Saint San Marsus

Saint Marsus was a Roman missionary who, according to accounts, was ordained a priest in the 5th century by Pope Sixtus III. He was sent to Gaul as a bishop alongside Saint Peregrinus, accompanied by a deacon named Corcodemus, a subdeacon named Jovianus, and a reader also named Jovianus, to preach the Gospel and strengthen the faith of believers. The group reached the territory around Auxerre and, through both word and deed, converted a large number of inhabitants to Christianity. Peregrinus reportedly consecrated Marsus as a bishop before traveling to an island inhabited by pagans, where he died a martyr. Marsus himself died after overcoming many trials, on either June 8 or October 4, and was buried in Auxerre. He was canonized as a confessor. Although nearly forgotten today, he was a highly venerated saint in the Early Middle Ages. His shrine was located in Saxony, particularly in the Diocese of Essen. In 864, Altfrid, Bishop of Hildesheim and founder of the Diocese of Essen, deposited the holy man's relics, which had been brought from Auxerre, in an unknown location. A surviving sermon mentions the return of Marsus's relics at Altfrid's initiative. Later sources claim that Altfrid brought the relics to Essen, but these sources contradict the fact that the sermon addresses religious brothers, which does not correspond to a women's community like that of Essen. Furthermore, the sermon presents Marsus as a model for proselytism, yet evangelization missions were forbidden to women's communities. It is possible that the recipient of the relics was Corvey Abbey, as Essen later held both the relics of Marsus and those of Saint Liuttrud, which had been entrusted to the Diocese of Essen by the monastery of Corvey. The Diocese of Essen received the skull and sternum of Saint Marsus from Lyon no later than between 999 and 1002.