Biography
Marinus
About Marinus
The catalog entry “Marinus” refers to the man of God commemorated alongside Praejectus, also called Projectus or Prix, on January 25. The current Italian Episcopal Conference’s Roman Martyrology uses the form Amarino and says that he and Preietto, bishop, were killed by city notables at Clermont-Ferrand. An older English transcription of the Roman Martyrology calls the companion Marinus. The name forms are not interchangeable across every saint’s record, but the shared January 25 pairing provides a strong basis for identifying this catalog entry with Amarinus of Clermont.
The name history itself requires care. Adonis’s martyrology commentary lists forms including Maurinus, Marinus, Marianus, and Amarinus for the Auvergne abbot associated with Praejectus. In the same discussion it distinguishes a different Maurinus venerated at Cologne. This is a useful reminder that similar names do not establish identity. The profile keeps “Marinus,” the form inherited in the catalog, and refers to him as Amarinus when discussing the regional monastic tradition.
A regional historical society’s notice, drawing on the Vita of Saint Prix and citing historical reference works, describes Amarinus as a seventh-century hermit who founded an oratory and small monastery called Doroangus in the Thur valley. It says he accompanied Praejectus on the return journey and was killed near Volvic. This is a received hagiographic account, not a contemporaneous record of every episode. The notice dates his death to 674, while other traditions give 676. The reviewed sources do not establish a secure year, so no life date is entered.
The location accounts also differ in precision. The current CEI entry associates the pair with Clermont-Ferrand, while the regional notice places the killing near Volvic. Since these are not the same specific place, the profile does not turn either into a structured death location or a map event. No birthplace, family relationship, particular miracle, or separate action can be securely attached to Marinus from the sources reviewed here. He is described as a “man of God”; the bishop in the pair is Praejectus, not Marinus.
The CEI includes the pair among January 25 observances. This is a liturgical commemoration, not proof that the date is the historical anniversary of death. The limited account nevertheless preserves an identifiable local memory: a monastic man associated with the Clermont region and remembered together with Bishop Praejectus. Keeping the variants and source limits visible avoids merging him with either the bishop or other saints named Marinus or Maurinus.
Wondering how to weigh the stories and sources? Learn how to read a saint biography.