The 6th/7th c. recension of the Latin Martyrologium Hieronymianum, as transmitted in 8th c. manuscripts, records the feasts of a number of saints on 29 July.
Evidence ID
E04897
Type of Evidence
Liturgical texts - Calendars and martyrologies
Major author/Major anonymous work
Martyrologium Hieronymianum
The Martyrologium Hieronymianum is preserved in a number of early manuscripts which share much in common, but also diverge, making it impossible to reconstruct from them a single authoritative text. Below, we therefore offer separate English translations of each important early manuscript. By clicking 'Latin Text' (above), you can view these different versions in their original Latin, set side-by-side for ease of comparison, with also the editions and interpretations of the text suggested by the scholars Quentin and Delehaye. For a full discussion of the Martyrologium, click 'Discussion/Bibliography.'
The Martyrologium Hieronymianum commemorates on 29 July the following feasts:
*Abdos, Persian martyr in Rome, buried on the via Portuensis, and companion of Semnes (S00573),
*Simplicius, Faustinus and Beatrix, martyrs of Rome (00886),
*Felix, martyr of Rome, buried on the via Portuensis (S02672),
*Lupus, bishop of Troyes, ob. 479 (S00418),
*Prosper, bishop of Orléans, ob. after c. 480 (S03096)
*Other saints, on 29 July in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum: in Rome, Troyes, Auxerre, and 'elsewhere' (S03035).
BnF 10837:
'On the fourth day before the Kalends of August, in Rome, [the feast of] Philipus, Simplicius, Faustinus, and Viatrix, Abseodus, Abdus, Pontianus, Nicetus.
In Africa, [the feast of] Felix.
And elsewhere, [the feast of] Nicetas, Postunanias, Patruina, Philipus.
In the city Troyes, [the feast of] Lupus, Anastasia, Philipus, Saturninus, Caelestus, Pelagia.
In Orléans, the burial of bishop Prosper.'
Bern 289:
'On the fourth day before the Kalends of August, in Rome, on the via Portensis, the feast of Abseodus, Rufus, Abdus, Pontianus, Nicetus.
And on the via Portuensis, in the same cemetery, at the sixth mile, [the feast of] Simplicus, Faustinus, Beatricus.
In Africa, the feast of Felix.
And elsewhere, the feast of Nicetas, Postinania, Philippus.
In the city of Troyes, the burial of Lupus, bishop and confessor.
And elsewhere, [the feast of] Anastasia, Philippus, Saturninus, Celestus, Patrona, Pelagia.
In Orléans, the burial of the blessed Prosper, bishop.
A priest Raginarius died.'
Weissenburg 81:
'On the fourth day before the Kalends of August, in Fontanella monastery, the burial of Gennardus, priest and confessor.
In Rome, on the via Puerinse, the feast of Abseodas, Pontianus, Nicetus. And on the via Portuense, also there, at the sixth mile, the feast of Simplicus, Faustinus, Viatrica.
In Africa, the feast of Felix, Nicetas, Postinania, Phylippus.
In the city of Troyes, the burial of Lupus, bishop and confessor.
And elsewhere, the feast of Anastasia, Phylippus, Saturninus, Celestus, Patruina, Pelagia.
In the city of Orléans, the burial of bishop Prosper.'
Quentin follows the early manuscripts.
Delehaye also follows the early manuscripts for the most part.
Translation and comments: M. Vukovic.
