Marcellus did not die a violent death and as formerly venerated at Rome as a Confessor in the original meaning of the word. Because of his mildness in reconciling sinners by the Sacrament of Penance the austere heretical party raised a tumult. The tyrant Maxentius then condemned Marcellus to exile from the trails of which he subsequently died. He may thus be rightly called a martyr because of his sufferings.