St. Crescius, martyr in the territory of Magello in Tuscany.
St. Omnio, martyr in the territory of Magello in Tuscany.
St. Emptius, martyr in the territory of Magello in Tuscany.
St. Cerbonius, martyr in the territory of Magello in Tuscany.
St. Pamphila, martyr in the territory of Magello in Tuscany.
The companions, martyrs in the territory of Magello in Tuscany.
St. Severinus of Tongres, confessor and bishop.
St. Felix I, called of Trier, confessor and bishop.
St. Felix, bishop of Tubzoca in Africa and martyr at Venosa in Apulia.
St. Severus, martyr at Nicomedia;
St. Vitalis, martyr at Nicomedia;
St. Felix, martyr at Nicomedia;
St. Rogatus, martyr at Nicomedia;
St. Papirius, martyr at Nicomedia;
St. Victoria, martyr at Nicomedia;
St. Flavian, martyr at Nicomedia;
St. Victor, martyr at Nicomedia;
St. Claudian, martyr at Hierapolis in Phrygia.
St. Eutherius, martyr at Hierapolis in Phrygia.
St. Flavian, martyr at Hierapolis in Phrygia.
St. Justus, martyr at Hierapolis in Phrygia.
St. Victor, martyr at Hierapolis in Phrygia.
St. Proclus, confessor and bishop, at Constantinople.
St. Evergislus, martyr and bishop of Cologne.
St. Arethas, martyr in the city of Nagran in Arabia.
St. Reuma, martyr in the city of Nagran in Arabia.
The IVMLII companions, martyrs in the city of Nagran in Arabia.
St. Cadfarch, confessor, not a bishop, in North Wales.
St. Senoch, who is also Enoch, presbyter and abbot, in the territory of Tours.
St. Maglorius, confessor and bishop, in Armorica.
St. Martin, abbot of Vertou, in the territories of Nantes and Poitiers.
St. Ebregisus, bishop of Maastricht.
St. Martin, who is also Marcius, solitary in the Roman Campania.
St. Fromundus, bishop of Coutances in Normandy.
St. Florentinus, confessor, not a bishop, in the former diocese of Toul in Gaul.
St. Montana, virgin, in the diocese of Bourges and formerly in that of Sens.
Bl. Arethas, monk of the Caves, and Bl. Simon, bishop of Vladimir.
Bl. John Angelo Porro, presbyter and confessor, of the Order of Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary, at Milan.
At Roda in Spain, the translation of St. Valerius, bishop of Zaragoza and confessor, made in the year 1651: so, more or less, Peter Sainz de Baranda at this day in his Key to Flórez's Sacred Spain, from the Theatre of the Churches of Aragon by Lambert of Zaragoza; in volumes II and IX of that work St. Valerius is treated, as also in volume XXX of Flórez's Sacred Spain and in volumes XV and XVI of Villanueva's Literary Journey. And from these sources the Commentary on St. Valerius, prelate of Zaragoza, which our predecessors once gave under 28 January, will one day have to be greatly enlarged.
St. Amandus, confessor, is remembered on this day by the man who enlarged with a number of names the Usuard codex of D. du Cheval, marked c. He is St. Amandus, bishop of Maastricht, of whom we also had to treat among yesterday's Passed Over. In both places this memory is made on account of the translation of his body, of which our predecessors spoke on the day on which this saint is chiefly venerated, 6 February.
St. Longinus, martyr at Caesarea in Cappadocia, is praised on this day by Rabanus and Notker; we found the same man on yesterday's date in several other calendars and martyrologies, and noted a few things about him among the Passed Over, and others in the brief Sylloge on SS. Severus and Dorotheus; for the rest we refer the reader to the day on which our predecessors spoke of the two Longinuses, 15 March.
Bl. Ava or Avia, nun and benefactress of the convent of Denain in Hainaut, is extolled with praise on this day by an anonymous monk of Donauwörth [Church calendar of all the saints who lived under the Rule of St. Benedict, part II, page 215.], the writer of an ecclesiastical calendar of the Order of St. Benedict. Our predecessors spoke of her under the day to which she truly belongs, 29 April.
Our predecessors found the memory of St. John Damascene celebrated under this day in the Horologion of the Greeks which they had in their possession. This saint has been treated in our work at 6 May.
An Office of St. Renobert, bishop and confessor, was formerly held on this day in the diocese of Besançon (Bisuntina or Vesuntionensis), as is clear to me from the Breviary of Besançon printed in the year 1590 by order of Archbishop Ferdinand de Rye. That festival arose there because, when the Danes were breaking into Neustria (for St. Renobert or Regnobert was bishop of Bayeux), his sacred remains were translated to Quingey within the territory of Besançon and made the day 24 October notable there by that very translation. But Papebroch has already spoken of these things at the day on which he is chiefly venerated, 16 May.
The feast of St. Gilbert, confessor of the Premonstratensian Order and abbot of the monastery of St. Mary of Neuffontaines in the territory of Clermont, is noted on this day in the supplement of the Roman Martyrology for the canons regular, and accordingly for the Premonstratensian Order. Concerning the festival of that blessed man being fixed to the present day, Dom George, abbot of Roggenburg, discourses thus in the Hagiological Ephemerides of the Premonstratensian Order at this day: "As certain and undoubted as it is that St. Gilbert died on 6 June, so much is it disputed among authors on what day the feast of St. Godfrey (read Gilbert) should be celebrated. The cathedral church of Clermont assigns 6 June for celebrating the divine Office of St. Gilbert; Aubert Le Mire maintains 4 February. Andrew du Saussay and Chrysostom Stella (Van der Sterre) decree that St. Gilbert is to be venerated with solemn cult and memory on 3 October. Others judge that his feast should be kept on 24 October, on which day, in the territory of Clermont, in the monastery of Neuffontaines, in the year 1615, his sacred body was miraculously found, religiously elevated, and most honourably laid up in the altar; as may be seen more fully in the Bollandists at 6 June, in the Life of St. Gilbert, chapter 3 throughout, and especially number 18, page 766. This discrepancy or difference over the indiscriminate celebration of the feast of St. Gilbert was removed by provident counsel by the general chapter held at Prémontré in the year 1738, when in session VIII, before its end, it decreed by a law to remain perpetually in force: 'That the Office of St. Gilbert, abbot of our Order, is to be transferred and celebrated henceforth on 24 October, on which his sacred remains were elevated.' This translation was not only approved by the Apostolic See but also adorned with indulgences valid for this day only." For the other things that concern St. Gilbert, see our work at 6 June.