Festivals
Saint’s feast
Source
The Martyrologium Hieronymianum ('Martyrology of Jerome'), is the oldest extensive martyrology of the Latin West, listing the feast days of the saints for the entire calendar year, generally also specifying where their feasts are held (which is normally their place of burial). It derives its name from prefatory letters copied at the start of the martyrology, which attribute the text to the Church Father, Jerome of Stridon (ob. 420). These letters are present in all the earliest manuscripts, but it is uncertain when they were first attached to the text. The Hieronymianum is the primary source of all later martyrologies of the Latin world.It is universally accepted that the attribution to Jerome, intended to give the text greater authority, is false, and the predominant scholarly view is that the first version of the martyrology was compiled in northern Italy during the 5th century (probably in Aquileia), though no manuscript of this Aquileian redaction has survived. The text was then evidently revised and added to in Gaul, probably in Burgundy, around AD 600. The north Italian origin of the text, and its Gallic revision, are deduced from the presence in the martyrology of saints from northern Italy, and then of saints from Frankish Gaul. This Gallic version (sometimes referred to as the recensio gallica), just like its north Italian predecessor, does not survive in its original form in any manuscript (Lifshitz 2006, 14).
At some point in the 7th century, and no later than the early 8th, the Martyrologium reached Northumbria (in northern Britain), where it underwent some further revision and additions (Lapidge 2005, 45-46). From Northumbria, the text returned to the continent in the 8th century, and it is here that the earliest surviving manuscript copies were made, as listed below (Lapidge 2005, 73).
Some of the sources that were used by the compilers of the Martyrologium in northern Italy, and subsequently in Gaul, can be identified: the so-called Chronography of 354, a mid-4th-century list from Rome of saintly commemorations, primarily of local martyrs (E010151 and E01052); a lost Greek martyrology compiled at Nicomedia around 360 (drawn basically from Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History and Martyrs of Palestine), which was also a prime source for the Syriac Martyrology of 411 (E00465); the African Calendar of Carthage of 505/535 (E02195 - E02205); and early local calendars from Aquileia and Auxerre (Lifshitz 2006, 20).
The four earliest manuscripts of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum (three of them complete, one a fragment), on which all editions, including our own, are based, are all from eastern Francia and were copied in the eighth and early ninth centuries. They are as follows:
Ms Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), lat. 10837
Written in the abbey of Echternach (in present-day Luxembourg) by a single scribe, Laurentius, between 703 and 710 (Lifshitz 2006, 32). The Catalogue of the BnF, which publishes BnF lat. 10837 on-line, also provides brief information about the dating: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b6001113z/f22.image (click Information). The text of the Hieronymianum is at fol. 2r-32v.
Ms Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek, Weissenburg 81
From the abbey of Weissenburg in Alsace. Dated to around 800 by the Wolfenbüttel on-line catalogue: http://diglib.hab.de/?db=mss&list=ms&id=81-weiss&lang=en. Lifshitz argues that the manuscript dates from around 772, and was written in the Carolingian royal sphere, in or around Maastrict (Lifshitz 2006, 4). The text of the Hieronymianum is at fol. 7r-103r.
Ms Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Bongars 289
From the abbey of Saint-Avold, near Metz. De Rossi and Duchesne, in the introduction to their edition, argue that Bern 289 must have been written after 766. The text of the Hieronymianum is at fol. 53v-129v. This manuscript is not yet available on line, but we have been able to check it through a microfilm.
Ms Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. lat. 238
From the abbey of Lorsch, near Worms. The manuscript contains only a fragment (five pages) of the Hieronymianum, covering 25 December to 3 January, and 27 January to 31 January, written in Lorsch in the first half of the 9th century: http://bibliotheca-laureshamensis-digital.de/bav/bav_pal_lat_238). The fragment is at fol. 74-75, 1-2.
The standard edition of 1894, by G. B. de Rossi and L. Duchesne, published these four manuscripts in parallel columns. In 1931, H. Quentin produced a new edition, with a commentary by H. Delehaye, which attempted to collate the different manuscript readings into a single text.
