Calendar of the Church of Carthage (central North Africa) lists saints whose liturgical commemorations were celebrated in July. Written in Latin in Carthage, probably between 505 and 535.
Evidence ID
E02198
Type of Evidence
Liturgical texts - Calendars and martyrologies
Calendar of Carthage
July
... Jul. .....
Idus Julias sancti Catulini martyris.
xv.. Kal. Agustas sanctorum Scilitanorum.
xiij Kal. Ag. depositio sancti Aurili Episcopi.
xj Kal. Ag. sanctorum Maxulitanorum
... Kal. Ag. depositio sancti Capreoli Episcopi.
iij Kal. Ag. sanctarum Tuburbitanarum, & Septimiae.
'.. July ....
15 July. (Feast) of saint Catulinus, martyr.
17 July. (Feast) of the Scillitan saints.
20 July. Burial of the holy Aurelius, bishop.
22 July. (Feast) of the saints of Maxula.
.. July. Burial of the holy Capreolus, bishop.
30 July. (Feast) of the [female] saints of Thuburbo and of Septimia.'
[*Catulinus, martyr of Carthage, S00914; *Martyrs from Scillium, martyred at Carthage, S00913; *Aurelius, bishop of Carthage, end of 4th/beginning of 5th century, S02902; *Martyrs of Maxula (Proconsularis), S02751; *Capreolus, bishop of Carthage, early 5th century, S02901; Female saints of Thuburbo: *Maxima, Donatilla and Secunda, virgins and martyrs of Thuburbo, S01812; *Septimia, either a companion of Maxima, Donatilla and Secunda, or an otherwise unknown martyr, S02748.]
Text: Mabillon 1682, 399.
Translation and identifications: Bryan Ward-Perkins.
Festivals
Saint’s feast
Source
The calendar of Carthage was discovered by Jean Mabillon in the library of Cluny abbey, on sheets of parchment attached to the wooden boards binding a codex of Jerome's commentary on Isaiah, and a full transcription and commentary was published by him in 1682 in volume 3 of his Analecta Vetera. Mabillon recorded that the text was affected by wormholes and other damage (as is also clear from the gaps in his transcription). For photographs of Mabillon's text, see the Images attached to E02196.A brief description of the manuscript, written in 1722, stated that it consisted to two sheets of parchment and a third half sheet, all used in the later binding (Oursel 1906). These were last recorded in the library at the very beginning of the nineteenth century, and were subsequently lost. Mabillon's transcription is the only record of the text.
Mabillon wrote that '[t]he script is Roman, written in majuscule letters, no later than the seventh century' (Scriptura Romana est, litteris majusculis exarata, saeculo septimo non inferior); in the absence of the original, this dating of the manuscript is impossible to verify.
The approximate date of the written text in the form that we have it can be established with some confidence, as the days of the burials of all bishops of Carthage subsequent to Cyprian are recorded, and the last bishop named is Eugenius, who died in exile in around 505 (Victor of Tunnuna, Chronicle, 86). After Eugenius, the see remained vacant until the election of Bonifatius who held the bishopric from 523 to c. 535. The Calendar, in the form we have it, can therefore be dated to between c. 505 and c. 535. It has, however, sometimes been argued that the core of the text has to pre-date Vandal rule, which started in 439, since there is no reference in the Calendar to martyrs of the Arian persecution under these new masters. The argument, however, is not a strong one, as there is almost no evidence anywhere of cult for the men and women who suffered in the persecutions of the fifth century.
Mabillon rightly termed this document a 'Calendar' (Kallendarium), a record of the feasts celebrated by a specific church, in this case that of Carthage, as opposed to a 'Martyrology', which is a much more wide-ranging list of feast days. In its preface/title and in the wording of its entries, the Calendar of Carthage draws a distinction between the burials (depositiones) of Carthage's bishops, which were probably marked with comparatively little ceremony, and the natalicia (literally 'birthdays', into heaven) of the martyrs, which were proper feast days. In its combination of episcopal commemorations and major feasts, the Calendar of Carthage is similar to the early calendars of the church of Rome contained in the Chronography of 354, except that the calendars of Rome list the depositiones of its martyrs (E01052) and those of its bishops (E01051) separately.
The Calendar of Carthage also reflects the progressive spread of the cult of saints. In it there are seventy-two feast days for martyrs, compared to the twenty-three noted in Rome in the mid-fourth century, and there are also many more non-local martyrs than in the Roman calendar. In the Calendar of Carthage, martyrs from Rome are particularly well represented, reflecting the close ties between the 'Catholic' church in Africa and the church of Rome: nine unquestionably Roman martyrs are commemorated (with two more whose location is uncertain, but who could well have been Roman).
The Calendar opens the year on 19 April, after Easter, and closes it on 16 February, before Lent (during which, and during the Easter festivities, martyrs' feasts were not celebrated in Carthage). Hence, for instance, the feast of Perpetua and her companions, on 7 March, is absent from the Calendar.
