San Marino [antikvár]

THE ORIGINS_ Out of the murky darkness of the Middle Ages very little reliable historical evidence has reached us. All we can do is give credit to legend where an element of truth is always present. So far as the origins of San Marino are concerned, the truth con- tained in the legend is far easier to believe given the existence of that historical mar- vel which is the Republic of San Marino. The legend narrates the story of a stonemason from Loparo, a small village located south of the town of Arbe in Dalmatia. Together with a group of fellow- countrymen he came to Rimini to help with the building of the port. Having become a Christian, he was forced to flee the persecutions of the Roman emperor, Di- ocletian - another native of Dalmatia - and take refuge, along with numerous other fellow exiles and Christians, on the inac- cessible heights of Mount Titano. A small community thus came into being centred around this stonemason who was accepted and recognised as Head and Pri- or. He was called Marinus either because that was his real name or because he had come from the sea. Harmony and peace helped the community to overcome the tremendous difficulties represented by the barrenness and restricted size of their new home whose inaccessibility was however a guarantee against attack and perse- cution. On his death, Marinus was buried in the small church he himself had built. In this church the descendents of the first inhabi- tants continued to gather in memory of Marinus whose identity faded in time, whose holiness was acknowledged and asserted by the people, whose fame grew until it became legend. Marinus the Dalmatian, the Founder Saint, according to sacred tradition, arrived on Mount Titano in the year 301 A.D. For the people of San Marino, that was the year their Republic was born.