St. Simon the Chananaean, apostle.
St. Thaddaeus, who is also Jude, apostle.
St. Thaddaeus, disciple of Christ.
St. Cyrilla, virgin and martyr, at Rome.
St. Firmilian, confessor and bishop, at Caesarea in Cappadocia.
St. Melchion, presbyter of Antioch.
St. Terentius, martyr.
St. Neonilla, his wife, martyr.
St. Sarbilus, their son, martyr.
St. Nitas, their son, martyr.
St. Hierax, their son, martyr.
St. Theodulus, their son, martyr
St. Photius, their son, martyr.
St. Bele, their daughter, martyr.
St. Eunice, their daughter, martyr.
St. Anastasia, virgin, martyr, at Rome.
St. Cyril, martyr, at Rome.
St. Ferrutius, soldier and martyr, at Mainz in Germany.
St. Genesius the Neophyte, martyr, at Thiers in Auvergne.
St. Fidelis, martyr, at Como in Italy.
St. Decentius, bishop, martyr, at Pesaro in Italy.
St. Germanus, deacon, martyr, at Pesaro in Italy.
St. Smaragdus, martyr at Antioch.
St. Marianus or Mariana, martyr at Antioch.
St. Archelaidas, martyr at Antioch.
St. Diomedes, martyr, at Leucopolis in Caria.
St. Sophronian, martyr of Carthage.
St. Amarantus or Amaranta, martyr.
St. Quintus, martyr.
St. Lucius, martyr.
St. Honoratus, confessor and bishop, at Vercelli in Italy.
St. Gaudiosus, African bishop, at Naples.
St. Salvius, hermit in the diocese of Rouen.
St. John, abbot of Chuzeba, and bishop of Caesarea in Palestine.
St. Faro, confessor and bishop, at Meaux in Gaul.
St. Dorbhene, abbot of Iona.
St. Dodo, abbot of Waslers in Belgium.
St. Leodardus, baker, at Soissons in Gaul.
St. Neophytus, bishop and martyr at Urbnisi in Iberia.
St. Angelramnus, bishop of Metz in Gaul.
St. Victor I, bishop of Metz in Gaul.
St. Victor II, bishop of Metz in Gaul.
St. Sambatus, bishop of Metz in Gaul.
St. Hesperius, bishop of Metz in Gaul.
St. Villicus, bishop of Metz in Gaul.
St. Peter, bishop of Metz in Gaul.
St. Stephen the Sabaite, poet, monk in Palestine.
St. Remigius, bishop of Lyon in Gaul.
St. Zacharias, bishop of Lyon in Gaul.
St. Helias, bishop of Lyon in Gaul.
St. Martin, bishop of Lyon in Gaul.
St. Amolo, bishop of Lyon in Gaul.
St. Gebuinus, bishop of Lyon in Gaul.
St. Sigolin, abbot of Stavelot and Malmedy.
St. Godwin, abbot of Stavelot and Malmedy.
St. Anglinus, abbot of Stavelot and Malmedy.
St. Alberic, abbot of Stavelot and Malmedy.
St. Odilo, abbot of Stavelot and Malmedy.
Bl. John Chigi, of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine.
Bl. Stephen Agazzari, canon regular, at Bologna in Italy.
Bl. Antony Rubeus, confessor, not a bishop, of the Order of Friars Minor, at Sulmona in Italy.
Concerning Abraamus, bishop of Ephesus, founder of the monastery of the Abraamites.
Passed over and referred to other days
The translation of St. Genevieve at Paris is remembered today in the pure Usuard, in the auctaria of Ado, in the German Martyrology of Wallasser or Canisius, in the Martyrology of Maurolico, in du Saussay's Gallican, in the Paris Martyrology of Cardinal de Noailles, in Ferrarius's General Catalogue of the saints, in Arthur's Gynecaeum and in other calendars. A proper collect on the same was read in the old Breviary of Quimper and in others, and a solemn office in the Breviary of the canons of St. Genevieve of Paris. In the Paris Martyrology it is briefly explained of what event memory was made, in these words: "At Paris, the translation of the body of St. Genevieve, virgin, from the old casket into a new silver one, under Abbot Herbert (about the year 1242); and the festival of the various translations of the same which had happened before through fear of the Northmen laying waste holy places." But this festival is much older than Abbot Herbert (as is clear from Usuard); it seems to have arisen from a translation made by St. Eligius, probably in the year 630. But it is not permitted to dwell longer on these things in this place, since the Life of St. Genevieve has long since been published in these Acts at 3 January.
The feast of St. Salvius, bishop and confessor, at Amiens is celebrated today by the auctarium of Ado, likewise by the Amiens and Centula auctaria of Usuard; similarly by the Paris Martyrology of Cardinal de Noailles, that of Évreux of Bishop de Rochechouart, and the Universal one of Chastelain. And indeed St. Salvius of Amiens died on this day; but our predecessors spoke of him at the day on which his name is announced in the Roman Martyrology and a few others, 11 January.
St. Paul, bishop, with no designation of see added, is remembered today by an Eklogadion of the eleventh century which the venerable man Theodore Toscani drew out of the literary treasures of the library of Grottaferrata and published, having thereby deserved very well of hagiography, as have all the others who dig old calendars, especially Greek and Eastern ones, out of the darkness of the museums. But which of the several Pauls whom the Greek Church reveres is here announced, I undertake to determine not without fear of erring. Nevertheless, to disclose my opinion, I judge for a twofold reason that St. Paul, bishop of Prusa in Bithynia, who strenuously contended against the Iconoclasts, is praised here. First, almost all the calendars of the Greeks have this name; and then I find another bishop of the same city, St. Timothy, martyr, at 10 June in the Eklogadion of Grottaferrata; so that the sacred calendars of Prusa were not unknown to the compiler of the Eklogadion. The few things, however, that have been handed down about the illustrious confessor Paul were given in our work at 8 March.
The memory of the Eastern fathers ἐν τῷ χάσματι, or in the cleft of the rock. So it is read in Sirmond's codex of the Menaea and in another Bollandist codex of uncertain origin. What this signifies I long and much inquired in vain, until at last I came upon the Acts of the Sabaite martyrs, in which I found a sure solution of the doubt [Acta SS., volume III of March, page 173, chapter V, and at the end, page 91, number 47 and following.]. For those fathers, having been violently thrust by the Saracens into the inner recess of a certain cave, which had been fitted out in the manner of a church, and which the Acts call the cleft or chasm of the rock (in Greek χάσμα), were so impiously tormented with fire and smoke that eighteen confessors of Christ perished there by a most atrocious punishment. And their memory seems to be celebrated there on this day because a feast is also kept today of St. Stephen the Sabaite, who sang their praises and wrote their life. See the rest at the proper day of these martyrs, 20 March.
St. Domninus, illustrious athlete of the Thessalonians, venerated by the Greeks on 1 October, as is clear from the Graeco-Slavonic Year (where, however, the sigla of the two Domninuses are to be interchanged), is celebrated again today by the Sirmond Menaea, whose briefer eulogy it is superfluous to recite here, since our predecessors discoursed on this saint. We therefore send the reader back to what is read on 1 October among the Passed Over, and especially to the place in which the deeds of the holy martyr are illustrated, namely at 30 March.