A commemoration and praise of St. Sebastiana, virgin and martyr at Heraclea in Thrace, is made today in the greater Menaea of the Greeks; but since mention of her is also made in several calendars at 7 June, Henschenius gave a brief sylloge on her at that day Acta SS., volume II of June, page 36.; and when afterwards a copy of the Acts of this virgin was brought from Messina to the Bollandist museum, Janning undertook an entirely new labour and in the Supplement to the month of June gave a Preliminary Commentary and the Greek text with a version of those same Acts. We therefore send the reader to what our predecessors wrote in our work, both in the series of days and in the supplement, at 7 June.
A long encomium of St. Radegund the queen is woven under this day in the Viola Sanctorum, and her memory is also celebrated in the Florarium which our predecessors had in their possession. But this was done at the pleasure of the compilers of each of those works, since the feast of the most blessed Radegund is kept on the day at which her Life has been illustrated in our Acts, 13 August.
Among the Santones, the translation of St. Vivianus, bishop, whose solemn deposition, says du Saussay at this day in his Gallican Martyrology, is on the twenty-eighth of August; indeed it is on that day under which Baronius treated him in the Roman Martyrology and under which our predecessors dealt with him, 28 August.
The Roman Martyrology today makes memory of SS. Januarius or Januarianus, presbyter, and Fortunatus or Fortunatius or also Fortunatianus, and Septimus or Septimius or also Septiminus, lectors; it had been preceded in this by the Little Roman, Ado, Notker, Usuard and others, as though those martyrs had been companions of St. Felix of Thibiuca; indeed some add St. Adauctus as well. But that Adauctus is the companion of another St. Felix, with whom he is venerated at Rome on the Via Ostiensis, and he was illustrated in our Acts on 30 August;
while SS. Januarius, Fortunatus and Septiminus belong to the band of the twelve brothers of Hadrumetum, of whom it was spoken in our Acts at 1 September.
A feast of St. Fortunatus with his companions was inscribed at this day in the calendar of the old Breviary of Ingolstadt, as I find noted by Henschenius. I think the same St. Fortunatus and the same companions are meant there about whom we made a number of inquiries in the Acts of St. Felix of Thibiuca, and of whom I have just said in the Passed Over that some are venerated on 30 August, others on 1 September.
At San Marco, the translation of the holy martyrs Senator and Viator, Cassiodorus, and Luke the abbot. So in the Florentine Martyrology printed in the year 1486, which is nothing else than the Martyrology of Usuard enlarged with some additions; similarly in the Usuardine auctarium edited by Zaccaria Bibliotheca Pistoriensis, page 154. from the codex of Pistoia. Of these saints and of their cult in the town of San Marco it has been treated in our work at 14 September.
The festival of St. Raphael the archangel is noted in innumerable calendars, proper Offices, missal books and other writings of that kind; he, like the rest of the angels, has been treated in our work at the day on which St. Michael with the rest of the heavenly host is chiefly venerated, 29 September.
SS. Marcianus, or rather Martinianus, Saturianus, two of their brothers, and St. Maxima, virgin, who all endured much in the Vandal persecution in asserting the divinity of Christ, are praised at some length on this day in the Brussels auctarium of Usuard; we spoke of them at 16 October.
The praises of St. Hilarion, monk and hermit and for some time a disciple of St. Anthony, are briefly recorded at this day in the Hagenau auctarium of Usuard, in which the names of saints are often moved from their place at will. We treated this most blessed man at 21 October.
The passion of Bl. James, bishop and martyr of Antioch, of the company of the holy eleven thousand virgins, is commemorated on this day in the Lübeck-Cologne and Greven editions of Usuard. Of St. Ursula and her companions, and also of Bl. James, who emerged from fictitious sepulchral inscriptions, we spoke enough and more than enough at 21 October.
SS. Severus and Dorotheus, both martyrs, are recorded on this day by Rabanus, the Brussels and Greven auctaria of Usuard, and Galesini, the arena of their contest being placed by some at Nicomedia, by others at Adrianople. They are, however, the same as SS. Severus and Dorotheus, martyrs of Adrianople, of whom, following the Hieronymian calendars, we spoke yesterday, that is, 23 October.
St. John the Good, of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, who chiefly flourished and is venerated at Mantua, was deferred in the Passed Over under 1 May to this day or the one immediately preceding; it has been spoken of him in our work at 22 October.
In the territory of Amiens, a commemoration of St. Domitius, bishop and confessor, is made on today's date in the Hagenau auctarium of Usuard; but there once again it strays by one day. We spoke of St. Domitius at 23 October.
The feast of Bl. Oda, widow, is announced today in the ancient Breviaries of Liège and in the Lübeck-Cologne and Greven editions of Usuard; it has been spoken of her under the day to which her feast has long since been restored, 23 October.
In the district of Poitou, the memory of St. Benedict, confessor, is made today in the Hagenau auctarium of Usuard, which very often strays from the genuine day. On that saint see our Commentary at 23 October.
The feast of the dedication of the holy church of Orense is also announced on this day by Peter Sainz de Baranda in his Key to Sacred Spain; some sort of history of this temple will be given by John Muñoz de la Cueva, bishop of Orense (Ariensis), in the Historical Notices of his cathedral church, printed at Madrid about the year 1726.
