Pope Marinus I (882-884)

A short pontificate in a great crisis

Marinus I leaves neither a great doctrinal treatise, nor a Roman council comparable to the synods of Nicholas I, nor a lasting reform of pontifical government. His importance comes from his position. He stands between the assassination of John VIII, the weakness of Charles the Fat, the factional struggle in Rome, the return of Photius to Constantinople and the rise of Formosus.^[8][9]

The modern reader must therefore avoid two errors. The first would be to artificially inflate Marinus into a great reforming pope. The sources are too poor. The second would be to reduce him to a line in the pontifical list. Marinus is one of those pontiffs whose short reign reveals the real state of an era: a papacy still doctrinally strong, but politically encircled.

The legate turned pope

The clearest trait of Marinus is his Eastern experience. From his early clerical youth, he appears in the affairs of Constantinople: present in 860 at the reception of the envoys of Photius and the emperor, sent in 866 on an embassy halted at the Bulgarian frontier, then delegated in 869 by Adrian II to the council of 869–870.^[10][11]

This past explains his line against Photius. Marinus does not speak of an abstract dossier. He saw the actors, knew the procedures, endured prison and carried Roman instructions into an imperial East where the ecclesial question constantly mingled with court politics.^[12]

The pope who rehabilitates Formosus

His most consequential act is the rehabilitation of Formosus, former Bishop of Porto, whom John VIII had condemned and kept away from Rome. Mann judges this decision "unfortunate" in light of later events, not because Formosus was necessarily guilty of everything he was accused of, but because he had already become the name around which a Roman faction could crystallise.^[13]

The event illuminates a permanent difficulty of ecclesial government: forgiving and reintegrating can bring peace, but can also reopen a conflict if the factions have not changed. Marinus wanted to reduce Roman tensions; he probably underestimated the depth of the hatreds.

Gallese, Palumbo and early entry into the Roman Church

Marinus was born in Gallese, a town of the Duchy of Rome on a strategic axis linking Rome to Ravenna via Todi and Perugia.^[14] The Catholic Encyclopedia gives him as son of the priest Palumbo; Mann specifies that he entered the service of the Roman Church at the age of twelve, a detail Marinus himself is said to have recalled during the fourth session of Constantinople IV.^[15][16]

This very young entry into Roman service explains his profile: Marinus is not a provincial bishop chosen late, but a man formed in the pontifical machine. Before his election, he knows the archives, the legations, the finances, diplomacy and the tensions between Rome, Constantinople and the Carolingian powers.

Subdeacon, deacon and man of embassies

Leo IV ordains him subdeacon. Marinus is then attached to the church of Santa Maria ad Praesepe. In 860, he is present as subdeacon when Nicholas I receives the envoys of Photius and Emperor Michael III.^[17]

Ordained deacon between 862 and 866, he is sent in 866 on an embassy to Constantinople, at the moment when Bulgaria becomes one of the fields of rivalry between Rome and the Byzantine patriarchate. The embassy is stopped by imperial officials at the Bulgarian frontier.^[18] Three years later, Adrian II sends him to Constantinople as one of his three legates to the council of 869–870.^[19]

Constantinople IV: a legate at the heart of the Photian crisis

The Fourth Council of Constantinople condemns Photius, restores Ignatius and confirms the Roman decisions taken under Nicholas I and Adrian II. Marinus sits there as pontifical legate, alongside Donatus of Ostia and Stephen of Nepi.^[20][21]

For the personal history of Marinus, this point is decisive: he saw at close hand the most explosive dossier of the 9th-century Christian East. He does not discover Photius when he becomes pope; he has already fought him within the framework of a council recognised by the Catholic Church as the eighth ecumenical council.

"The decrees of Nicholas I and Adrian II against Photius and in favour of Ignatius were read and confirmed." — Catholic Encyclopedia, on Constantinople IV^[22]

Bishop of Cære, arcarius and archdeacon

John VIII gives Marinus considerable offices: he makes him Bishop of Cære (Cerveteri), treasurer of the Roman Church (arcarius) and archdeacon.^[23][24] These functions speak of complete trust. The arcarius handles the material resources of the Apostolic See; the archdeacon ranks among the first officials of the Roman clergy.

