A martyrology is a catalogue or list of and other and beatification arranged in the calendar order of their anniversaries or feasts. Local martyrologies record exclusively the custom of a particular Church. Local lists were enriched by names borrowed from neighbouring churches. Consolidation occurred, by the combination of several local martyrologies, with or without borrowings from literary sources.
This is the now accepted meaning in the Latin Church. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the nearest equivalent to the martyrology are the Synaxaria and the longer Menaia, both sometimes known as Menologia.
Simple martyrologies only enumerate names. Historical martyrologies, also sometimes called passionaries, also include stories or biographical details.
Among the Roman martyrs, mention is already made in the Ferial of African martyrs, namely, Perpetua and Felicitas (March 7) and also Cyprian (September 14). The calendar of Carthage, which belongs to the sixth century, contains a larger portion of foreign martyrs and even of confessors not belonging to that region of the Church.
Setting aside the additions it later received, the chief sources of the Hieronymian are a general martyrology of the Churches of the East, the local martyrology of the Church of Rome, a general martyrology of Italy, a general martyrology of Africa, and some literary sources, among them Eusebius.
Victor De Buck ("Acta SS.", Octobris, XII, 185, and elsewhere) identified the relationship of the Hieronymian Martyrology to the Syriac Martyrology discovered by Wright. This is of assistance in recognizing the existence of a general martyrology of the East, written in Greek at Nicomedia, and which served as a source for the Hieronymian.
This document is in poor condition. Proper names are distorted, repeated or misplaced, and in many places the text is so corrupt that it is impossible to understand it. With the exception of a few traces of borrowings from the Passions of the martyrs, the compilation is in the form of a simple martyrology.
There were three manuscript versions: those of Bern, Wolfenbuttel. and Echternach. The latter is thought to be the earliest, based on a copy possibly brought to England by Augustine of Canterbury in 597, and preserved in a manuscript at the Abbey of Echternach, founded by the English missionary Willibrord.
The Martyrologium Hieronymianum Epternacense, now in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, is thought to have been written in the early eighth century as an Insular version of the "Hieronymianum", compiled from two separate copies. In some instances the feast is misplaced by a day. Clayton, Mary. "Feasts of the Virgin in the Anglo-Saxon Church", Anglo-Saxon England, Vol. 13, Peter Clemoes, Simon Keynes, and Michael Lapidge eds., Cambridge University Press, 2007 Also known as the Echternach recension, it was adapted to the English Church, incorporating memorials for Augustine of Canterbury, Paulinus of York and others.
In 1885 De Rossi and Louis Duchesne published a memoir entitled Les sources du martyrologe hiéronymien (in Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire, V), which became the starting-point of a critical edition of the martyrology, published through their efforts in Vol. II for November of the "Acta SS." in 1894.
The medievalist Henri Quentin and Bollandist Hippolyte Delehaye collaborated on an annotated edition, Commentarius Perpetuus in Martyrologium Hieronymianum, (Brussels, in 1931); Quentin supplied the textual commentary and Delehaye the historical.
Of the best-known historical martyrologies, the oldest go under the names of:
The most famous of all is that of Usuard (c. 875), Martyrology of Usuard, on which the Roman martyrology was based.
The first edition of the Roman martyrology appeared at Rome in 1583. The third edition, which appeared in 1584, was approved by Gregory XIII, who gave the Roman martyrology official status for the whole Church. In 1586, Baronius published his annotated edition, which in spite of its omissions and inaccuracies is a mine of valuable information.
The historical martyrologies, taken as a whole, have been studied by Quentin (1908). There are also numerous editions of calendars or martyrologies of less universal interest, and commentaries upon them. Mention ought to be made of the famous marble calendar of Naples. It is at present in the archdiocesan chapel, and is the object of the lengthy commentaries of Mazocchi ( Commentarii in marmoreum Neapol. Kalendarium, Naples, 1755, 3 vols) and of Sabbatini ( Il vetusto calendario napolitano, Naples, 1744, 12 vols.)
The chief works on the martyrologies are those of Heribert Rosweyde, who in 1613 published at Antwerp the martyrology of Ado;Roswyde's edition of Ado was preceded by the "Little Roman," which he called "Vetus Romanum". It was only replaced by that of (Rome, 1745), based on new MSS. and enriched with notes. of Sollerius, who produced a learned edition of Usuard; Acta sanctorum Junii, vols. vi. and vii. and of Fiorentini, who published in 1688 an annotated edition of the Martyrology of St Jerome. The critical edition of the latter by J. B. de Rossi and Louis Duchesne, was published in 1894.In vol. ii. of the Acta sanctorum Novembris.
The notes of Baronius on the Roman Martyrology cannot be passed over in silence, the work having done much towards making known the historical sources of the compilations of the Middle Ages. In Vol. II for March of the "Acta Sanctorum" (1668) the furnished new materials for martyrological criticism by their publication entitled Martyrologium venerabilis Bedæ presbyteri ex octo antiquis manuscriptis acceptum cum auctario Flori …. The results then achieved were in part corrected, in part rendered more specific, by the great work of , Martyrologium Usuardi monachi (Antwerp, 1714), published in parts in Vols. VI and VII for June of the "Acta Sanctorum."
Although Du Sollier's text of Usuard is not beyond criticism, the edition surpasses anything of the kind previously attempted. Henri Quentin ( Les Martyrologes historiques du moyen âge, Paris, 1908) took up the general question and succeeded in giving a reasonable solution, thanks to careful study of the manuscripts.
Examples of local martyrologies include:
The Syriac martyrology discovered by Wright ( Journal of Sacred Literature, 1866) gives the idea of a general martyrology.
Prior to Vatican II, the Martyrology was read publicly as part of the Roman Catholic Divine Office at Prime. It was always anticipated, that is, the reading for the following day was read. By decree of Vatican II, the office of Prime was suppressed. A fully revised edition the Roman Martyrology was issued in 2001, with rubrics which allow the Martyrology to be proclaimed at the end of the celebration of Lauds or of one of the Little Hours, or apart from liturgical celebrations in community gatherings for meetings or meals. cf. Martyrologium Romanum, 2004, Vatican Press (Typis Vaticanis), see pages 29-31.
After the Second Vatican Council, a fully revised edition was promulgated in 2001, followed in 2005 by a version (bearing the publication date of 2004) that adjusted a number of typographical errors that appeared in the 2001 edition and added 117 saints and blesseds canonized or beatified between 2001 and 2004, as well as a number of more ancient saints not included in the previous edition. "The updated Martyrology contains 7,000 saints and blesseds currently venerated by the Church, and whose cult is officially recognized and proposed to the faithful as models worthy of imitation." Adoremus Bulletin, February 2005
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