian companions
were executed, but Marcellus, managed to escape prison and fled north
along the Saône river, first to Tournus and then to Chalon. There
he was sheltered by a pagan, whom he converted to Christianity.
Leaving Chalon, Marcellus encountered the provincial governor, who
invited him to a celebration in his residence. When the governor
began the celebration with an appropriate sacrifice, Marcellus
excused himself on the grounds that he was a Christian; the governor
ordered him to participate in the sacrifice, and Marcellus refused.
The governor is said to have had Marcellus buried up to his waist on
the bank of the Saône, where he died three days later. The
difference here is this saint was among pagans, while Marcellin in
the ecstasy says he went to convert heretics.
So,
this could be St. Marcellinus of Carthage, or perhaps St. Marcellus of Chalon-sur-Saône. We will have to wait for a
thorough examination of the original text to see if anything might
have been left out in the publication that might help clear up this
mystery.
(Image: the ancient ruins of Carthage.)
*****
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