At Forum Cornelii, the dedication of the major church; so Ferrarius in the General Catalogue of the Saints. As is our custom we indicate such things among the Passed Over, omitting many more.
The anniversary of the dedication of the cathedral church of Würzburg is inscribed under this day in the Breviaries and proper Offices of that diocese; the matter itself is related at length by Gropp and other historians of Würzburg; by us, as is our custom, it is noted in the Passed Over.
The dedication of the altar of the holy confessors Martin, Gregory, Augustine, Benedict, Jerome and Remigius, which is situated on the right side of the upper crypt: so it is read in the Martyrology of Usuard with additions for the use of the church of Cambrai, written in the years 1144, 1145 and 1146. These and many other things contained in that codex could be useful for illustrating the history of that church, destroyed more than sixty years ago.
The feast of St. Valerius, martyr, to be kept with simple rite, is indicated today in the Breviary of Évora, which was brought to light with the greatest correction in the year 1548 by order of the Prince Cardinal Henry, first archbishop of Évora. But who is that St. Valerius, martyr? In the Portuguese supplement to the Roman Martyrology no Valerius appears; and indeed the cult of that St. Valerius seems to have vanished when the people of Évora admitted the Roman Breviary and Missal, laying aside their own books; certainly not even a shadow of St. Valerius appears in the Order for reciting the divine Office which Thomas Alvarez, royal chaplain, drew up for the year 1617 for the use of the clergy of Évora; moreover Flórez España sagrada, volume XIV, page 116 and following., where he lists the saints proper to the diocese of Évora, omitting St. Valerius, gives only these names: SS. Mancius, Vincent, Sabina, Christeta and Liberata or Wilgefortis, all venerated as martyrs; then in the Breviary of Évora itself, which I indicated above, there are no proper lessons; in the proper Offices which the Sacred Congregation of Rites approved for the use of the Portuguese, not a whit about St. Valerius is to be seen; and finally in the Key to Sacred Spain, which Peter Sainz de Baranda brought to light a few years ago and which is rather a guide to the History of the church of Spain and Portugal than an index to Flórez's work, the feast of St. Valerius does indeed come at 24 October; but this man was not a martyr but a confessor and bishop of Zaragoza; nor is that feast old enough, since it arose only in the year 1651, when his body was translated again. Since, however, the martyrs named Valerius are several in number, and no reason appears by which this one may be distinguished from the others, nothing remains but that we leave him in the Passed Over, until some men of good will teach us certain things.
Likewise of St. Vitalis: these words are read under this day in the Usuardine auctaria of Antwerp, the Greater Lübeck, of Ughelli, the Greater Antwerp, of Leiden, Louvain, Alberg, the Danish, of Brussels, Anchin, Daveron, the Florentine, in both editions of Bellinus, and in all the editions of Molanus; the Utrecht auctarium, however, has: "Likewise the feast of St. Vitalis"; and that of Hagenau: "Likewise of St. Vitalis, martyr." On the other hand Galesini, in his Martyrology adapted to the uses of the holy Roman Church: "On this same day, of St. Vitalis, also a confessor" (for St. Martin of Vertou, confessor, had preceded); in the notes at the end, however, Galesini indicates that he took this memory from the Roman Martyrology, that is, from the Usuardine edition of Bellinus of Padua. Canisius also, or rather Wallasser, names St. Vitalis, confessor, today in his German Martyrology; and Ferrarius, following Galesini, does the same in his General Catalogue of the Saints. And from this review it is clear that in by far the greatest part of the codices the bare name of Vitalis appears; in the single Hagenau codex, written about the beginning of the sixteenth century, he is called a martyr, and at the end of the same century he is called a confessor by Galesini, doubtless following the example of Peter de Natalibus, who, flourishing in the middle of the fifteenth century, wrote in book XI, number 300 of the Catalogue of the Saints: "Vitalis, confessor, rested in Christ on the ninth before the Kalends of November"; where he is listed among those saints about whom Peter could find nothing. Is it then one and the same saint that is in question here; and if one, who at last is he? To put it in a few words: since no St. Vitalis, confessor, is known at all who is venerated anywhere on this day, and since the place of cult is omitted, which very rarely occurs with holy confessors, I should think that the title of confessor was rashly added, and that this Vitalis is the martyr of Nicomedia, who, since in several Hieronymian codices he is placed at the head of today's band of Nicomedia, was taken in among the Usuardine additions from some abridged Hieronymian Martyrology. And this opinion was long ago put forward by Sollerius in his edition of Usuard, in which Fiorentini had preceded him in his notes on the Hieronymian Martyrology.
The memory of St. Martialis, commonly St. Marsau, abbot in the monastery of St. Hilary at Poitiers, is made on this day by Chastelain in his Universal Martyrology. But since the name of this man does not appear in the catalogues of the abbots of St. Hilary, and is nonetheless recorded by a writer whose accuracy no one has ever praised enough, we were not a little anxious. But in vain did we inquire about him by letters and in printed books. It remains therefore that we pass him over in this place, until something at length becomes known.
The name of St. Macrenius, bishop and confessor, occurs on this day in the Martyrology of Usuard printed at Florence in the year 1486 under the title of the Florentine Martyrology. But that name does not seem to be rightly expressed, and is put for Maglorius, whose commemoration is recorded in the same words in the Usuardine auctaria, sometimes with the place of his dwelling set before it, "in Britain"; sometimes the place of his rest or cult, "at Paris"; sometimes with every designation entirely omitted.