Many of the martyrs recorded in the Calendar of Carthage are otherwise unknown, and because the Calendar records them simply as 'martyrs', without ever specifying their role or rank in life, for these we know no more than their names and their dates of commemoration. In very many cases, we also do not know precisely where they came from and where they were martyred, though, on the basis of those we can locate, we can be confident that all were from central North Africa, not too far distant from Carthage.
There is reason to believe that the precise dates of some commemorations were moved, so that they could to sit on the same days as others (Achelis 1900, 28). It is, for instance, implausible that bishops Deogratias and Eugenius of Carthage, and bishop Restitutus of Carthage and Augustine of Hippo were buried, as the Calendar states, on precisely the same two days, in January and August respectively (see E02199 and (E02204). It is therefore possible that martyrs who appear in the text as companions - for instance, as Flavianus and Septimia do on 25 May (E02196) - were actually separate.
Discussion
Nothing certain is known about the martyr Catulinus (S00914), except that according to one version of the Martyrium Hieronymianum (E04882) he was a martyr, and Augustine possibly delivered a sermon on his feast day (E08472) in Carthage.The martyrs from Scillium, executed in Carthage (S00914), and their feast day on 17 July, are extensively documented in our sources: their Martyrdom survives (E08013), and they had an important church in Carthage (E01969).
Aurelius (S02902) was bishop of Carthage from before 393 to 429/430. Unlike most of the bishops whose burials are recorded in the Calendar, he is described here as 'sanctus' Aurelius; but there is no other reason to believe that he was considered special and no evidence that he attracted serious cult.
The martyrs of Maxula (S02751), a coastal city very close to Carthage, are recorded on this same day (22 July) in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum (E04889), where they are named as Andreas, Elianus and Cobosa (or Aiobosus). They are otherwise unknown.
Capreolus (S02901) succeeded Aurelius as bishop of Carthage in around 430; he died before 439. Like Aurelius, he is here described as 'sanctus' Capreolus, but, again like Aurelius, there is no evidence that he attracted particular esteem or cult.
The female martyrs of Thuburbo, commemorated on 30 July, are certainly Maxima, Donatilla and Secunda, virgins and martyrs of Thuburbo Maius (Proconsularis) (S01812), whose cult, including a surviving Martyrdom (E07491), is extensively documented in our evidence. Their feast on this same day is also recorded in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum (E04898), where they are accompanied by fourteen other martyrs, including several men.
Septimia (S02748), named immediately after the female martyrs of Thuburbo, is puzzling. A Septimia features in the list of fourteen martyr-companions of Maxima, Donatilla and Secunda in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum (E04898), but only as the fourth or sixth name in this list. Our Septimia may be this martyr of Thuburbo; but she may be another otherwise unrecorded martyr.
Bibliography
Edition:[All editions depend on Mabillon's printed text, as he is the only scholar known to have transcribed the Calendar.]
Achelis, H., Die Martyrologien, ihre Geschichte und ihr Wert (Abhandlungen der königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, philosophische-historische Klasse, neue Folge, Band III, nro 3; Berlin, 1900), at 18-29 (with commentary).
de Rossi, J. B., and L. Duchesne (ed.), Acta Sanctorum 65: Novembris II.1 (Brussels, 1894), pp. lxix-lxxii.
Lietzmann, H., Die drei ältesten Martyrologien (Bonn 1903), 5-8.
Mabillon, J., Vetera Analecta, Vol. 3 (Paris 1682), 398-401 (with commentary, 402-422).
Preuschen, Analecta. Kürzere Texte zur Geschichte der alten Kirche und des Kanons (Freiburg im Breisgau and Leipzig, 1899), 123-6.
Ruinart, T., Acta primorum martyrum sincera et selecta (Paris 1689), 693-5. [in the table of contents, Ruinart states that his text derives from Mabillon's ('Ex tomo 3 Analectorum').]
Further reading:
Oursel, M., “Note sur le calendrier de l’église de Cartage à la bibliotheque de Cluny,” Bulletin historique et philologique du comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques, Année 1906, nos. 1 and 2, 66.
Record Created By
Bryan Ward-Perkins
Date of Entry
19/08/2023
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00913 | Scillitan Martyrs, martyrs in Carthage from Scillium | Scilitani | Certain | S00914 | Catulinus, deacon and martyr of Carthage | Catulinus | Certain | S01812 | Maxima, Donatilla and Secunda, virgins and martyrs of Thuburbo | Tuburbitanae | Certain | S01822 | Martyrs of Maxula, commemorated at Carthage | Maxulitani | Certain | S02748 | Septimia, martyr commemorated at Carthage | Septimia | Certain | S02751 | Saints of Maxula | Maxulitani | Certain | S02901 | Capreolus, bishop of Carthage, ob. before 439 | Capreolus | Certain | S02902 | Aurelius, bishop of Carthage, ob. 429/430 | Aurelius | Certain |
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