Saint Marculus

Marculus of Thamugadi, or simply Marculus, was a bishop and Christian martyr from Thamugadi in the Roman province of Numidia. He lived during a time when Donatism, a movement popular among the Berbers, flourished in North Africa for over two decades, with Thamugadi and Bagai emerging as centers of this movement. In 346 CE, the founder of the Donatist Church, Donatus Magnus, sought recognition from Roman Emperor Constans. Before responding to Donatus, Constans dispatched two imperial notaries named Paul and Macarius to Numidia to investigate the situation. Their efforts to enforce church unity in North Africa by suppressing the Donatist cult were known as the Macarian campaign. The campaign faced hostility from the majority-Donatist locals, particularly Bishop Donatus of Bagai, who rallied local circumcellion militias for defense.

In 347 CE, Donatus and his men were massacred by the Roman army. On June 29, a group of Donatist bishops, including Marculus, protested this massacre at Vegesela, Numidia. The bishops were taken into custody; most were tortured but eventually released. Marculus was retained for several months before being executed on November 29, 347 CE, in Nova Petra by being thrown from a cliff by Roman soldiers—a unique method of execution among extant Donatist martyrologies. After his death, Marculus was venerated as a martyr within the Donatist Church, which continued to flourish for several more centuries.