Saint Marinus

Saint Marinus was the founder of the world's oldest surviving republic, San Marino, in 301. Tradition holds that he was a stonemason by trade who came from the island of Rab on the other side of the Adriatic Sea (modern Croatia), fleeing persecution for his Christian beliefs in the Diocletianic Persecution. He became a Deacon, and was ordained by St. Gaudentius, Bishop of Rimini, until he was accused by an insane woman of being her estranged husband, when he fled to Monte Titano to live as a hermit. His memorial day is September 3, commemorating the day of the year when he founded San Marino, which is also San Marino'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 State and the Church, however legendary, has always been the inspiration of the tiny republic. "The Republic of San Marino", William Miller, The American Historical Review, Vol. 6, No. 4 (Juli 1901), pages 633–649)
==References==
==External links==
*Saints of September 4: Marinus of San Marino, Hermit Deacon (on this website, September 4 is incorrectly indicated as Saint Marinus' day) 
*Patron Saints Index: Saint Marinus
* San Marino
Category:3rd-century births
Category:366 deaths
Category:Croatian saints
Category:Croatian Roman Catholic saints
Category:Roman Catholic saints
Category:History of San Marino
Category:Sammarinese Christians
Category:Sammarinese Roman Catholic saints
Category:Sammarinese saints
Category:San Marino (city)
Category:4th-century Christian saints
es:Marino diácono
eo:Marino (diakono)
fr:Saint Marin
hr:Sveti Marin
id:Marinus
it:Marino diacono
he:מרינוס הקדוש
ka:წმინდა მარინუსი
hu:Szent Marinus
nl:Marinus diaken
pl:Święty Maryn
ru:Святой Марин
sl:Sveti Marino
sr:Свети Марин