MARCELLUS of TANGIER, Saint, Martyr. — A centurion of the Trajan Legion, beheaded at Tignis (Tangier) in Mauretania on 30 October 298, because, disgusted by the conduct of his pagan comrades-in-arms, he had cast aside his military insignia and proclaimed himself a Christian. His martyrdom is therefore to be inscribed among the military persecutions of the Diocletian period, provoked by Galerius.
The *Passio* (BHL, 5253) reproduces the Latin text elaborated by a redactor who had in hand the official acts of the trial and who was an eyewitness to the event. It was first published by T. Ruinart. Feast day: 30 October.
BIBL.: Acta SS. Octobris, XIII, Paris 1883, pp. 274-84; H. Delehaye, Les Actes de St Marcel le Centurion, in Analecta Boll., 41 (1923), pp. 257-78; Martyr. Romanum, pp. 484-85.