Saint Marinus

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For the saint who died in the 3rd century, see Marinus of Caesarea. For the saint sometimes known as Marinus the Monk, see Marina the Monk.
Saint Marinus
Marino als steinhauer.png
Died 366 (traditional)
Honored in
Roman Catholic Church
Major shrine Basilica of Saint Marinus
Feast September 3
Attributes depicted as a bearded layman with a stonemason's hammer; also depicted as a young deacon with a hammer; depicted serving as a deacon to Saint Leo the Great or Gaudentius of Rimini; two oxen near him.
Patronage San Marino

Saint Marinus was the founder of a chapel and monastery, in 301, from where the world's oldest surviving republic, San Marino, grew. Tradition holds that he was a stonemason by trade who came from the island of Rab, on the other side of the Adriatic Sea (in what is now part of modern Croatia), fleeing persecution for his Christian beliefs in the Diocletianic Persecution. He became a Deacon, and was ordained by Gaudentius, the Bishop of Rimini; later, he was accused by an insane woman of being her estranged husband, so he fled to Monte Titano to live as a hermit.[1] There he built a chapel and monastery. Marinus was canonised as a saint, and later, the State of San Marino grew up from the centre created by the monastery.[1] His feast day/memorial day is September 3, commemorating the day, in 301, when he founded what became known as San Marino, which is also the state's national holiday.

According to legend, he died in the winter of 366 and his last words were: "Relinquo vos liberos ab utroque homine." ("I leave you free from both men"). This somewhat mysterious phrase is most likely to refer to the two "men" from whose oppressive power Saint Marinus had decided to separate himself, becoming a hermit on Mount Titano: respectively the Emperor and the Pope. This affirmation of freedom (first and foremost fiscal franchise) from both the Empire and the Papal States, however legendary, has always been the inspiration of the tiny republic.[2]


  1. ^ a b Radovan Radovinovič, The Croatian Adriatic Tourist Guide, pg. 127, Zagreb (1999), ISBN 953-178-097-8
  2. ^ "The Republic of San Marino", William Miller, The American Historical Review, Vol. 6, No. 4 (July 1901), pages 633–649

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