Today's commemoration among the Greeks of SS. Africanus, Terence, Maximus, Pompeius and thirty-six others, since it is lacking in the older manuscript menaea and calendars (for it is found in one Florentine codex of the Preachers, in Sirleto and in the printed ones), we judge to have been brought into the menaea more recently. It was nevertheless admitted before the fifteenth century: for Michael of Athribis, who in that same century wrote the Copto-Arabic martyrology, inserted it in his book, as is clear from the calendar drawn from it by Assemani Catal. Mss. orientt. Bibl. Mediceae, codex CXV. and by Cardinal Mai Scriptt. vett., volume IV, part II, page 99., and from the calendars of the Ethiopians in Ludolf Comment., page 396.. But the names which we read in the Catalogue of the Medicean Library, although they are written more accurately than the rest, we judge are themselves to be emended. For there are praised Maximus, Domitius, Victor and Philip, while on the other hand in Mai we have Nomitius for Domitius, and in the papers communicated to our predecessors, Themistius or Timothy, and for Victor, Bacartus, Bocrades, Hypocrates. But enough of these faults, which anyone skilled will easily explain from the nature of the Arabic language. I do not doubt that Africanus, Terence and Pompeius are to be substituted for Victor, Domitius and Philip. It can certainly happen that the one set of names owes its origin to the other, wonderfully corrupted (which happens more frequently in the Arabic language than in the others): and if it can happen, it altogether must. For since the Acts are the same, as we see from the abridgement of that Martyrology preserved among us, we must conclude that they were received from the Greeks and hence are to be corrected according to the norm of the Greeks. Add that even in the Greek monuments themselves the names are not always correctly written; thus, for example, in Sirleto's Menology, in the Synaxarion which Scholz believed to be of Jerusalem, in the Synaxaria of Chifflet and others Cf. Graeco-Slavonic Year at 13 March. and in the Eklogadion of Grottaferrata at 13 March Toscani, Ad typica Graecorum animadversiones, Rome, 1864., we come upon Publius for Pompeius. The Acts of these martyrs, which have not yet been edited in Greek, were illustrated by our predecessors at 10 April.
St. Sabas, whose name I read in the Eklogadion of Grottaferrata, I think is the one whom the same Eklogadion, like almost all the other calendars of the Greeks, had already praised with his companions at 24 April. And I assert this the more confidently because on the same day he occurs in the Chaldaic calendar printed at Rome in the year 1624, and on the following day in the printed Menaea and in one Milanese codex of the Menaea. The Acts of this saint our predecessors set forth at 24 April.
St. Cyriacus, bishop and martyr, whom the Latins mention on 1 and 4 May, is venerated today by the Slavs and Greeks, and his synaxarion, extracted in summary from the Acts, is read in their books. His fabulous Acts, and the wise conjectures of Daniel Papebroch about him, exist in our work at 4 May.
Anna, mother of St. Cyriacus, is celebrated in the Greek Menaea, after the eulogy of her son, with a brief announcement and a distich. But neither the name, nor the martyrdom, nor the cult of this Anna rests on sufficiently firm testimony; for we cannot assert of her what is rightly said of St. Cyriacus, namely that his name, martyrdom and cult become known from elsewhere than from the most fabulous Acts, to which no prudent man will give any credit. For the rest, what is reported about her has been collected in our work at 4 May.
St. Peter of Blachernae, who gave his life for the assertion of the cult of holy images, is associated today in some calendars (as may be seen in the Commentary on St. Stephen the Poet) with St. Stephen the Younger, Martyr. See his Acts at 16 May.
"Of St. Celbus, king of the West Saxons, monk in England. Bede mentions him in the deeds of the English." These things we read in just so many words at this day in the Calendar of the saints of the Order of St. Benedict which Ferdinand de Valye, Cistercian monk in the monastery of St. Saviour at Antwerp, completed in the year 1527. But among the kings of the West Saxons there comes one Ceoluulf, from whose name Celbus could have been fashioned. But he neither became a monk nor is praised by Bede. Wherefore we must turn elsewhere. Namely, on the day immediately following (29 October) Challoner in the British Martyrology celebrates the commemoration of St. Ceolwulf, at one time king of the Northumbrians, a learned and religious prince, to whom St. Bede dedicated his History and who, leaving the earthly kingdom for love of the heavenly, became a monk in the monastery of Lindisfarne; where he ended his life in the middle of the eighth century and, as William of Malmesbury witnesses, was famous for miracles after his death. It is to be considered besides that the feast of the Venerable Bede is celebrated by the same Challoner on the same day, 29 October; so that there can be no doubt that that most studious man found the names of SS. Bede and Ceolwulf joined in some calendar. But it is established from William of Malmesbury that the bones of the saints Bede and Ceolwulf, "who lived at Lindisfarne as a monk and a saint," were found in separate linen bags [De gestis pontificum Anglorum, book III at the end, Savile's edition, folio V. 158.] and were dug out of the earth together with the bodies of St. Cuthbert and other saints and translated into the new church. This honour was given to St. Cuthbert on the 24th, 25th and 29th of August of the year 1054 Acta SS., volume III of March, page 138 and following.; but nothing prevents the same lot from having befallen the bodies of SS. Ceolwulf and Bede two months later. Nor can I devise any other cause for which the names of SS. Ceolwulf and Bede should have been inscribed at these days in the calendars of Ferdinand de Valye and of Challoner. The acts of St. Ceolwulf have been given in our work at 15 January, and those of the Venerable Bede at 17 May.
The translation of St. Gilbert, abbot, was recalled in the additions of the Charterhouse of Brussels to the Martyrology of Usuard. I think that festival was referred to this day by error from 24 October, at which du Saussay recalls the elevation and translation of St. Gilbert, abbot of the Premonstratensian Order in Auvergne. But of him it has been spoken in our work at 6 June.
The translation or feast of St. Cunera, virgin and martyr, is remembered today by Greven and Molanus in their editions of Usuard, and following them by Wallasser in the Canisian Martyrology, by Ferrarius in the General Catalogue of the saints, by du Saussay in the Supplement to the Gallican Martyrology and by Arthur in the Gynecaeum. Talk of her will presently recur in the case of St. Kennera, formerly venerated on 29 October in Galloway, a territory of Scotland. The Acts of St. Cunera, killed at Rhenen, a little town of Holland, were illustrated in this very work at 12 June.
St. Bassa, who is joined with St. Sabas in the Eklogadion of Grottaferrata, and does not occur elsewhere in the same codex, can scarcely be other than the most celebrated martyr of this name, remembered on the following day in some Menaea, and whose fortitude, worthy of the mother of the Maccabees, Greeks and Latins celebrated with many encomiums and our predecessors illustrated at 21 August.
The translation of St. Bartholomew the apostle from the island of Lipari to Benevento is recalled today in Ferrarius's General Catalogue of the saints; who also adds that this translation is celebrated every year with the greatest solemnity by the people of Benevento, who glory in possessing the body of the most holy apostle. But the Romans glory in possessing the same in the church of St. Bartholomew on the Island. Of this controversy it has been spoken in this work at the day on which, following the Roman Martyrology, the Acts of St. Bartholomew were illustrated, 25 August.
St. Cleopas the Apostle, brother of Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is announced on this day in the codex of the Praxapostolos, Nani CLXX, in Mingarelli, while in the printed Menaea of the Greeks he is commemorated at the 30th of the same month. Indeed of St. Cleopas and his kinship with Our Lord it has been treated too often by very many authors for us to wish to add anything here. We therefore send the reader to the interpreters of the New Testament, and especially to the books on the Gospels of the Rev. Fr. Patrizi, and to the Lexicon of Winer Biblisches Realwörterbuch., who gathered together everything that can serve for the discussion (not to say the solution) of this question. Let there also be compared what has been disputed on this matter in our work, both at 21 October and at the feast of St. Cleopas among the Latins, 25 September.