Mann adds that in 880, John VIII entrusts him with a mission to Emperor Basil I. This mission earns Marinus an "honourable imprisonment", an expression denoting less a humiliation than a political confinement: he is detained because he firmly applies Roman instructions.^[25]

In 882, shortly before his election, he is still found at Naples with the bishop-duke Athanasius, in the burning dossier of alliances with the Muslims of southern Italy.^[26][27] Marinus thus arrives at the pontificate with a rare profile: Eastern diplomat, Roman administrator, suburbicarian bishop, trusted man of three pontiffs.

The murder of John VIII and an immediate succession

John VIII dies on 16 December 882, assassinated according to the dominant historical tradition.^[28][29] The Catholic Encyclopedia deems it likely that Marinus was elected that same day. Mann speaks of the "unanimous voice of the Roman people", while stressing that this choice went against the ancient canons which normally forbade the transfer of a bishop from one see to another.^[30]

The speed of the election is understandable. Rome has just lost an energetic pope in a climate of violence. Choosing an experienced man, known to the clergy, seasoned in Eastern affairs and already placed in the highest Roman offices, could seem the best way to avoid a vacuum.

A consecration without waiting for the emperor

Marinus seems to have been consecrated without waiting for the consent of Charles the Fat.^[31][32] This detail matters. Since the Constitutio Romana of 824, the pontifical election had been framed by an imperial presence or by procedures intended to prevent Roman disorders. But in 882, the emperor is far away, weak, and local urgency prevails.

The article on Stephen IV already shows the reverse movement: in 816, the pope seeks Carolingian recognition; in 882, Rome chooses quickly, without awaiting the authorisation of an empire that can no longer effectively protect Italy.

The canonical problem of translation

The case of Marinus creates a delicate precedent: he is already Bishop of Cære when he becomes Bishop of Rome. In the ancient discipline, a bishop is bound to his Church; passing from one see to another seems suspect, because the episcopate is not a career of promotion.^[33]

Photius and his circle will use this objection against him. Mann notes the irony: Photius, who had promoted and transferred his own partisans, reproaches Marinus for a translation which Rome will then justify by necessity and by the personal quality of the pontiff.^[34]

"The character of Marinus, 'spotless priest' of Our Lord, was sufficient reason for his translation." — Stephen VI, argument reported by Mann in the Roman reply to the Photian attacks^[35]

The factions raise their heads again

Mann opens the pontificate with a brutal observation: the factional troubles which John VIII had contained by force of will resume almost at once.^[36] The Annals of Fulda place in this very period the murder of a rich man named Gregory, whose body is said to have been dragged within the precinct of St Peter's, until the blood soiled the pavement of the church.^[37]

Mann remains cautious about the exact links between this Gregory, the enemies of John VIII, George of the Aventine and the violence that will mark Adrian III. What is certain matters: Rome has already entered the climate in which aristocratic rivalries can profane holy places and instrumentalise pontificates.

Charles the Fat: the emperor too weak

Marinus could naturally expect from Emperor Charles III the Fat protection against Italian disorders. He receives almost none. Charles comes to Italy after Easter 883, holds an assembly at Verona, claims to depose Guy of Spoleto and other nobles, but lacks the strength to impose his decisions lastingly.^[38]

Mann judges the emperor severely: by seeking to redistribute old fiefs to men of low extraction, Charles turns the Italian nobles against him without having the military means to tame them. Guy even allies himself with Saracen forces and ravages the country.^[39]

Nonantola, 20 June 883

Marinus meets Charles at the monastery of Nonantola on 20 June 883. The two men consult on the needs of the Empire and of Italy; Guy of Spoleto is declared guilty of high treason; Berengar of Friuli receives the mission of subduing him by force.^[40]

The campaign begins well, then fails before sickness and fever. Charles himself must leave Italy. In 884, he ends by making peace with those he had wished to crush.^[41] Marinus, with such a protector, could not restore temporal order.

Why was Formosus an explosive dossier?

Formosus of Porto is not a secondary figure. Under Nicholas I, he is sent to Bulgaria and becomes one of King Boris's preferred candidates for organising the new Bulgarian hierarchy.^[42] Under John VIII, he is caught up in Roman political tensions and ends up condemned, excommunicated or kept aside according to the phases of the dossier.^[43]

The difficulty is that Formosus enjoys a real reputation. Mann does not present him as a villain: he judges him weak rather than bad. But this weakness made him available to factions capable of using his name.^[44]

The decision of Marinus

Marinus absolves Formosus of the oaths sworn to John VIII and restores him to his see of Porto.^[45][46] The gesture is understandable: after a very conflictual pontificate, Marinus wants to reduce open fronts. Reintegrating Formosus could seem an act of mercy and pacification.