St. Athanasius is marked on this day after St. Arethas in the Graeco-Muscovite Ephemerides of Papebroch Acta SS., volume I of May, page XLVII.. He is shown there clothed not in metropolitan vesture, as Papebroch would have it, but rather in patriarchal, as Assemani rightly observes Kalendarium ecclesiae universae, volume V, page 316.. For that vesture (I speak chiefly of the mitre) is entirely the same as that in which St. Cyril at 18 January and St. Peter at 25 November, both patriarchs of Alexandria, are painted there, and finally one or two patriarchs who took part in the six councils, whose image is set out there at 16 July. Yet at 26 August, on which the Russians celebrate the feast of the Sretenie, that is, of the meeting of the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Vladimir, which in the year 1395 was translated with happy outcome into Muscovy when it had been invaded by the Tartars Ibid., volume VI, page 545., the metropolitan of Moscow is shown crowned with the same mitre; and now too the Russian metropolitans wear a similar head-covering. Although, then, some doubt might arise on this head whether a patriarch or a metropolitan is represented in Papebroch's Ephemerides, it can easily be resolved from elsewhere. In the Sobornik or synaxarion of the diocese of Kiev, which Fr. George David, missionary at Moscow, sent to our predecessors in the year 1688, it is read at the present day: "Likewise of our holy Father Athanasius, patriarch of Constantinople." Similarly Kulczynski, whose most praised work on the Ruthenian church Fr. John Martinov recently edited again with new care, set down these things among his remarks on the Ephemerides of the Muscovites at 24 October Specimen ecclesiae Ruthenicae, page 100.: "To the martyr Arethas my books join on this day Athanasius, patriarch of Constantinople, who flourished about the year 362. Hence he does not belong to the Ruthenian saints, from whose list he is to be erased. There is in the Anthologion a troparion and a kontakion on the same saint." But, as Assemani says Calendarium ecclesiae universae, volume V, page 317., about the year 362 it was not Athanasius but Eudoxius who was patriarch (or rather bishop), and he an Arian; and no Athanasius presided as patriarch over the church of Constantinople before the year 1289. Assemani then conjectures that St. Athanasius, bishop of Tarsus, inscribed in the Calendars at 22 August, is praised here; but since this man was neither to be painted in patriarchal dress nor to be called of Constantinople, he came at last to the opinion that the name of St. Athanasius had been substituted by a very gross error for the name of St. Proclus; and this very thing Papebroch had long ago seen, since he wrote in his own hand beside the Kiev Synaxarion that St. Proclus, bishop, and commonly called patriarch, of Constantinople, lay hidden under the mask of St. Athanasius; and that the former is indeed venerated by the Greeks on this day, while the latter is plainly unknown. Nor do I hesitate to approve these things with my own vote, such as it is. In another Slavonic-Latin Synaxarion, which was likewise once brought to our predecessors, there is read under this day: "Arethas and Athanasius, martyrs," the title of martyr belonging to St. Arethas having been shared with St. Athanasius on account of their nearness; but this error is to be noted, by no means to be wondered at, much less to be pursued at greater length.
"In Ireland, of Daluath, bishop and confessor": these words are read in just so many words at the present day in the Usuardine auctarium of Greven. I should think he is the same man as Dalbach of Cul Colla or Cuil-Collaing in the county of Cork, about whom I said a few things above in the Passed Over at 23 October. Certainly Daluath could easily have emerged from Dalbach; moreover the days are next to each other.
Chastelain, in a marginal note attached to that memory in his Universal Martyrology, advises that Aper the presbyter and the lectors Gyrus or Cyrus and Vitalis, who are mentioned in the Passion of St. Felix of Thibiuca, should be substituted for Januarius, Fortunatus and Septimius, who are praised together with St. Felix in the Roman Martyrology at this day. But in the Commentary on St. Felix we showed that there is nothing at all to persuade us that Aper, Gyrus and Vitalis followed St. Felix, much less that they suffered martyrdom; but at the same time we endeavoured to make it plain that Januarius, Fortunatus and Septimius were undeservedly intruded into many copies of the Passion of St. Felix and into far more martyrologies and other liturgical books.
"In Asia, of blessed Chrysophora, a religious woman, illustrious in merits": so Arthur du Monstier in the Gynecaeum at this day; where in the notes he adds that she is called a holy woman and a most faithful sister; that St. Dionysius, bishop of the Corinthians, wrote a letter to her; and that she is mentioned by Eusebius in book IV of the History, chapter 23; by Vincent of Beauvais in book X of the Speculum historiale, chapter 112; by Peter de Natalibus in book IV of the Catalogue of the Saints, chapter 37; and by Baronius in volume II of the Ecclesiastical Annals at the year of Christ 175, §15. But although Chrysophora is most highly praised, since she did not suffer martyrdom and in the second century scarcely any but martyrs were venerated, she does not seem to have obtained the public honours of the heavenly ones immediately after her death, nor to have attained a better lot afterwards.