The memory of SS. Cosmas and Damian and three brothers is celebrated again today in some Greek calendars, in the older printed Menaea and thence in Sirleto's Menology and in the Lives of Margunius written in the vernacular. But this announcement has been deleted in the more recent Menaea printed in the year 1843. That noble pair of brothers, however, whom the Greeks call Arabs and martyrs in Lycia, have a proper office among them at 17 October. For the rest, Stilting, who accurately illustrated the deeds of the martyrs, showed that those brothers are wrongly distinguished from Cosmas and Damian, Roman martyrs, venerated on 1 July, and from Cosmas and Damian, Asian confessors, venerated on 1 November, at 27 September.
Mention of St. Divitianus, bishop of Soissons, is made at this day in the Reims codex of Usuard Sollerius, Martyrologium Usuardi, page 615.. Our predecessors treated him at 5 October.
St. Andrew in Crisi, who suffered martyrdom for the defence of the holy images, is commemorated today in some calendars (as we shall show in the Commentary on St. Stephen the Poet). His Acts were narrated at the day on which he is chiefly venerated, 17 October.
St. Donatus, bishop, by nation a Scot or Irishman, who wrote a grammar, is assigned to 28 October according to the Martyrology of England by Fr. Henry Fitz-Simon in the Catalogue of the saints of Ireland which Philip O'Sullivan inserted in the Compendium of the Catholic History of Ireland, edited anew with care in the year 1850 by Matthew Kelly. He is St. Donatus, bishop of Fiesole near Florence, who most certainly taught the art of grammar; but the books ascribed to him are so many inventions of Dempster. I think that the 28th of October was written by an easy error of the typesetters in place of the 22nd of October. For on this day St. Donatus is venerated and his Acts were given. See them therefore at 22 October.
The memory of St. Severinus, bishop of Bordeaux, is recalled today by Ferrarius in the General Catalogue of the saints; du Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology relates that on this day was celebrated the return of the blessed man to Bordeaux, after he had brought the people of Cologne to better things: and he adds that in his age he was honoured more on the present day than on 23 October, on which his name is inscribed in the Roman Martyrology. But this arises from the fact that St. Severinus of Bordeaux, to be announced on 25 October, and St. Severinus of Cologne, on 23 October, have been confused into one man. Of distinguishing the two and of their deeds it has been spoken in our work at 23 October.
St. Ritutus, confessor, as though venerated at Carthage, no less than St. Suffratianus or Sophronianus, is announced today in the Barberini auctarium of the Martyrology of Bede. Since this saint appears nowhere else, and since the name is neither Latin, nor Greek, nor Germanic, nor Celtic, there is no doubt that it is a slip or the corruption of another name. It is perhaps St. Rogatus, martyr of Nicomedia, of whom it was spoken at 24 October.
SS. Beoan and Mellan are announced on the present day in the Martyrology of Tallaght edited by Matthew Kelly. Michael O'Clery believed Martyrology of Donegal, edited by Todd and Reeves, page 284. that these were the same as those who are announced at 26 October in the same Martyrology of Tallaght in these words: "Nasadius, Beoan and Mellan, three saints of Britain, and they are in one church, in the region of Iveagh, in Ulster, Tamlacta-Umhuil, beside Lough Bricrenn." Wherefore that same Clery wrote at 26 October: "Beoan, bishop, and Meallan, of Tamlacht Menainn, beside Lough Bricrenn in the region of Iveagh, in Ulster." But they seem to be different, both because it is not to be supposed without the gravest reason that SS. Beoan and Mellan are commemorated twice within the space of three days, and because the two groups are distinguished by the addition of the name of St. Nasadius. Colgan Trias Thaumaturga, page 378., not content to confuse them, contends besides that they are the same as SS. Beoan and Mellan who appeared to St. Fursey in the most celebrated vision. But it is manifest that SS. Beoan and Mellan, who had St. Nasadius as companion, are different from St. Fursey's heavenly teachers: for the former were Britons, the latter Scots or Irish, as is related both in the Lives of St. Fursey Acta SS., volume II of January, page 39. and in the History of the English of the Venerable Bede Book III, chapter 19.. And indeed at 7 February Clery alleges this in the Martyrology of Donegal: "Meallan, Mac-Ui-Coinn, of the island of Mac-ui-Coinn, in Lough Oirbsen, in Connacht, in the region (it is added in the Martyrology of Cashel) of Hibh-sean, was the spiritual father of Fursey, who went on to Péronne." Then, the bodies of SS. Beoan, Mellan and Nasadius were preserved at Tamlacht-Menainn: whereas the bodies of SS. Beoan and Mellan existed at Péronne. They seem, therefore, to be distinguished from one another. But whether SS. Beoan and Mellan, praised in the Martyrology of Tallaght, are the same as St. Fursey's teachers is an altogether different question; in which I shall more willingly stand on the side of those who affirm, partly so as not to be forced to admit many pairs of Beoans and Mellans, partly because SS. Beoan and Mellan who appear today without any designation of place or office can be likened to none more fittingly than to St. Fursey's teachers. But I would not close this place without adding a few things, to what I said at 26 October about SS. Beoan, Mellan and Nasadius, concerning Tamlacht Menand or Tamlacht Umhuil, near Lough Bricrenn, in the region of Iveagh in Ulster, where their bodies were buried. I showed there that this place is situated in one or other of the baronies of Lower Iveagh and Upper Iveagh, in the county of Down; but about Tamlacht I had been able to determine nothing. But afterwards there came into our museum the Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down, Connor and Dromore, which William Reeves, so often and never enough praised by me, published in the year 1847. He shows Ecclesiastical antiquities of Down, Conor and Dromor, pages 112 and 113. that in the parish of Aghaderg, formerly Achyderig, between Banbridge and Newry, lies Lough Bricrenn, near which rises the little town of Loughbrickland; that Tamlacht, where formerly the parish church stood, is represented in the same place by the land of Drumsallagh, on the western bank of the lough; and that traces of the name Menand survive, since in the southern part of the parish there still exists a field called Meenan. Reeves will give a little more. But we, to conclude these things, since those other saints seem to be the same as St. Fursey's companions, must advise the reader that it was disputed about St. Mellan or Meldan, and at the same time about St. Beoan (for all things are common to both), at the said day, 7 February.
But if any wish to maintain that they are the same as those of Tamlacht at Lough Bricrenn, let them see what we wrote at 26 October.
Colgan alleges Acta SS. Hiberniae, volume I, page 364. that SS. Mellan, Beoan and Nasadius, Britons by nation and certainly different from Mellan and Beoan inscribed in the Martyrology of Tallaght at this day, were formerly venerated today in Ireland, in the province of Ulster; unless rather (and so indeed I judge) 28 October was printed by an error of the typographers in place of 26 October. Of them, following the Irish martyrologies, I have spoken (as I pointed out just now) at 26 October.
The feast of SS. Tharsus, Polycarp, Gaius, Eumenius, Januarius, Tarreus and Florentius, martyrs in Phrygia, is celebrated today by Galesini in his Martyrology; to whom Maurolico also adds Cumenius. Eumenius and Cumenius are fashioned from the name of the city of Eumenia in Phrygia; Tharsus and Tarreus represent St. Thraseas; Polycarp and Gaius are genuine names. Januarius is the deacon of Turres, companion of St. Protus. St. Florentius is the martyr of Tyle in Gaul. Of St. Januarius it was spoken at 25 October; of the rest at 27 October.
