MARCIA. - Favourite of the emperor Commodus from 183, after having been the concubine of Ummidio Quadrato, a nephew of Marcus Aurelius. Cassius Dio (Historia romana, LXXII, 4) wrote: «Of M. it is said that she had a lively sympathy for Christians and did them great good, being all-powerful over Commodus’ mind».
This testimony is confirmed by the Philosophumena of Hippolytus (9, 12), which recounts an act of kindness by M. on behalf of the Christians of Rome who were detained at hard labour in Sardinia because of their faith; she secured their release by Commodus’ order.
The fact, narrated by a contemporary, reveals M.’s attitude toward Christians. From this it has been inferred that she was a Christian, but Cassius Dio merely alludes to the sympathy she had for Christians, while Hippolytus calls her «a lover of God», thus indicating that she protected Christians, as Poppaea, Nero’s favourite, protected the Jews (cf. Josephus, Antig. Iud., XX, 8, 2). The education she received from Hyacinthus, certainly a Christian and perhaps a priest, while inspiring in her a strong attraction to the Christian religion, had not given her the resolve to practise its commandments. There is no doubt that M. openly protected Christians and succeeded in greatly limiting the persecution against them, so that Eusebius (Hist. ecc., V, 21) could write that under Commodus the Church enjoyed peace and tranquillity and that in Rome, especially, Christianity could spread even among the higher social classes.