MARCELLINO EVANGELISTA. – Franciscan preacher (in the world Lorenzo Gerbi), so called from S. Marcello Pistoiese, born there on 2 November 1530, died in Rome, held in the odor of sanctity at the Aracoeli, on 3 January 1592. An eminent theologian, he was an effective expositor of the Bible to the people (“ecclesiastese”).
He taught in Paris, Pistoia, L’Aquila, Padua, Rome, Florence, and perhaps also Milan. He declined the bishoprics of Volterra (1560) and Cortona (1566), as well as the cardinalate. He preached for approximately 38 years (1553–93), and from 1577 also to the Jews of Rome. Among the finest preachers of the sixteenth century, he was a friend of Panigraola and of ss. Filippo Neri, Carlo Borromeo, and Felice da Cantalice. From 1572–73 to 1592 he held, with great success, the office of “ecclesiastese” in Rome, in the morning at the basilica of S. Pietro and in the evening at that of the Aracoeli, as well as in other churches, for example S. Lorenzo in Damaso. Many lectures were printed; others remained in manuscript.
Besides an exposition of the Apocalisse and of Giobbe, the following works enjoyed wide circulation: Della Metamorfosi, cioè trasformazione del virtuoso (4 vols., Florence 1582–83); Letioni sopra l’Epistola agli Ebrei (there 1583); Letioni diciannove sopra Rut (there 1586); Letioni sopra Tobia (Rome 1587); Letioni sopra Daniele profeta... (Venice 1588).