The memory of SS. Vincent, Sabina and Christeta, martyrs of Ávila, whose Acts were illustrated at the day immediately preceding, is recalled today by Florus in the codices of Arras, Tournai and Liessies; whence they were also transferred into the codex of St. Martin of Tournai of the Martyrology of Usuard. The glories of their passion appear in our work at 27 October.
"In the basilica of St. Peter at Áger, of the principality of Catalonia in Spain, the deposition of the sacred remains of St. Sabina, a citizen of Mérida in Spain and martyr of Agen in Gaul, where with St. Faith, her fellow-citizen, she was crowned with martyrdom for the name of Christ her spouse and for confessing him." These things Tamayo at this day in the Spanish Martyrology; but they are mere fables. St. Sabina was by no means of the nation of Mérida, nor the companion of St. Faith of Agen [Flórez, España sagrada, volume XIII, page 306; Acta SS., volume III of October, page 268.]; but she suffered martyrdom at Ávila with SS. Vincent and Christeta. Of the three holy martyrs and of the body of St. Sabina laid up in the church of Áger it has been spoken in this very volume at 27 October.
The dedication of the basilica of St. Lambert, martyr, at Liège is commemorated today by Molanus in the additions to Usuard, by Wallasser in the Canisian Martyrology, and by Ferrarius in the General Catalogue of the saints. Nevertheless, because of the feast of the apostles Simon and Jude, no memory of this solemnity was made in that basilica, as is clear to me from the Breviaries of Liège printed in the year 1488 and afterwards; so that the canons of Liège were content with the announcement of the Martyrology; in which these words were also read: "And this dedication was made in the sixth year of the episcopate of Baldric our bishop (in the year of Christ 1013) by the most holy man of God Heribert, archbishop of Cologne." We are not accustomed to pursue this kind of celebrations further. For the rest, see the writers of Liège and our own Acts at the 17th day of the month of September Acta SS., volume V of September, page 573.
St. Arcelladus, Arcelludus or Artheladus, praised today in the Hieronymian lists, is the same as St. Archelaidas, of whom it will be spoken below.
St. Suffronisianus, Suffrasianus, Suffratianus, Suffronisaenus or Fofronius are alterations of the name of St. Sophronianus, of whom mention will be made below.
St. Marandus, Mirandus or Nicander, martyr of Antioch, occurs today in several Hieronymian lists. It is a corruption of the name of St. Smaragdus, whose memory we recall below today.
St. Mauriana, martyr of Antioch, who is praised today in Fiorentini's Hieronymian codices of Lucca, and St. Marina in Sollerius's codex of Augsburg, is the same as St. Mariana or Marianus; of whom there will be talk below.
The greater codex of Corbie today mixes the name of St. Justus into the band of St. Amarantus, martyr, by an error not easily explained.
Our predecessors found St. Caesarius at this day in a Calendar which from some indications seems to me to be the perpetual Gregorian Calendar printed at Douai in the year 1583. Those who have this Calendar may themselves see whence this name came there at the present day. Certainly in the Calendar of the Gregorian Missal, printed in the year 1582, no mention is made of St. Caesarius, neither on this nor on any other day; none likewise in the many martyrologies which we continually turn over.
St. Mark, bishop, as though venerated today at Auxerre, is announced by the manuscript Florarium which our predecessors possessed. He is the same who in the Martyrology of Saint-Savin in Lavedan, in the diocese of Tarbes (which Martyrology was written in the twelfth century and brought to light by du Saussay at the end of the Gallican Martyrology), is announced at 20 April in these words: "In the city of Auxerre, of St. Mark, bishop." But there is no Mark among the bishops of Auxerre; nor is there mention of any other bishop Mark in the ancient and recent Martyrologies of Auxerre. What then? Since on 20 April St. Marianus the monk and St. Mamertinus the abbot were formerly venerated there, our predecessors in the Passed Over at that day conjectured that one or the other was represented by St. Mark the bishop. But it is a remedy violent beyond measure: to change Mark into Marianus or Mamertinus, and a bishop into a monk or an abbot. It has therefore come into my mind to doubt whether perhaps that Mark is the British bishop who led the hermit's life near the monastery of SS. Medard and Sebastian at Soissons and is praised very highly by St. Heiric in the Miracles of St. Germanus of Auxerre Ibid., volume VII of July, page 272.; who could easily have seemed to an outsider to have lived at Auxerre, since St. Heiric is silent about Soissons. But this conjecture comes nearer than is right to mere suspicion.
St. Dalmachus is announced today in the Irish Calendar which was circulating at the beginning of the seventeenth century, although it had been compiled with no great care [O'Sullevan, Hist. cath. Hiberniæ compendium, edition of 1850, page 49 and following.]. In the alphabetical Catalogue of some saints of Ireland by Fr. Henry Fitz-Simon one reads likewise: St. Dalmachus, bishop, 28 October; and Floratius is indicated as the source, as it were, from which this memorial was taken: which name of Floratius, met with here and there in Fitz-Simon's Catalogue (as it was published), was fashioned from Flora, the abbreviation of Florarium; by which word they used to call Martyrologies collected from every quarter. Following this authority, Ferrarius in his General Catalogue of the saints celebrates on this day the memory of St. Dalmachus, bishop in Ireland. That this Dalmachus or Dalmacius is the same as St. Dalbhach of Cuil Collainge, who is celebrated in the Martyrologies of Tallaght and Donegal on the 23rd day of October, is clear from the index which Michael O'Clery added to the Martyrology of Donegal. We have therefore spoken of him among those passed over on that day, the 23rd of October. But at that time the Martyrology of Donegal had not yet come to light through the labors of James Todd and William Reeves; from which it is now a pleasure to gather a few things. St. Dalbhac or Dalmacius, then, was of the race of Oilioll Flannbeg, son of Fiacha Muilleathan, son of Eugene or Eoghan Mor, son of Oilioll Olum. Cuimin of Condeire, in the poem whose beginning is: "Patrick of the city of Ard Macha loved, etc.", related that this saint was very greatly given to penance, and never in his life touched his side with his hand. For he wrote of him:
Fair Dalbhach of Cuil loved
To practise great penance;
His hand never touched his side,
As long as he retained his breath.
Abban first made Cuil Collainge a sacred place. — Oilioll Olum, of the race of Deirythine, first monarch O'Donovan, Miscellany of the Celtic society, page 5. of Munster, is famous in Irish histories [Compare O'Curry, Lectures of the ms. materials of ancient Irish history, page 209 and following.]. He is related to have died in the year 234 The four Masters, at the year 158, page 113.; from which it is understood that there is a gap in that genealogy, since St. Dalbhach lived in the sixth century or rather is later. This saint was descended from Eugene, the eldest son; whence the race of the Eugenians; from which the Mac Carthy, O'Callachan, O'Sullivan, O'Keeff, etc., say that they have sprung. St. Patrick was said to have blessed the race of Oilioll Olum, for which a kingdom over the whole of Ireland was destined: but this is a false opinion O'Donovan, The book of Rights, page 53, 56 and 230.. The poem of Cuimin of Condeire or Connor, who is related to have flourished around the year 686, on the principal virtues of the saints, turned into English by John O'Donovan, was published by Matthew Kelly Calendar of Irish Saints, page 161 and following.. Since, therefore, St. Dalbhach is there celebrated among the foremost saints of Ireland, it is plain that his veneration was once very great. On Cuil Collainge, which place was in the county of Cork near Killcrumper, we attempted something above in the Preliminary Commentary, number 14, to the Life of St. Abban, and something also in the Annotations to the same.