Mann, writing with knowledge of later events, judges that Marinus would have done better to respect the prudence of John VIII. The future will tell why: Formosus will become pope in 891, then his corpse will be exhumed and tried in 897 under Stephen VI, the famous and scandalous episode of the "Cadaver Synod".^[47][48]

The spiritual lesson of the dossier

The Formosus dossier does not allow a simple condemnation of Marinus. It rather shows the limit of a good gesture when made in a poisoned political milieu. Rehabilitating a man can be just; doing so without neutralising the factions around him can become dangerous.

For Ignispedia, the lesson is sober: the Church never identifies with the violence of her factions, but she must sometimes bear it in her historical flesh. Marinus does not create the Roman evil of the 9th century; he suffers its logic.

Continuity with Nicholas I, Adrian II and John VIII

On Photius, Marinus does not break with the Roman line. He took part in Constantinople IV, suffered imprisonment, and knows the dossier personally.^[49] He therefore condemns Photius vigorously, at the very moment when relations with Constantinople grow complicated after the synod of 879–880, which had in practice rehabilitated Photius in Byzantine usage.^[50]

The New Catholic Encyclopedia nuances more than Mann: it holds that Marinus does not frontally call into question all the decisions of 879–880, but continues a policy of controlled tension with the Byzantine Church.^[51] The two readings are not necessarily contradictory: Marinus preserves the Catholic memory of 869–870 while governing in a context where the East has already resumed another trajectory.

The attack of Photius against Marinus

Photius attacks Marinus over his election: already Bishop of Cære, he should not have been transferred to Rome.^[52] The polemic is skilful. It shifts the debate: instead of speaking of the legitimacy of Ignatius, of the council of 869–870 or of the rights of the Apostolic See, the personal regularity of the pope is attacked.

The Roman reply, preserved indirectly by Mann under the pontificate of Stephen VI, invokes precedents and above all sufficient cause: the quality of Marinus and ecclesial necessity.^[53] The argument does not abolish the discipline against translations; it says that this discipline is not a mechanical absolute when the good of the Church requires it.

A widening rupture

Mann concludes that the gulf between Rome and Constantinople, which had not widened under John VIII, widens rapidly under his immediate successors.^[54] Marinus is not solely responsible for this development. But his pontificate marks a stage: the Photian crisis is no longer merely the quarrel of a contested patriarch; it becomes a divergent memory between the Greek East and the Latin West.

The pallium for Fulk

Marinus maintains a relationship with Fulk of Reims, an important archbishop of Western Francia. After receiving his profession of faith, he sends him the pallium.^[55][56] This gesture is classic but significant: even politically weakened, Rome remains the centre of recognition for Western metropolitans.

Fulk also asks the pope to confirm the privileges of the Church of Reims and to take an interest in the young king Carloman, who once came to Rome with his father Charles the Bald.^[57]

The Erminfrid affair

Fulk submits a local affair to Marinus: a certain Erminfrid has seized a monastery belonging to Reims but situated in the diocese of Everard, Archbishop of Sens. Marinus then writes to Everard and to John of Rouen, in whose diocese Erminfrid resides.^[58]

The sources do not tell the outcome of the affair. But the episode shows the daily role of the papacy: arbitrating jurisdictional conflicts, protecting ecclesiastical goods, writing to the competent bishops, even when the great imperial dossiers seem to occupy the whole horizon.

An English presence in Rome

The Schola Anglorum is the quarter or institution of the Anglo-Saxons in Rome, linked to pilgrims, clerics and the alms coming from England. Since the Anglo-Saxon royal journeys to Rome, notably those of Æthelwulf and the young Alfred in the 9th century, it embodies a concrete bond between Christian England and the tomb of Peter.^[59]

Marinus intervenes at the request of Alfred the Great. Out of regard for the king of the Anglo-Saxons, he frees the Schola Anglorum from all tribute and tax.^[60][61]

"Out of regard for Alfred, king of the Anglo-Saxons, and at his request, Marinus freed the school of the Anglo-Saxons residing in Rome from all tribute and tax." — Horace K. Mann, summarising the tradition on Marinus and Alfred^[62]

The relic of the Cross

Mann adds that Marinus then sent many gifts, among them a notable portion of the holy Cross.^[63] This detail is not merely devotional. In the 9th century, relics are diplomatic and spiritual bonds: they unite kingdoms to Rome by something other than a tax or an embassy.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle notes that in 883, Sighelm and Æthelstan carried to Rome the alms promised by Alfred.^[64] Mann suggests — without certainty — that three silver coins of Alfred, kept in the Museo delle Terme and found in 1883–1884 in an earthenware vase on the site of the House of the Vestals together with other later English coins, could be part of these alms (in English: "a part, no doubt, of his 'alms'").^[65]

A small decision, a great symbol

Marinus's decision on the Schola Anglorum may seem secondary. It is not. In a disordered Italy, at the moment when the emperor no longer really protects Rome, the pope continues to exercise a concrete fatherhood over distant Christian peoples.