The memory of Lenanus or Lonanus of Cluain Tibrinn, that is, of Lonanus of Cluain-Tibrinne, is celebrated on this day in the Martyrology of Tallaght edited by the Rev. Matthew Kelly. In the Martyrology of Donegal it is added that Cluain Tibrinne is situated in Cloin Cheallagh; but I find neither name of the places in the Irish books I have at hand. The village of Cluain Tibrinn must nonetheless be known to the Irish, for in the index of saints which the Rev. Kelly added to his Martyrology of Tallaght it is stated that Cluain Tibrinn, commonly Cloontivrin or Clontivrin, lies in Fermanagh, a county of Ulster situated around the very well-known Lough Erne. Elsewhere the place Cluain Tibrinn comes twice in the Martyrology of Tallaght, namely at 9 March, where it is read: "Of Colman of Cluain Tibrinn," and at 13 March, where you have this: "Colman Benedic of Cluain Tibrinn." But Colgan in the Lives of the saints of Ireland, the distinguished man D. Ua Birrinn, who in the year 1849 published with the Dublin presses brief Lives of the saints of Ireland, and finally the Rev. Matthew Kelly, who added to the Martyrology of Tallaght short notices of the saints of Ireland belonging to the first three months of the year, entirely omitted to speak at the said days of both Colmans of Cluain-Tibrinne, if indeed they are two; so that they have nothing about the place itself either. Colgan did not pass over St. Lenanus or Lonanus entirely untouched [Acta SS. Hiberniae, volume I, page 351, numbers X and XI, and page 354, number 13.]. For where, in the Life of St. Fintan, abbot of Cluain-Ednech (Clonenagh in Queen's County), who is venerated on 17 February, a certain holy man named Lonanus, son of Cathenus, met him, who, when he had once prepared a banquet for St. Fintan, heard from his mouth that a most cruel battle was at that time being fought in the remote parts of Munster, and that his herdsman would perish most miserably that same day in the woods (which things are also read to have actually come to pass), the Irish hagiographer appended at this place the following note: "Of various men of this name (namely Lonanuses) Marianus, Maguire, the Martyrology of Donegal and the Martyrology of Tallaght treat: of Lonanus son of Darius on 7 February; of the son of Laire on 24 August; of the son of Talmuigh on 1 November. But the different parents there assigned bring it about that the present Lonanus cannot be numbered among them. Nor finally is he St. Lonanus, disciple of St. Patrick, of whom the same authors treat on 12 November. He seems therefore to be the St. Lonanus who is treated in the Life of St. Finnian of Cluain-Eraird, chapter 12, of whom the authors cited above treat on 24 October." But when he came to St. Finnian of Clonard on 23 February, having changed his opinion, he wrote that St. Lonanus, visited by St. Finnian, was a disciple of St. Patrick Ibid., pages 394 and 398.. If anyone therefore approves Colgan's conjecture that St. Lonanus of Cluain-Tibrinne is the same as the one who received St. Fintan at a banquet, let him consult in our work the Life of this St. Fintan (for we know nothing more) at 17 February.
Colman, mac or son of Fiddican, is remembered on this day in the Martyrology of Tallaght, and two Colmans, with no indication added, are listed in the Martyrology of Donegal; of these I can only repeat what I said yesterday of another Colman in the Passed Over.
Coetus, a rare name, is read today in the Martyrology of Tallaght and also in that of Donegal, in which latter it is added that he was a bishop. Irish hagiographers will perhaps one day give greater lights.
The memory of Findganus, mic or son of Airchinnech, of Domair or Dhiamair (that is, of Diamor or Dymor in the county of Meath and in the province or nation of Leinster), is made on this day in the Martyrology of Tallaght; in that of Donegal the parentage is omitted. But although this saint is so accurately distinguished, I cannot, given the usual scarcity of Irish notices, avoid passing him over.
"Eps Eoain o Chill Airthir," that is, John, bishop of Cill Airthir, is read on this day in the Martyrology of Tallaght and in that of Donegal. In the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick there comes, among the clerics who are said to have gone on to Rome, Lugacius, presbyter of Kill-Airthir and one of the disciples of St. Patrick In Colgan, Trias Thaumaturga, page 130.. Colgan states that this church was situated in Meath Ibid., page 713.. The same man proposes for conjecture whether that bishop John who came from Rome into Ireland with forty-nine companions, and whom St. Senan kept with him at Inis-cara Acta SS. Hiberniae, page 533., is the same as our St. John, bishop of Kill-Airthir, or rather a namesake, bishop of Lismore, inscribed in the Irish calendars on 13 November Ibid., page 539, note 13.. No one, so far as I know, has guessed it to this day.
Dalioba of Cuil-mic-Lurchare and Erca, virgin, daughter of Sinill of Miling, are also listed on this day in the Martyrology of Donegal. But who they are I am forced to leave to others to discover.
Bl. Gerard or Gerbald, who governed the church of Liège in the reign of Charlemagne, is placed among the heavenly ones by Schönleben in the Habsburg-Austrian Holy Year, a storehouse of innumerable fables; but the writers of Liège, and much less the church, do not heap such great honours on that pastor of theirs.
"At Cîteaux, of Bl. Mansuetus, who when dying, by a revelation made to him, indicated to our holy Father Stephen the future spread of the Order": these things are read, printed in smaller type, at this day in the Cistercian Calendar or Martyrology of Usuard, and a little more fully in the Cistercian Menology of Henriquez and in other books which I shall cite presently in the case of Bl. Bernard; he never seems to have had ecclesiastical cult.
"At Grandselve, of blessed Bernard, monk, a man of great virtues; who, after he had shone before all by a wonderful example of humility and sanctity, and, rapt out of his senses, had contemplated most glorious visions, flew away to heaven full of merits": so Henriquez at this day in the Cistercian Menology, citing in his notes several eulogists of the good man. Benedict Cherle in the Benedictine Martyrology relates similar things; Anthony de Heredia in the Lives of the Saints of the Order of St. Benedict, Bucelin in the Benedictine Menology, and others hold much the same course. But traces of ecclesiastical cult do not seem to exist; and so in the Cistercian Calendar, or Martyrology of Usuard adapted to the use of the Cistercian Order, his praises are celebrated in smaller type.
"In the monastery of Gandersheim in Saxony, of St. Gerburga, virgin and abbess"; she, the daughter of Liudolf the Elder, duke of Saxony and founder of the convent, deserved to be called most holy and to have shone with miracles after her death, which occurred in the year 883; her memory is celebrated on this day by Robert Schindele in the Supplement to Bucelin's Benedictine Menology. On this occasion I inquired with all the diligence I could whether any traces of ecclesiastical cult existed; but I found none at all; so that, as Mabillon did in the fourth Benedictine century, and our predecessors at 24 July, on which her feast is recalled by many pupils of the Benedictine institute, I must leave her name in the catalogue of the Passed Over.
Bl. Mother Beatrice, abbess, who was one of the first nuns of the Camaldolese congregation, is extolled today with due encomiums by Basil Duverchius in the Camaldolese Diary. Indications of ecclesiastical cult do not appear.