St. Nathi, with no other designation added, is commemorated today in the Martyrology of Tallaght; he is also called Nathe, bishop, in the Martyrology of Donegal. But who could say who he is? Michael O'Clery, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, when the memories of the saints were less obliterated, added this to the Donegal commemoration: "I think it is Nathi, son of Senach, of the race of Conchobhar Abhradhruadh, of Leinster." And at 1 August, on which appears "Nathi, bishop, of Cuil Fuitherbe," these other words, by which he would signify or at least hint that the same man is meant in both places: "The History of the saints in a poem (of St. Aengus the Culdee, whose beginning is: Naomhsheanchus naomh Inse Fail, The sacred history of the saints of the island of Fail) relates that there was a bishop Nathi, son of Senach, of the race of Mesincorb, of Leinster." Of this race I said a few things above in the case of St. Abban. But from these things it is manifest enough that the knowledge of the deeds of St. Nathi, formerly venerated today in Ireland, perished long ago.
St. Colman is announced today in the Martyrologies of Tallaght and Donegal, with no designation added by which he might be distinguished from his innumerable namesakes.
SS. Suibhne and Conan are commemorated today in the same Martyrologies, with no designation added either of the place of cult or of offices. These names are rarer, yet common to several; so that I cannot guess who they are.
St. Mobeoc is remembered today in the Martyrology of Tallaght; but in that of Donegal he is called Mobecocc. In both, Mo is "My," added to signify love and veneration, as in French in Monsieur, Madame, Notre-Seigneur, Notre-Dame, etc. Oc is the sign of a diminutive, by which love is also indicated; a usage which formerly prevailed also in Belgium, France and elsewhere. Mobeoc, therefore, is the same name as Beanus or Beoanus; and Mobecocc the same as Becanus. But so many Beans and Becans occur in the Irish calendars that there is not even room for conjectures. If one must nevertheless be made, is not St. Beanus or Beoanus, of whom above, announced twice today? It can easily happen that the man who compiled the Martyrology of Tallaght came upon a calendar in which St. Mobeoc or Beoanus alone was read, and upon another in which the same St. Beoanus was associated with St. Mellan, and believed them to be two different men. Hundreds of examples of this error are met with in the Hieronymian calendars.
To St. Arsenius, archbishop of Serbia, we would most willingly give a place in our work, since the most beloved disciple of St. Sabas is to be judged to have lived not in schism but in the communion of the Roman See. But we lack the documents necessary for worthily illustrating the deeds of the holy man; we therefore greatly desire that the most learned author of the Graeco-Slavonic Year may make public as soon as possible the Lives of the saints of the Slavonic churches, which would contain, to the greatest applause of all, many things entirely unknown to Western writers, and pertaining no less to ecclesiastical than to civil affairs. Until our wish is fulfilled, the brief notice which the reader will find at this day in the Graeco-Slavonic Year must suffice.
Harmackarus, otherwise Hermocarus, Harmacarius, Harimackarus and Erwacherus, sixth bishop of Utrecht, although he is called a saint by Suffridus Petri Cf. Beka, Historia Ultrajectina, page 136. in the catalogue of the bishops of this church, nevertheless seems nowhere to have been honoured with public cult. That he presided over the church of Utrecht after St. Willibrord at the end of the eighth century or the beginning of the ninth is related by Beka Ibid., pages 21 and 22., Heda Heda, Historia episcoporum Ultrajectinorum, page 43., Van Heussen Hist. episcopatus Ultrajectini, volume I, page 6. and others, who all praise his piety towards God and zeal for souls. Heda judges that Harmackarus died on 28 August, but Beka holds that this happened on 28 October.
I find noted in Henschenius's hand, among the remains of our predecessors, that Bl. Simon, abbot, is commemorated on this day in the Cistercian Calendar (that of Dijon, doubtless, of the year 1617). Then, in the chronological and geographical Catalogue of the saints, blessed and servants of God of the Cistercian Order which Sigismund Alberti published at Mondovì in the year 1712, these words are read: "Bl. Simeon, monk of Clairvaux; 28 October, 1160." But in this year no notable monk named Simeon died at Clairvaux; nor is any Simeon found in the index of the famous men of this convent. But at the year 1161 Manrique Annales Cisterc., at the year 1161, chapter V, number 3, volume II, page 353. records the death of Simon: who, being Benedictine abbot of Chézy in the diocese of Soissons, had long and in vain asked St. Bernard to be admitted among the Cistercians: which favour he obtained only after the death of the most blessed man, being then a monk at Clairvaux for seven years. Further, since St. Bernard departed this life on 20 August of the year 1153, according to the interval you put between the departure of the most holy abbot and the arrival of Simon of Chézy, Simon will have died in the year 1160 or 1161. Moreover this same man can be called both abbot and monk: for he was blessed as abbot at Chézy, but was admitted into the order of monks only at Clairvaux. Henriquez praises him in the Cistercian Menology at 4 September and calls him "Bl. Simon, formerly abbot of Chézy of the Benedictine Order, and afterwards a Cistercian monk." But there are absolutely no signs of ecclesiastical honour present: and what has become known about him was given by our predecessors in the Commentary on St. Bernard Acta SS., volume IV of August, page 225..
Bl. Egbert, lay brother of Villers in Brabant, is praised on this day by Henriquez in the Cistercian Menology, because he willingly listened to the virtues of the fathers of the order and most willingly emulated them; in which he became famous, praised by all as a saint and visited by Christ with a great company of the heavenly ones. Hence this encomium was derived into Bucelin's Benedictine Menology, into Herrera's Spanish Lives of the saints of the Order of St. Benedict, into Lechner's German Benedictine Menology and into other books of this kind; indeed even, what is of far greater moment, into the manuscript Martyrology of Villers, which those monks used in choir and which is now preserved in our museum. But it is to be observed that this Martyrology is not only not a hundred years older than the Urban decrees, but is later than them by at least a whole century, as is manifest from the paper and the handwriting. Then nowhere does it appear that the tomb or images of this illustrious man were held in honour, or that anything was done which is an indication of ecclesiastical cult, apart from that martyrological announcement, entirely illegitimate. Finally it is altogether unknown how Henriquez came to the knowledge of Egbert's name: in the notes he cites the Book on the famous lights of the monastery of Villers and the Chronicle of Villers; but this Chronicle and that Book are one and the same work, which Martène published Thesaurus anecdotorum, volume II, column 1267 and following. with the title History of the monastery of Villers in Brabant of the Cistercian Order, divided into three books: of which the first contains the Lives of the abbots, the second of the monks, the third of the lay brothers. And at the end of this third book comes chapter XIII, in which the praises of that lay brother are related. But he is called "a certain lay brother of the house of Villers of the baker's craft"; and the title is: "Of a certain brother baker"; so that in the copy which Henriquez used, or in that which Martène transcribed, the name of Egbert is not read. We are therefore forced to pass him over.
Rainerius, monk of Monte Cassino and martyr;
Mamilanus or Maximilian, a Spanish abbot;
Agilbodus, monk of Bobbio; and
John and Candidus, disciples of Bl. Marianus, are announced today by Bucelin in the Nomenclator of the Benedictine Menology; in which Nomenclator he enclosed many unknown names. But we do not wish to inquire in this place into the authority of this Nomenclator, being content to note that none of them seems ever to have obtained ecclesiastical honours.