Alfred defends England against the Vikings, organises the religious reform of his kingdom and keeps the Roman bond. Marinus, a brief and politically fragile pope, replies by protecting the English institution in Rome. It is a discreet image of catholicity: an island king and a besieged pope commune in the same memory of Peter.

A debated date, a tomb in St Peter's

Chroniclers give the year of Marinus's death, but the month and day required reconstruction. The Holy See gives 15 May 884; New Advent says this date is probable; Mann follows Duchesne and Pagi in assigning the death to the month of May, and with Duchesne to the 15th.^[66][67][68]

Marinus is buried in the portico of St Peter's, between the Silver Gate and the Roman Gate.^[69][70] This burial expresses the continuity of the pontificate: the man who served Rome from the age of twelve rests near the tomb of the Apostle.

The epitaph

Mann quotes the epitaph of Marinus from Duchesne. It praises his humility, his learning, his radiance among kings and peoples, and his victory over Greek errors.^[71]

"Marinus, who by his humble spirit pleased God and was an honour to the world, ordained that his limbs be buried in this place, in the hope that one day the earth would render them to him. Shining like the stars of heaven, he was loved by kings and peoples. Adorned with learning, he spread the good seed far and wide. Vanquishing the Greeks, he banished schism from the East. Whoever you are, you who visit this temple of Saint Peter, pray that he may reign in heaven." — Epitaph of Marinus I, quoted by Duchesne and Mann^[72]

The formula about the "Greeks" reflects the Latin language of the time. It must not be read as a blanket condemnation of the Christian East, but as an allusion to the Photian conflict and to the Roman memory of Constantinople IV.

Marinus or Martin?

A lasting confusion comes from the closeness between Marinus and Martinus. Chroniclers called Marinus I "Martin II" and Marinus II "Martin III". That is why, later, the pope elected in 1281 took the name Martin IV instead of Martin II.^[73]

For Ignispedia, the correct title is therefore Pope Marinus I. The forms "Martin II" or "Martinus II" should serve only to trace certain ancient sources, never to create a separate article.

A servant formed in obedience

The first trait of Marinus is fidelity to the service received. Entering the Roman Church as a child, he passes through the offices without first seeking a visible career: subdeacon, deacon, legate, treasurer, archdeacon, bishop. The sources do not give an abundance of intimate traits, but they show an ecclesial life wholly given to the service of the Apostolic See.^[74]

A tested firmness

The second trait is firmness. Marinus does not speak of Photius from a quiet library: he was sent, opposed, arrested, imprisoned. His fidelity to Rome is not a polemical opinion, but a costly obedience.^[75]

An imperfect prudence

The third trait is humbler: Marinus is not infallible in his prudential decisions. The rehabilitation of Formosus could seem pastoral; it would have dangerous effects. The article must not turn this judgement into a moral trial. It suffices to see that the holiness of an office does not abolish the fragility of human government.

A pope of concrete catholicity

Finally, Marinus shows catholicity on a small scale: he writes to Reims, receives the profession of faith of Fulk, protects the Anglo-Saxons of Rome, sends a relic of the Cross to Alfred, while bearing the quarrels of Constantinople and Italy.^[76][77]

His brief pontificate is therefore not empty. It holds together three frontiers: the Greek East, the collapsing Carolingian Italy, and the young Christianities of the North. That is little in duration, but much in significance.

• Pope John VIII — predecessor of Marinus, assassinated in 882, great figure of Roman resistance to Carolingian disorder.
• Pope Adrian II — the pope who sent Marinus as legate to the Fourth Council of Constantinople.
• Pope Saint Nicholas I — pope of the first great phase of the Photian crisis.
• Fourth Council of Constantinople — the council where Marinus intervenes as pontifical legate.
• The Great Schism of the East — to place the Photian crisis in the long history of the rupture between Rome and Constantinople.
• The Conversion of the Anglo-Saxons — to understand the lasting bond between Christian England, Rome and the Schola Anglorum.