Even though all the early manuscripts are believed to descend from the same redaction, they are by no means identical. In particular, BnF lat. 10837, the earliest of all, often contains a text which differs markedly from Bern 289 and Weissenburg 81, which are much closer to each other. Because the text varies between manuscripts, in content as well as spelling, it is now universally agreed that it will never be possible to create an 'authoritative' single text of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum. De Rossi and Duchesne in 1894, facing the same problem, decided to print for each day of the year the text of all four early manuscripts, in four columns, and we have followed their lead. Our edition is essentially based on their edition, though we have checked their readings against the manuscripts, and corrected or removed some letters, words, diacritical marks, and comments introduced by the editors that do not exist in the manuscripts. We have then added three more columns: for Quentin’s text for the feast day, which sometimes comes in one version, sometimes in two, and for Delehaye’s reconstruction of much of the text, drawn from his Commentary. Delehaye's erudition was, and remains, unmatched, and we have leaned heavily on his commentary (which is in Latin), but it should be noted that his reconstructed text often departs markedly from the manuscripts. Using his extraordinary knowledge of the saints and their hagiography, he felt able to combine different parts of the Hieronymianum's text, and to correct garbled versions of names, to produce a more coherent 'original'. We consider each of his principal suggestions in our Discussion (below), and attempt a judgment as to how plausible they are. In Delehaye's extensive notes there are also other, more tentative, suggestions, which we have not discussed systematically.
The reason the Martyrologium Hieronymianum is such a difficult text is because it consists primarily of long lists of names (with no punctuation and no consistency in the use of capital letters), which were often unfamiliar to copyists and so easily garbled. Generally, we cannot get behind these garbled variants, but occasionally we can, allowing us to shed light on how the text evolved into its current, often confused, state. For instance, an entry for 9 March (E04711) probably originally read something like 'In Armenia minore Sebastia milit(um) XL', 'In Lesser Armenia, at Sebasteia, [the feast of] the Forty Soldiers' - in other words a commemoration of the 'Forty Martyrs of Sebaste' (S00103), prominent saints in the East, but less well-known in the Latin West. In one of our manuscripts (Weissenburg 81) this has become 'In arminia minore sabastiani et milia XL', 'In Lesser Armenia, [the feast of] Sebastianus and the forty-thousand'; somewhere in the process of transmission, the city of Sebasteia has become the martyr Sebastianus, and the 'soldiers' (militum) have become 'thousands' (milia).
Discussion
On 29 July, the manuscripts Bern 289 and Weissenburg 81, record the commemoration in Rome, on the via Portuensis, of the saints Abseodus/Abseodas, Rufus, Abdus, Pontianus, Nicetus. The first and third among these can be identified as *Abdos (Persian martyr in Rome, buried on the via Portuensis, and companion of Semnes, S00573). Though it is apparent from the manuscripts that the scribes thought Pontianus was one of the saints commemorated, 'Pontiani' is likely to be a reference to the cemetery of Pontianus on the via Portuensis, where Abdon and Sennes were buried. In the next sentence these manuscripts record Simplicius, Faustinus, and Beatricus/Viatrica, specifying that they were buried on the via Portuensis at the sixth milestone. These saints, *Simplicius, Faustinus and Beatrix (martyrs of Rome, 00886), were buried in the cemetery on the via Portuensis known as ad sextum Philippi ('at the sixth [milestone] of Philippus').Unlike the Bern and Weissenburg manuscripts, BnF 10837 does not distinguish these two groups of saints (buried on the same road out of Rome but in different cemeteries), listing them together as 'Philipus, Simplicius, Faustinus and Viatrix, Abseodus, Abdus, Pontianus, Nicetus'. It is likely that, as well as Pontianus, the reference to 'Philipus' here is a misunderstood reference to the name of the cemetery ad sextum Philippi. Rufus, who appears uniquely in Bern 289, may possibly be the same as the 'Rufinianus' (S03103) depicted alongside Simplicius, Faustinus and Beatrix in a surviving fresco from their shrine (see E07151). Nicetus, who appears in all manuscripts as commemorated on the via Portuensis remains unidentified.