Gregory Sayer, English Benedictine monk, who died in the year 1602 in the monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore, and
His Eminence the venerable John Bona, created cardinal of the Holy Roman Church from abbot general of the Cistercians, distinguished for letters and the knowledge of sacred antiquity, are praised on this day by Schindele in the Supplement of Bucelin's Menology; but both lack ecclesiastical cult, nor has anything been done about enrolling them among the saints.
Silvanus Boselli, founder of the Camaldolese hermitage of St. Joseph near Vienna in Austria, who departed this life in the year 1679, is praised today by Basil Duverchius in the Camaldolese Diary. The venerable man never obtained ecclesiastical cult.
Bl. Briolaya, virgin, who, scorning the marriage proposed to her by her parents and the comforts of the world, sweetly clung to Christ the spouse of virgins and took the Cistercian habit in the convent of Évora in Portugal, where she most holily kept continual silence to the admiration of all, is praised today by Henriquez in the Cistercian Menology and, following him, by Bucelin, Herrera, Lechner, Cherle and other Benedictine menologists. All these were preceded by Bernard de Brito, who in the Annals of the Cistercian Order, which he published at Lisbon in six books in the year 1602, in volume I, book V, chapter 33, published her Life in Portuguese. But we detect no trace of ecclesiastical cult, although this virgin died about the year 1500.
Apollonia de Odescalchi, nun in the abbey of St. Lawrence at Como, is given the title of blessed today by Robert Schindele in the Supplement to Bucelin's Benedictine Menology, as though following Tatti in the Sanctuary of Como; but in reality I found nothing about Apollonia in that Sanctuary.
Michael Lazarus, who in the year 1570 put on the habit of the Friars Preachers in the convent of Valencia and in the year 1602, on the feast of the apostles Simon and Jude, went down to the tomb, after he had long and excellently discharged the most weighty duties of master of novices, is celebrated today by Marchese and Emmanuel de Lima in the Dominican Sacred Diary and Hagiology, following Lopez, Pius and others. But indications of cult are lacking.
Robert of Saxony, who departed this life most piously in the year 1278;
Peter Charles, brother of Bl. Maurice, of the royal blood of Hungary, who died piously about the year 1300;
twenty-one nuns, carried off almost all by the same disease about the year 1500 in the monastery of St. Mary at Medina del Campo;
Joan Baptist Martel, nun of the monastery of the Most Holy Rosary at Daroca, in the province of Valencia;
Agnes Comor, mother of the monastery of St. Agnes at Zaragoza, in the province of Aragon, who went to heaven on the present day in the year 1568;
Mary of St. Helen, one of the foundresses of the convent of St. Mary of the Graces at Seville, snatched from the miseries of this life about the year 1590; and
Francis Varo, a Spaniard by nation, a priest by profession, thrown into prison by the Chinese in the year 1668 with three other pupils of his order (of whom nothing more was heard afterwards): these Emmanuel de Lima today joins to Michael Lazarus in his Dominican Hagiology, calling Robert of Saxony and Peter Charles blessed, and praising the rest for their virtues; but not even of the ecclesiastical cult of the first two is anything established to us.
Benedict of Piratro, who stood by St. Francis as he was dying, is praised today by Arthur and Huber in the Franciscan Menologies. Arthur adorns him with the title of blessed; but Huber, less neglectful of the decrees of Urban VIII, abstains from it; and indeed Gonzaga, who of his own accord placed so great a host of Friars Minor among the saints, did not inscribe Benedict of Piratro in his catalogue; nor does Wadding, who mentions Benedict at the year 1229, count him among the saints.
The feast of Bl. Gallus, confessor, at Esztergom in Hungary is celebrated today by Arthur in the Franciscan Menology; praising him because so great was his sanctity that dust drawn from his tomb healed the sick. This praise Mark of Lisbon and Wadding had long ago given him; and afterwards Huber in the Menology of St. Francis at 20 November. But Mark, Wadding and Huber call him not blessed, but "a most devout brother." Gonzaga, however, no less liberal than Arthur in beatifying the pupils of his order, had called this Gallus blessed half a century before him. It certainly appears that the tomb of Gallus was in great veneration: but this veneration was not for that reason ecclesiastical; much less perennial, since the Turks, having possessed Esztergom for many years, violated all religious places, and did not spare the convent of the Friars Minor.
John of Cordovilla, who died at Calpe in the territory of Cádiz when the sixteenth century was well advanced, is praised today by Arthur, who enlarges him with the title of blessed, and by Huber, who abstains from this title, in the Franciscan Menologies. He never obtained ecclesiastical cult.
Alexander of Vironum, who closed his last day at Pistoia in Tuscany, famous for the contemplation of heavenly things;
Germanus Auberti, at one time commissary general among the Ultramontane Observants, who died at Sées in Normandy about the year 1460;
Thomas of St. Anthony, who departed this life in the year 1540 at Rome in the convent of Aracoeli;
Diego de Moncado, celebrated among the Alcantarine Discalced for his mutual intercourse with the Blessed Virgin Mary;
Peter Xendai and Thomas Sacajuro, put to death by martyrdom in the year 1630 at Nagasaki in Japan, and enrolled before or after their death in the third order of St. Francis;
George Wilberg and Henry Brisius, killed by heretics in the year 1635 between Koblenz and Mainz; and
Louisa of the Ascension, abbess at Carrión de los Condes in the territory of Palencia, who in the year 1636 completed an altogether wonderful life: these Huber praises today in the Franciscan Menology, calling none of them saint or blessed. Arthur celebrates some of them on other days, calling them blessed after his custom; but improvidently, since not even the beginning of ecclesiastical cult has existed.
"On the same day, at Lugano, the translation of the holy martyrs Aemilianus, Valentine, Lazarus and Anthony with very many other sacred relics, which, brought from the City, were laid up in the church of the Most Holy Trinity of the Friars Minor Capuchins, and today, in the year 1657, being exposed with peoples flocking together from every side, began to have fitting veneration in that district, especially on the last Sunday of the month of October." These things at this day Primus de Tatti in the Sanctuary or Martyrology of Como; who also notes that Fr. Anthony Mary of Lugano collected at Rome many other bodies of saints, partly or entire, and carried them to his native land. But since the passion of these martyrs, all of them (unless I am mistaken) of the cemeteries, is entirely hidden from us, we are forced to pass them over, leaving to happier minds the examination of their deeds, times and blessed death.
"On the same day, at Dongo, in the church of St. Mary, surnamed of the River, likewise the translation of the holy martyrs of Christ Dionysius, a boy, and Salvator, Romans, whose bodies, formerly raised from the cemeteries of the City and carried to Como, were on this day borne through the town with a great concourse of peoples and finally, together with the little body of one holy innocent, were honourably placed in the chapel of St. Anthony of Padua." So far the same Tatti in the same Sanctuary; where he teaches that in the year 1653, on the present day, these remains were carried round in solemn procession. Salvator is without doubt a new name; and since most of the children buried in the Roman cemeteries are anonymous, we suspect that this name too was imposed by the bishop of Porphyreon. But lest it seem singular to the reader that the boy Dionysius is listed among the martyrs, we shall point out that at least a fifth part of the martyrs of the cemeteries are less than seven years old.
