MARCO di GERUSALEMME, saint. - He is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on 22 October as a martyr, but this designation is not established; in antiquity he received no cult and was included in Ado’s Martyrology.
He was the first bishop of Jerusalem after the reorganization of the city carried out under Hadrian. In 135, indeed, the Jews, who had repeatedly attempted to cast off the yoke of Roman domination, led by the demagogue Bar Kökhèbhà, rebelled once more; but they were defeated near Bethar and dispersed. They were then absolutely forbidden to set foot in Jerusalem, which became a Roman colony inhabited solely by pagans. The Christian community also, until then composed of converts from Judaism, was dispersed, and only gradually was able to reconstitute itself with members drawn from paganism; M. was precisely the first bishop of this new community. Nothing is known of his activity; he appears to have died under Antoninus Pius, in 156.