Further, the manuscripts of the Hieronymianum record the saint Felix in Africa. Delehaye thinks that this saint could be commemorated in Rome as well. We identify him as *Felix (martyr of Rome, buried on the via Portuensis, S02672).
All the manuscripts record on this day the commemoration in Troyes of *Lupus (bishop of Troyes, ob. 479, S00418). In BnF 10937, the names Anastasia, Philipus, Saturninus, Caelestus, and Pelagia are appended as celebrated at Troyes. In Bern 289 and Weissenburg 81, the saints Anastasia, Philippus/Phylippus, Saturninus, Celestus, Patrona/Patruina, Pelagia are celebrated 'elsewhere'. None of these except Lupus are identified.
All three manuscripts of the Hieronymianum record the commemoration in Orléans of *Prosper (bishop of Orleans, ob. 470/485, S03096). He is otherwise known only as the recipient of a letter from Sidonius Apollinaris (E07122).
Delehaye confirms that the saint mentioned only in Weissenburg 81, Gennardus, commemorated in the Fontanella monastery, which must be Fontenelles Abbey in in the former commune of Saint-André-d'Ornay in the Vendée, France, is not known. We leave him unidentified.
The unidentified saints are among *Other saints, on 29 July in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum: in Rome, Troyes, Auxerre, and 'elsewhere' (S03035).
Bibliography
Editions:De Rossi, G. B., and Duchesne, L., Martyrologium Hieronymianum ad finem codicum adiectis prolegomenis. Acta Sanctorum Nov.II.1 (Brussels, 1894).
Quentin, H. and Delehaye, H., Acta Sanctorum Nov.II.2 (Brussels, 1931).
On the Martyrologium Hieronymianum:
Duchesne, L., "A propos du martyrologe hiéronymien," Analecta Bollandiana 17 (1898), 421-447.
Lapidge, M., The Roman Martyrs: Introduction, Translations, and Commentary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018).
Lapidge, M., "Acca of Hexham and the Origin of the Old English Martyrology," Analecta Bollandiana 123 (2005), 29-78.
Lifshitz, F., The Name of the Saint: The Martyrology of Jerome and Access to the Sacred in Francia, 627-827 (Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 2006).
Ó Riain, P., "A Northumbrian Phase in the Formation of the Hieronymian Martyrology: The Evidence of the Martyrology of Tallaght," Analecta Bollandiana 120 (2002), 311-363.
On the manuscripts of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum:
Butzmann, H., Die Weissenburger Handschriften (Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann, 1964), 242-243.
Muller, J. C., "Trois manuscrits liturgiques de l'abbaye d'Echternach à Paris," in: P. Schritz and A. Hoffmann (eds.), Abteistadt Echternach (Luxembourg, 1981), 202-206.
Ó Cróinín, D., "Rath Melsigi, Willibrord, and the Earliest Echternach Manuscripts," Peritia 3 (1984), 17-49.
Libaert, P., "Notice sur 43 manuscrits d'Echternach conservés à la bibliothèque nationale de Paris," Hémecht 1 (1985), 53-73.
McKitterick, R., Books, Scribes and Learning in the Frankish Kingdoms, Sixth-Ninth Centuries (Aldershot: Variorum, 1994).
On saints and calendars:
Farmer, D. H., Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978).
Nilles, N., Kalendarium Manuale utriusque Ecclesiae Orientalis et Occidentalis I-II (Farnborough: Gregg International Publishers Ltd, 1971).
Watkins, B., The Book of Saints: A Comprehensive Biographical Dictionary (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2015).