At Pinzio (Pinciis) in Castile, the memory of Bl. Anthony de Guevara, bishop of Mondoñedo and at one time confessor of the Emperor Charles V, is celebrated on this day by Arthur du Monstier in the Franciscan Martyrology; but the much-praised man did not obtain ecclesiastical honours.
In the territory of Évora, at Montemor-o-Novo, in the convent of Blessed Mary of the Graces, Arthur du Monstier celebrates in the Franciscan Martyrology the feast of Bl. Christopher of Alcazar, confessor. He does indeed seem to have been venerated by his neighbours and to have worked miracles at his tomb by the power of God; but since at the same time he seems to have flourished about the year 1541, less than a hundred years before the decrees of Urban VIII, his cult had to be suppressed and has not hitherto been restored by the Holy See.
At Castelfiorentino in Etruria, the praises of Bl. Donatus of Ferrara, who flourished about the year 1350, are celebrated on this day by Arthur du Monstier in the Franciscan Martyrology; but his cult, if he ever had any, has not hitherto been approved by the Church.
At Nazano in the Terra di Lavoro, Arthur on this day makes an encomium of blessed Stephen Molina, confessor, in the often-mentioned Martyrology. But that man died in the year 1579; nor do we know that anything has hitherto been done about enrolling him among the heavenly ones.
In Apulia, at Vallis Aspera near Tessa, Arthur on this day records the sanctity of the blessed Joan and Catherine a Vino, sisters and tertiaries, both in the Franciscan Martyrology and in the Gynecaeum; but neither is venerated with public honours.
Bl. John Tauler, a pupil of the Order of Preachers and most learned in mystical matters, is praised at length at this day in the Sacred Dominican Diary of Fr. Dominic Mary Marchese, in the Dominican Hagiology of Fr. Emmanuel de Lima, in the shorter Sacred Dominican Diary printed at Rome and Brescia in the year 1758, and in other books of that kind. But although the blessed man seems to have been of illustrious sanctity, he never seems to have obtained ecclesiastical honours.
Joseph Mary Avila, who died in the year 1657,
Fervandus Ovalo, who died in the year 1608,
Mary of the Holy Spirit, who died in the year 1550,
and Mary of St. Antonia, who died in the year 1608, are praised on this day by Emmanuel de Lima in the Dominican Hagiology: for they were ornaments of the Order of Friars Preachers.
At Vannes in Lesser Britain, the venerable memory of Armagila Nicolas, commonly "la bonne Armelle," at one time a servant of the Ursuline nuns, among whom, after she had served several masters and had died in the odour of sanctity on 24 October of the year 1671, she was buried with much honour. Her Life has been published rather often; the Rev. Tresvaux inserted an epitome in the Lives of the Saints of Brittany Vies des SS. de Bretagne, volume IV, page 373.; Chastelain, in the supplement of additions to the Universal Martyrology Martyrologe universel, page 1008., calls her venerable; but although she was privately venerated immediately after her death, she never had public honours, nor was the cause of her canonization ever introduced.
The body of St. Candida, a Roman martyr, was brought on this day into the monastery of Kremsmünster, in the very year of its nine-hundredth anniversary, the year of Christ 1677, with most solemn pomp, accompanied by various guilds of craftsmen, members of pious confraternities, religious of the Capuchin Order, the monks of Kremsmünster with their own and other abbots of the same Order, and nobility of every kind, furnished with burning torches. In the midst of the monks the sacred relics were carried by four deacons on a painted bier hung round with silk veils. That body, taken out of the cemetery of St. Cyriaca, had been given in the year 1677 to Fr. Emeric, Capuchin, by the most illustrious lord Aloysius Bevilacqua, then plenipotentiary of Pope Innocent XI at the congress of Nijmegen, assembled to make peace among the Christian princes; and Emeric in the same year, on 14 October, gave that same sacred body to the most reverend lord Erembert, abbot of the aforesaid monastery; and he, as we have said, elevated it with solemn pomp. These things I found noted on a slip in the hand of our Sollerius among the remains left by our predecessors; but as is our custom I place them in the Passed Over, until it is shown how the martyrdom of St. Candida became known to the diggers of the cemetery: whether from a sepulchral inscription, such as is that of St. Hyacinth, uncovered by Fr. Marchi Monumenti delle arti christiane primitive, page 238 and following., or from a vase set beside it, not of any kind, but truly blood-stained, such as is that flask shown by Boldetti Osservazioni sopra i cimiteri sacri di Roma, page 183., which had been covered over with straw and overturned while the tomb was being closed, so that part of the blood was poured out and part clung to the neck of the vessel. When that has been reported, what man of sense, when he knows that it was written on the very tomb that St. Candida laid down her life for Christ, or that the tomb was wet with blood, that the triumphal marks of gore appeared, that all the bones were whole, that a great deal of blood was found, that the blood is kept collected, who, I say, would not call these, with St. Ambrose Class I, letter XXII, number 2, in Migne, Patrologia, volume XVI, column 1019., fitting signs, and with St. Gaudentius [Sermon on the dedication of the Forty Holy Martyrs, in Migne, Patrologia, volume XX, column 963.], a witness of the passion?