The memory of St. Febronia, daughter of the Emperor Heraclius, is kept at this day by the Greek Menaea; which are followed by Sirleto, Arthur in the Gynecaeum and Ferrarius. Sirmond's Synaxarion, however, as was said in the Passed Over of the 27th, comes one day earlier. With an unhappy conjecture indeed du Cange suspected, in the Byzantine Families, that Febronia was one of the two daughters who, as the Patriarch Nicephorus relates, died about the year 631 while their father was waging war against the Persians. For none of the daughters of Heraclius was then of sufficiently advanced age to be adorned with the Sirmondian eulogy: "The memory of the venerable mother and wonder-worker Febronia, who was the daughter of the Emperor Heraclius." For Eudocia or Epiphania, the elder daughter of Heraclius, saw the light in the year 611, as Theophanes Chronogr., page 250, Paris edition. and the Alexandrian Chronicle Page 383, Paris edition. teach. But we shall overturn du Cange's opinion with easier labour than we shall bring forward another. For since among the Greeks nuns commonly changed their name when they received the angelic habit, under the name of Febronia there perhaps lies hidden that Eudocia who, first betrothed to a Turkish prince [Niceph. Patr., de rebus post Mauricium gestis, pages 11, 12 and 15, Paris edition.], afterwards refused to Omar, the Saracen leader Ibid., page 17., is thereafter passed over in complete silence by the historians. But since with equal likelihood of truth the same can be conjectured of Augustina and Marina, who were named Augustae a little before their father's death Ibid., page 15., not to mention other conjectures which anyone could suggest, I refrain from more. But a place outside the Passed Over is not to be granted to the venerable nun, since her Acts are hidden from us.
Athanasius, patriarch of Constantinople in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, whose Life is found in the Paterikon of Mount Athos published at St. Petersburg in the year 1860, we mention here only because we wish to take some account of all the names which have been admitted into any calendars whatever. It is clear, however, that in our work no place is to be granted to the Life of a schismatic man; on whom consult Cuper in the History of the patriarchs of Constantinople Acta SS., volume I of August, pages 169 and 172.
Demetrius of Rostov, however much those who have written of the saints of the Russian church extol him with the greatest praises, we should not judge fit to insert into our work, even if the necessary documents were at hand. For one who at the end of the seventeenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth was raised among the Russians to the metropolitan dignity cannot but be numbered among the schismatics; of whose virtues and genuine piety it is certainly not permitted to us to judge, but to God alone, who, having seen the simplicity and good faith of each, knows what can excuse some from schism, others from the very crime of heresy. Wherefore this is our most certain law, that it is unlawful for us to show public cult to this kind of men, or to recognize as legitimate a cult shown to them. But whoever desires some notice of that most celebrated hagiographer, let him consult the Graeco-Slavonic Year at this day.
Abdias, bishop of Babylon in Assyria, was inserted by Maurolico in his Martyrology and by Ferrarius in his General Catalogue, following (as it seems) the authority of Peter de Natalibus; who, however, although after briefly narrating the passion of SS. Simon and Jude he speaks of Abdias as though of a historian, adds nothing about cult or feast-day Catal. SS., book IX, chapter 116.. But besides the fact that the testimony of Maurolico and Ferrarius is not sufficient to claim the honours of ecclesiastical cult for Abdias, there is no doubt that this bishop of Babylon never existed except in the fabulous Acts of SS. Simon and Jude, and hence that what is reported about him is not to be declared separately in our work.
I find it noted in Henschenius's hand that St. Gumbald is commemorated today by Camerarius. Nowhere else has this name occurred to me counted among the saints.
SS. Quintus, Felician, Sancinctus, or rather Hyacinth, martyrs in Lucania, are celebrated today by an error of one day in Greven's edition of Usuard Sollerius, Martyrologium Usuardi, page 615.; but with most martyrologies we refer them to the following day, 29 October.
SS. Nune and Mane, virgin companions, are celebrated today by the Armenians. The former is that holy Christian handmaid who, as is related in the Roman Martyrology, by the power of miracles brought that nation to the faith of Christ in the time of Constantine. St. Mane, her companion, is known only to the Armenians. Further, of both, as also of the conversion of the Iberians, we should have to treat at 15 December, on which in the Latin Church, with her name unspoken, St. Nune or Nino [Graeco-Slavonic Year, at 14 January; Brosset, Histoire de la Géorgie, 1st part, page 89 and following, St. Petersburg, 1849.], as we may speak with the Iberians themselves, is venerated. But since hitherto the sacred calendars of the Armenian and Georgian churches, and so their history, have been absent from our work for lack of documents, it is in our mind to treat more fully at the end of this month of the conversion of these nations to the faith of Christ and of their first apostles and martyrs. Let the studious reader therefore wait until after 31 October.
The memory of St. Louis Morbioli, penitent of Bologna in Italy, is kept today by Ferrarius in the General Catalogue of the saints, following his Life printed at Bologna, and Sigonius in the Bishops of Bologna. Which road Castellanus also took, on the authority both of Ferrarius and of Sigonius. For the writing of the latter, sent to him by Cardinal Paleotto, Surius or rather Mosander inserted into the Lives of the saints on the 28th day of October; which day, as the day of his death, is read in Sigonius's little work. Nor did he depart from this who, in the last century, published at Bassano Ferrarius's Catalogue of the saints of Italy, enlarged with the Lives of Bl. Louis and other heavenly citizens, under the title of Hagiologium of Italy. But others relate that the blessed man departed from among the living on the 7th day of November, others on the 9th of the same month: on which latter day the S. R. C., when in the year 1842 it approved his perpetual cult, appointed his festival. What then? In truth we do not suffer ourselves to be bound by the law of feasts, which often rests on a necessary transfer of the natal days, unless they are inscribed in the Roman Martyrology; but John Baptist Mantuanus favors the 9th day of November; who not long after the death of Bl. Louis wrote his praises in verse and dedicated them to Innocent VIII. For thus he sang:
Now the ninth light of frosty November had arisen,
When the slight shade bore itself to its Father.
This elegy was published anew by Melloni [Atti o Memorie degli uomini illustri in santita nati o morti in Bologna, volume III, pages 121 – 166, 416 – 427.]; who also with singular care pursued all the deeds of Bl. Louis. Let the reader consult his writing, until in our Work it is spoken of the most blessed man at 9 November.
St. Probus, bishop and confessor of Ravenna, is celebrated today by Galesini from the tables or liturgical calendar of Ravenna. I wonder at this memory at the present day, for which indeed I find no occasion. But that matter can be examined more accurately at the day on which, according to the Roman Martyrology, the Acts of St. Probus will have to be illustrated, 10 November.
The commemoration of St. Motiferus or Mocuferus in Scotland is announced today by Challoner in the British Martyrology A Memorial of ancient British piety, page 150.: who adds that he was one of the twelve apostolic men who lent their help to St. Columba in the conversion of the Picts. He is therefore none other than St. Tochannu Mocufircetea; which Tochannu is the same as Dochonna or Mochonna; which Mochonna was changed in the Scottish Latin calendars into Mauricius or Macharius: although the prefixed particle to, do, mo (my) is proper to the Celts, expressing affection, and has nothing in common with Mauricius or Macharius. Mocufircetea, which some divide thus, Mocofir-cetea, is to be read Mac-u-Fircetea: it is a surname, which very many Scots turned into a proper name Reeves, Life of St. Columba, page 246.. These things being declared, it is manifest that this saint is to be treated at the day on which St. Mauricius or Macharius is inscribed in the Scottish calendars, 12 November.
St. Parasceve of Polotsk, placed, as they say, in the canon of the saints by Bl. Gregory X, Roman Pontiff, and venerated by the Ruthenians on 12 November, Papebroch suspected is depicted in the Graeco-Muscovite Ephemerides on 28 October; but the matter is too doubtful, and besides, the author of the Graeco-Slavonic Year, who at that same day briefly collected the principal deeds of this holy virgin, is wholly occupied in asserting, against Assemani, the distinction between Parasceve and Euphrosyne, rather than in defending Papebroch's conjecture, which, as is clear from his words, seemed to him too to be little firm. It will be safer, therefore, to treat of her at 12 November.