Datum Table
| BnF 10837 | Bern 289 | Weissenburg 81 | BAV 238 | Other Mss | Quentin | Quentin | Delehaye |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IIII KL. AG. In fontanella monast̃ dep̃ gennardi prƀi et conf̃ | |||||||
| IIII KL. AGS. ROMÆ. Uia portensi. Natał Abseodi. Rufi. Abdi Pontiani. Niceti. | Rom̄ uia puerinsȩ nat̃ sc̃orum abseode pontiani niceti. | Romae via Portensi natale Abseodi Rufi Abdi Pontiani Niceti. | Romae via Portuensi 〈in cimiterio〉 Pontiani Abdon et Sennen. | ||||
| IIII k ag̃ rom̄ philipi simplici faustini et viatricis abseodi abdi pontiani niceti | ET via portuensi. In cimiterio. eiusdem. milia rio VI. Simplici. Faustini. Beatrici. | et uia portuensȩ inibi eiusdem mił UI. nat̃ sc̃orum simplici faustini uiatrice | Romae Philipi Simplici Faustini et Viatricis Abseodi Abdi Pontiani Niceti | et via Portuensi in cimiterio eiusdem miliario VI Simplici Faustini Viatrici. | Romae via Portuensi 〈ad〉 Sextum Philippi, Simplicii, Faustini, Viatricis, Rufi. | ||
| in af̃f̃ felicis | IN AFRICA. Natał. Felicis. | In africa nat̃ sc̃i felicis nicetae postinaniȩ phylippi | in Africa natale Felicis. | in Africa natale Felicis. | Romae via Portuensi miliario III in cimiterio suo natale Felicis. | ||
| et alibi nicetae postunaniae patruinae philipi | et alibi. Nicetȩ. POSTINANIA Philippi. | et alibi Nicetae Postunianae Patruinae Philippi. | et alibi Nicetae Postunianae Philippi. | ||||
| trecas civĩ sc̃i lupi anastasiæ philipi saturnini caelesti pelagiae | TRECAS CIUIT. Depos̃ Sc̃i Lupi ep̃i et conf̃. | Trecas ciuit̃ dep̃ sc̃i lupi ep̃i et conf̃ | Trecas civitate depositio sancti Lupi episcopi et confessoris. | Trecas civitate depositio sancti Lupi episcopi et confessoris. | Trecas civitate depositio sancti Lupi episcopi et confessoris. | ||
| et alibi. anastasiȩ. Philippi Saturnini. Celesti. Patronȩ. Pelagiȩ. | et alibi nat̃ sc̃orum anastasiae phylippi saturnini celesti patruinȩ pelagiȩ | et alibi Anastasiae Philippi Saturnini Caelesti Pelagiae. | et alibi Anastasiae Philippi Saturnini Caelesti Patruinae Pelagiae. | ||||
| auriliã depos̃ prosperi ep̃i. | AURELIANIS. Depos̃. Beati Prosperi ep̃i | aurilianis ciuit̃ dep̃ beati prosperi ep̃i | Aurilianis depositio beati Prosperi episcopi. | Aurilianis depositio beati Prosperi episcopi. | Aurelianis depositio beati Prosperi episcopi. | ||
| in margine: hobiit raginarius sacerd(os). | in Fontanella monasterio depositio Gennardi presbyteri et confessoris. |
Record Created By
Marijana Vukovic
Date of Entry
10/12/2022
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00418 | Lupus, bishop of Troyes, ob. 479 | Lupus | Certain | S00573 | Abdos and Semnes, Persian martyrs of Rome | Abseodus/Abseodas/Abdus | Certain | S00886 | Simplicius, Faustinus, Viatrix/Beatrix, martyrs of Rome | Simplicus; Faustinus; Beatricus/Viatrica/Viatricus | Certain | S02672 | Felix, martyr of Rome, buried on the via Portuensis | Felix | Certain | S03035 | Other saints, on 29 July in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum: in Rome, Troyes, Auxerre, and "elsewhere" | Rufus; Pontianus; Nicetus; Anastasia; Philipus/Phylippus; Saturninus; Caelestus/Celestus; Pelagia; Patrona/Patruina; Prosperus; Gennardus | Certain | S03096 | Prosper, bishop of Orléans, ob. 480/490 | Prosper | Certain |
|---|
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