St. Macarius, bishop of Tkow (Tacu). It is told of this saint that he wrought many miracles; that whenever he went up into the chair to preach, tears welled up and flowed from his eyes. And he was questioned by his disciples, and he told them that he saw the sins of the people like oil floating on water in a vessel. And he saw Jesus Christ and the angels showing the evil works of each of the people, or rather of the people, and they said: "Why, O bishop, do you turn away your eyes from your people and do not rebuke them?" Answering he said to him: "It behoves the bishop to restrain the people; and if they listen, they will do well; but if not, his blood will be upon their head." It is told of him that he was sent into exile together with Dioscorus. The emperor sent him the faith, namely the profession of the council of Chalcedon, to the island where he was staying in exile; and he would not receive the profession. And the emperor's envoy killed him. These things word for word from the version of the Martyrology of the Copts which Simon Moysis, a Maronite and pupil of the college of his nation, translated into Latin at Rome about the year 1633. Of that Martyrology, written in Arabic by Michael, bishop of Athribis and Malig, an abridgement made by Joseph Assemani was also given by Cardinal Mai; whence in his work Scriptores veteres, volume IV, part II, page 98. at the 27th day of the month Babeh or Paophi, that is, 24 October, it is read: "The repose of the holy father Macarius, bishop of Atakua in Egypt, who took part in the council of Chalcedon together with Dioscorus, patriarch of Alexandria; and having been driven into exile with him to Gangra, and having gone secretly from there to Alexandria, he dissuaded Proterius the archpresbyter from subscribing the Tome of Pope Leo: on account of which, seized by the emperor's legate and assailed with kicks, he obtained the palm of martyrdom of the Monophysites." There is no need for me to point out that this memory, which is rather an accusation, is not the unaltered work of Bishop Michael, but partly that of Assemani or of Mai. In the Ethiopic calendar edited by Ludolf Commentarius in historiam Aethiopicam, page 396. memory of the same man is made, but the bare name appears; while in the calendar of the Copts brought to light by the same man Ibid., at the page cited. it is read: "Aba Macar (in one codex Mahar), martyr, bishop of Kawi." First of all, that Macarius is different from Macarius, bishop of Cabasa, who did indeed follow Dioscorus to the council of Chalcedon, but subscribed to the definition of the synod and to the letter of St. Leo to Flavian of Constantinople; and who then, having crossed to Alexandria with three other bishops, saw to it that St. Proterius, archpresbyter of Antioch, should be substituted for Dioscorus in the see of St. Mark [Lequien, Oriens Christianus, volume II, column 566; Tillemont, Mémoires ecclésiastiques, volume XV, pages 744 and 745.]. And indeed, is not the Macarius of whom we treat here in the Passed Over that Macarius the bishop on whom Dioscorus composed an encomium, preserved among the Coptic codices brought to Rome Assemani, Bibliotheca Orientalis, page 619, column 1, § XVII.? Certainly, since many difficulties stood in the way for some time of St. Proterius being enthroned, there was no lack of time in which Macarius could have come to Alexandria; nor was his hope absurd that, sent by Dioscorus, he might perhaps prevail somewhat by his counsels with St. Proterius, since Dioscorus himself had designated him before his departure to fill his place and office in his absence. But we know from history that St. Proterius resisted, and afterwards suffered many bitter things from Timothy Aelurus. Meanwhile, however, while the prefect of Egypt, by order of the Emperor Marcian, was vigorously pressing the election of the new patriarch and beating back the opposing assaults of the Monophysites, it is no wonder if that bishop Macarius was ill-treated, having come to Alexandria with no other design than to prevent a successor being given to Dioscorus. But of what see was that Macarius bishop? Simon Moysis indicates Tacu; Cardinal Mai, Atakua; Ludolf, Kawi, which he says was situated in Upper Egypt to the east of the Nile. For my part, if I may be heard in this matter, I first observe that the particle ta prefixed to the name itself does not so belong to it as to change its nature or meaning: thus Τασεμποτ is the same place as Sombat Quatremère de Quincy, Mémoires sur l'Égypte, volume I, page 104.; Ταποθουκη, the same as Αποθουκη, Boutidj or Aboutidj Ibid., page 342., etc.; and that ta seems to be some form of the feminine definite article te or t; so that, for example, Ταβεννε is the same as palm or palms (le palmier or les palmiers), and Ταβεννησι, the palm or palms of Isis. And indeed, not to depart from the very word with which we are occupied, Κοου is found, and Τκοου and Τκωου, to signify Antaeopolis, a city of the First Thebaid, commonly called Qaou or rather Kau-el-kebireh L'Égypte sous les Pharaons, volume I, page 271; volume II, pages 365 and 370.; and this is what Ludolf meant to be signified as the see of Macarius. But Champollion shows Ibid., volume II, page 242. that by Τκοου or Τκωου there was also designated a city situated near Alexandria and now represented by the village of Atku, probably augmented by the Arabic article a: with which Atakua, which is read in Mai, agrees. Moreover it is much more likely that Dioscorus had a close connection with a neighbouring bishop than with a bishop from the Thebaid. And these things, although I confess that I have advanced somewhat by guessing, I have set out a little more fully, so that those fragments, such as they are, of the ecclesiastical history of the East should not perish. There is no need for me to say that for that schismatic man there can be no other place in our work than in the Passed Over.
Felix of Abthugni, one of the chief captains of the Donatists, was written by Baronius in place of St. Felix of Thibiuca in the first editions of the Roman Martyrology, even in those which are adorned with apostolic letters. He saw the error when he gathered his notes on the same Martyrology.
Wandelbert today in his Metrical Martyrology commemorates "forty-six, famed at Rome by triumph, by warfare and holy contest"; they belong to the following day, 25 October.
The memory of St. Boniface I, Pope, is celebrated in the thirteenth-century calendar of Trier edited by Hontheim in the Prodromus of the history of Trier, in the old Breviary of Antwerp, and in the editions of Ado and Usuard which Mosander and Greven prepared, and from there it flowed down into the German Martyrology called that of Canisius. Following the Roman Martyrology, he is rather to be treated tomorrow, that is, 25 October.
St. Cletus, confessor and deacon, whose relics are venerated at Tivoli in Latium, is announced on this day by Ferrarius and Chastelain. Some things were said of him in the Commentary on and Life of St. Peter, whose disciple he is said to have been and who is venerated with ecclesiastical honours on 30 August Acta SS., volume VI of August, pages 634, 635, 636 and 641.; other, less happy things among the Passed Over at 24 September, on which day Ferrarius also put forward his name: for there our predecessors doubted whether St. Cletus was truly venerated at Tivoli. The matter is beyond doubt; and formerly indeed his feast was kept on 24 October; but now, on account of the introduction of the feast of St. Raphael, it is kept (so I understand from the Directories or Orders of the divine Office of Tivoli for the years 1836, 1841 and 1843) on the day immediately following, on which for that reason we shall speak of him, namely 25 October.