The feast or memory of Bl. Chillenus, who, sent from Scotland by St. Faro into the province of Arras, won it for Christ by his sound teaching and the signs of miracles, is celebrated today by Greven in his edition of the Martyrology of Usuard. Whence this same memory at the present day was received into the Canisian Martyrology of Wallasser and into Ferrarius's General Catalogue of the saints. But this saint is the same as St. Kilian, who rests at Aubigny and whose Life, collected with the greatest diligence, the venerable man A. Cuvillier, priest of Arras, published five years ago. Since, then, St. Kilian is recalled today only on account of his association with St. Faro of Meaux, we shall speak of him at the day on which he is chiefly venerated, 13 November.
St. Parasceve of Iconium, great martyr, is venerated today by all the Slavs, if you except the Bulgarians. Of her it was briefly spoken in the Auctarium at 14 October Page 59, number 1.; where these words were also added: "But of the martyr of Iconium, at 28 October, on which we have said that she is commemorated by the Ruthenians, it can be considered whether she is to be given on that day, or whether she too is to be transferred to 14 November." To satisfy these promises we have examined what is reported about this saint among the Slavs, and have come to this, that we believe the Parasceve of the Greeks, the Parascevenitis of Iconium of the Slavs, and the Venera of the Italians to be one and the same person, whose deeds, long since deleted from the memory of men, have made way for fables, and will come up to be examined, according to the order established in our work, with the announcement of the Roman Martyrology, at 14 November.
"The Encaenia of St. Romanus." So have certain Menaea of uncertain origin, excerpts from which are preserved in the royal library of Brussels among the Bollandist remains; in place of which, by a slip of memory or of the pen, John Martinov cited the Mazarin ones. Further, the church of St. Romanus was built by Bl. Helena Codinus, de Aedificiis, page 49, Paris edition., and afterwards, when it had collapsed, it was raised again from its foundations by Basil the Macedonian Theophanes Continuatus, book V, number 82, page 199, Paris edition.. Du Cange indeed thinks it uncertain Constantinopolis christiana, book IV, page 133, Paris edition. to which of the two it was dedicated, to Romanus the poet, whom the Greeks venerate on 1 October, or to Romanus the martyr, whose memory is kept among Latins and Greeks on 18 November. But the doubt is removed by a passage of the Synaxarion to be adduced below, from which we learn that a church proper to St. Romanus the martyr existed at Constantinople, while from the same codex at 1 October we are taught that St. Romanus the poet was chiefly honoured in the church of the Mother of God built by Cyrus Acta SS., volume I of October, page 56.. Not far from that church stood the Gate of St. Romanus, very well known in the history of the city, which Leunclavius Pandectae hist. Turc., page 479, Paris edition. and Crusius Turcograecia, book I, year 26, page 51. rightly assert is now called Topcapoussi (the Cannon Gate). And the name of the district to which the gate and church named from St. Romanus belong we find at the end of the eulogy of the same saint in Sirmond's Menaea at 18 November: "His feast-day is kept in his own church ἐν τοῖς Ἑλεβίχου." The site of this district could not hitherto be determined by the writers who treat of old Constantinople, since it occurred only once in the printed books, namely in the subscriptions of the Council of Constantinople held under Menas in the year 526 Labbe, Concilia, volume V, column 116.. But now, from this passage of the manuscript synaxarion, it is indicated in the western tract of the city, midway between the Propontis and the harbour. The origin of the appellation, moreover, is more probably to be referred to Hellebichus, who we conjecture was a hearer of Libanius together with St. Gregory Nazianzen [Cf. Libanius, letter 787, page 372, Wolf's edition; St. Gregory Nazianzen, volume III, letter 223, Migne's edition.], and who afterwards, having left Libanius at Antioch and gone to Constantinople Libanius, letter 816, page 385., under the Emperor Julian discharged public offices Letter 787, page 373, and letter 843, page 396., and finally under Theodosius I attained the highest military honours Codex Theodosianus, book IX, title XXXIX, law 1, with Gothofredus's commentary., so that the charge of inquiring into the rebellious Antiochenes was entrusted to him [Theodoret, Hist. eccl., book V, chapter 19, Halle edition; Nicephorus Callistus, book XII, chapter 144.]. As, then, from the villa of the general Promotus a certain suburb on the Bosphorus received its name, and from the porticoes of Domninus a district of the city was named, so from the possessions of Hellebichus the tract adjoining the church of St. Romanus was called, down to the last times of the empire of Constantinople, τὰ Ἑλεβίχου. So much for the church whose Encaenia were celebrated today; of the saint, however, we shall treat at his own day, 18 November.
St. Anna the Younger, disciple of St. Stephen the Younger, Martyr, is commemorated today in the Sirmond Menaea on account of this Stephen, substituted for St. Stephen the Sabaite, the Poet. She will be spoken of when the Acts of her master are illustrated, at 28 November.
St. Stephen, a monk of the well-advanced eighth century, is celebrated today in several liturgical or hagiographical books: but in some he is fashioned into St. Stephen the Younger, MARTYR, who on 28 November of the year 767 met death for the cult of the holy images; in others into St. Stephen the Sabaite; and in several these two very different saints are confused into one. The genuine festival is that of St. Stephen the Sabaite. But there are two contemporary saints of this name: the one the Wonder-worker, who died in the year 794 and was illustrated in our work at 13 July, on which he is venerated; the other some years later, called the poet and venerated on the present day. All these things we shall declare below in the Sylloge on this third St. Stephen, for the present again noting only this: that today the feast of St. Stephen the Sabaite, the poet, is kept; that the Acts of the other St. Stephen the Sabaite, also called the Wonder-worker, are read in our work at 13 July; and finally that in the same work St. Stephen the Younger, Martyr, will be spoken of at 28 November.
The translation of St. Eusebia, virgin and abbess, formerly made at Marchiennes, is commemorated today by Molanus in the Index of the saints of Belgium, and following him by Wion in the Lignum Vitae, Ménard in the Benedictine Martyrology, Bucelin in the Benedictine Menology, Herrera in the Spanish Lives of the saints of the Order of St. Benedict, and others; to which St. Eusebia Arthur in the Gynecaeum adds St. Gertrude, widow. Already at the day immediately preceding I pointed out that in our work that translation of St. Eusebia would be spoken of at her feast-day, the [ ] of November;
and of St. Gertrude at 6 December.
The memory of St. Joseph, son of Jacob, translated into Britain, is recalled today in the Hagenau edition of the Martyrology of Usuard. But in no hagiological books on Great or Lesser Britain do I find anything about that matter. In some more recent calendars St. Joseph is remembered at 30 March, or at 28 May, or also at 25 March, consecrated by the incarnation and death of Christ, together with all the saints of the Old Testament. Peter de Natalibus put his name after 5 February, on which the period of Quinquagesima begins. Greven, Surius and, following the latter, Adrian Baillet Vies des saints de l'ancien Testament, page 744. celebrated his memory at 11 December. The Greeks, who nevertheless love to load their calendars with the distinguished names of both Testaments, and Baronius, who received into the Roman Martyrology several illustrious men of the Old Testament, assigned no day for recalling St. Joseph, except that in one Slavonic and in four Greek calendars or menaea his name is read at 29 October. These things being so, whether he ever had legitimate ecclesiastical cult will have to be examined more diligently at 29 October or at 11 December
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