In the district of Bourges, the memory of St. Dulcardus, confessor, comes today, by an error of one day, in the Altemps codex of Usuard. He will have to be treated at 25 October.
St. Fructuosus or Fructus, chiefly venerated at Segovia in Spain, is remembered today by Tamayo in the Spanish Martyrology. He is rather to be spoken of on the next day, 25 October.
SS. Lucian, Marcian and Florus are praised on this day in the Usuardine codex of D. du Cheval marked C. It is an error of two days; they will be treated under 26 October.
"In Spain, of St. Bernard, who, having been made bishop of Vich from first abbot of the monastery of Santes Creus in Catalonia, of the Cistercian Order, shone forth full of the apostolic spirit and illustrious for remarkable miracles": so in the supplement of the Roman Martyrology for the use of the Cistercian Order; and similar things in other calendars. Long since, in the Passed Over at 16 October, we said that we would treat him under 26 October.
St. Eucharius, venerated in the diocese of Toul, is celebrated on this day by Ferrarius in the General Catalogue of the Saints and by du Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology. His feast is assigned to 20 October in the Breviary of Toul printed in the year 1749. But since in the Usuardine additions, and in the Universal Martyrology of Chastelain and the Paris Martyrology of Cardinal de Noailles, books at any rate more common, his feast is marked under 27 October, we already advised, in the notes on the Passion of St. Eliphius published at 16 October, that we would speak of St. Eucharius at 27 October.
The memory of St. Noitburgis or Nortburgis, a virgin of Cologne, is made today by Ferrarius in the General Catalogue of the Saints, by du Saussay in the supplement to his Gallican Martyrology, and by Arthur du Monstier in the Gynecaeum. The cult of this virgin is much more illustrious under the day on which we shall speak of her, 31 October.
"In Scotland, of St. Maxentia, virgin and martyr. In the territory of Beauvais, of St. Maxentia, virgin, and of Barbantius her servant." These things Ferrarius in the General Catalogue of the Saints, announcing twice the same saint, who is said to have been of the Scottish nation and to have suffered martyrdom among the Bellovaci. But we shall speak of her under the day on which she occurs in most of the sacred calendars and is also venerated at Beauvais, 20 November.
Greven alone has the name of Columbanus, monk, on this day in his additions to Usuard; but at the same time the feast of the same is indicated in the old Calendars of Stavelot, Verdun, Antwerp, the Irish and that of Mainz; and also in the Vatican one, edited by Giorgi after his Ado, where he is called monk and martyr, and in the first Milanese, printed in the same place, where he comes with the title of bishop. But in the Breviary of Mainz, which Archbishop Daniel had printed with the presses of Cologne in the year 1570, we find under 24 October three proper lessons on St. Columbanus, abbot of Luxeuil and Bobbio; so that there is no doubt that the most celebrated St. Columbanus is meant, whose name is inscribed in the Roman Martyrology at the day at which we shall illustrate his deeds, 21 November.
"Majorus, martyr, servant of a high-born and noble man of the city of Tivoli, suffered in the Vandal persecution under King Huneric: who, first beaten with almost innumerable cudgels, raised frequently on pulleys, sometimes let go with a swift drop, fell upon stones and flints; but also rubbed with stones on many wounds, when his entrails had now been laid bare of skin, and he appeared the more constant at each thing, at last he was struck with the sword and buried at the same city." Although these things are long beyond our custom for the Passed Over, I wished to recite these words of Peter de Natalibus Catalogue of the Saints, book IX, at 24 October. entire, since from them emerged a saint whom the people of Tivoli count among their fellow-townsmen, and who from the Catalogue of the Saints of the bishop of Equilio passed at this day into the German Martyrology of Wallasser called that of Canisius; into Maurolico's Martyrology according to the custom of the most holy Roman and universal Church; likewise into Galesini's Martyrology adapted to the use of the holy Roman Church; into Ferrarius's General Catalogue of the Saints, into his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy and into the Hagiology of Italy taken from it; and into other books also. But Peter de Natalibus led all his followers into a most manifest error. For when he had come upon this passage of St. Victor of Vita [History of the Vandal persecution, book V, chapter 2, page 73, Ruinart's edition.]: "Servus also, of the city of Tuburbo Majus, a high-born and noble man, who could set forth the punishments he endured for Christ? Who, after the blows of innumerable cudgels, raised frequently on pulleys, etc.;" and since his codex had: "Servus… Majorus, of a high-born and noble man," as Ruinart [History of the Vandal persecution, book V, chapter 2, page 188, Ruinart's edition.] also found in six codices or editions, he thought that the passage concerned some servant of a high-born and noble man, named Majorus, whereas the proper name was Servus, by no means unusual among the Africans, and he himself was a noble and high-born man. Probably Peter de Natalibus also found the word Tuburbitanae corrupted in his codex of St. Victor of Vita, so that he believed Tiburtinae should be read; and certainly he did not know that there were two Tuburbos, the one Majus, the other Minus Ibid., page 247; Morcelli, Africa Christiana, volume I, pages 332 and 333., and that hence in St. Victor of Vita at this place there is read "of the city of Tuburbo Majus." But enough of these things, since St. Servus, confessor of Tuburbo Majus, will have to be treated, following the Roman Martyrology and other calendars, under 7 December.
The name of Heraclianus, bishop, is read only in Greven's edition of Usuard. I know no other St. Heraclianus, bishop, than the one who is venerated at Pesaro on 9 December.
Noticed an error, have a suggestion, or want to share a thought? Let me know.