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 11 September.
E04948
Liturgical texts - Calendars and martyrologies
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 11 September the following feasts:
*Protus and Hyacinthus, eunuchs and martyrs of Rome, (S00464),
*Hippolytus, martyr of Rome, (S00509),
*Eugenia, virgin and martyr of Rome, (S00401),
*Basilla, virgin and martyr of Rome, (S00684),
*Possibly *Hōros, bishop and martyr, (S01079),
*Serapiōn, presbyter and martyr, (S01080),
*Twelve brothers, four groups of southern Italian martyrs enshrined in Benevento (Italy), early 4th cent., (S02579),
The burial of *Patiens, archbishop of Lyon (Gaul), ob. 480, (S02622),
*Regula, unspecified saint of Lyon, Gaul, (S02623),
The burial of *Maurilius/Maurilio, bishop of Angers, ob. 453, (S02421).
BnF 10837:
'On the third day before the Ides of September, in Rome, [the feast of] Protus and Iacintus. In Rome, in the Port, [the feast of] Ippolitus.
In the city Alexandria, the feast of Sirus and Serapio.
In Apulia, [the feast of] Felix and Donata.
In Lyon in Gaul, [the feast of] bishop Paciens.'
Bern 289:
'On the third day before the Ides of September, in Rome, on the via Salaria, in the old cemetery of Basilla, [the feast of] Protus and Iacintus, who were the teachers of the Christian law, [the feast of] Eugenia and Basilla. And in the city of Rome, [the feast of] Ingenuus and Ippolitus.
In Alexandria, the feast of Sirus and Serapio.
In Apulia, [the feast of] Felix and Donata.
In Lyon in Gaul, [the feast of] bishop Patientus and Regula.
In Angers (Gaul), the burial of confessor Maurilio.'
Weissenburg 81:
'On the third day before the Ides of September, in Rome, on the via Salutaria, in the old cemetery of Basilla, the feast of Protus and Iacentus, who were the teachers of Christian law, Eugenia, and Basilla. And in the Port of the city of Rome, the feast of Ingenuus and Epolitus.
And in Alexandria, the feast of Syrus and Serapio.
And in Apulia, the feast of Felix and Donatus.
In Lyon in Gaul, the burial of bishop Patiens.'
Translation and comments: M. Vukovic
Saint’s feast
Cult PlacesBurial site of a saint - cemetery/catacomb
Burial site of a saint - other
Burial site of a saint - unspecified
Places Named after SaintCemetery
RelicsBodily relic - entire body
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 11 September, the early manuscripts of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum record first the commemoration in Rome, of the saints Protus, Iacintus/Iacentus, Ippolitus, Eugenia, Basilla, and Ingenuus. They could be identified as *Protus and Hyacinthus, (eunuchs and martyrs of Rome, S00464), *Hippolytus, (martyr of Rome, S00509),*Eugenia, (virgin and martyr of Rome, S00401), and *Basilla, (virgin and martyr of Rome, S00684). All the saints commemorated in Rome for the day are easily identified except for Ingenuus, for whom Delehaye argues that this is the name variation of *Eugenia (virgin and martyr of Rome, S00401), and not a separate saint.Further, the manuscripts of the Hieronymianum record on 11 September the commemoration of Alexandria of the saints Sirus and Serapio. Delehaye connects Sirus/Syrus and Serapion, commemorated in Alexandria, with *Hōros (bishop and martyr, S01079) and *Serapiōn (presbyter and martyr, S01080), who are commemorated on 14 September in the Syriac Martyrology (E01551). We consider the first identification possible, but not certain, because of the name change.
We further see the saints Felix and Donata/Donatus, commemorated in Apulia. Delehaye notes that they are commemorated also on 1 September (E04938). We identify them to be among *Twelve brothers, (four groups of southern Italian martyrs enshrined in Benevento (Italy), early 4th cent., S02579), which are otherwise commemorated on several other dates in August.
Also, the manuscripts of the Hieronymianum record on this date the saints Patiens/Paciens/Patientus and Regula, who are identified as *Patiens, (archbishop of Lyon (Gaul), ob. 480, S02622), and *Regula, (unspecified saint of Lyon, Gaul, (S02623).
Finally, the manuscript Bern 289 records the burial of the saint *Maurilius/Maurilio, (bishop of Angers, ob. 453, S0242) in Angers.
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 Abteistadt Echternach, éd. P. Schritz, A. Hoffmann (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 |
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III iđ rom̄ proti et iacinti rom̄ in portu ippoliti | III ID. SEPT. ROME. UIA. SA.laria uetere In cimiterio. Basille. Sc̃orum. Proti. et Iacinti. qui fuerunt doctores xpĩane legis. Sc̃ȩ Eugenie et basillȩ. ET IN URBIS ROM. Ingenui. et Ippoliti | III ID. SEP. Rom̄ via salutaria vetere in cimĩ basillae nat̃ sc̃orum proti et iacenti. qui fuerunt doctores xp̃ianȩ legis eugeniȩ. et basillae et in portu urbis rom̄ nat̃ sc̃orum ingenui et epoliti | Romae Proti et Iacinti. Romae in Portu Ippoliti. | Romae via Salaria vetere in cimiterio Basillae sanctorum Proti et Iacinti qui fuerunt doctores christianae legis sanctae Eugeniae et Basillae. et in Portu urbis Romae Ingenui et Ippoliti. | Romae via Salaria vetere in cimiterio Basillae sanctorum Proti et Iacinti, qui fuerunt doctores christianae legis, sanctae Eugeniae et Basillae. Romae in Portu Ippoliti | ||
alãx civĩ nt̃ siri et serapionis | IN ALEXANDRIA Natal Siri. et serapioñ | et in alexađ nat̃ sc̃orum syri et serapionis. | in Alexandria civitate natale Siri et Serapionis. | in Alexandria civitate natale Siri et Serapionis. | in Alexandria civitate natale Hori et Serapionis. | ||
in apulia felicis et donatae | IN APULIA. Felicis. et donate. | et in apolia natł sc̃orum felicis et donati | in Apulia Felicis et Donatae. | in Apulia Felicis et Donatae. | in Apulia Felicis et Donati. | ||
lugdū gał pacientis ep̃i | LUGDUNO GALL. Patienti ep̃i. et regulȩ. | lugđ gałł dep̃ sc̃i patientis ep̃i | Lugduno Galliae Pacientis episcopi. | Lugduno Galliae Pacientis episcopi. | Lugduno Galliae Patientis episcopi. | ||
ANDEGAU. Depos̃ Maurilionis conf̃. |
Marijana Vukovic
20/06/2022
ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00401 | Eugenia, virgin and martyr of Rome, buried on the via Latina, and companions | Eugenia | Certain | S00464 | Protus and Hyacinthus, eunuchs and martyrs of Rome | Protus; Iacintus/Iacentus | Certain | S00509 | Hippolytus, martyr of Rome | Ippolitus/Epolitus | Certain | S00684 | Basilla/Basilissa, virgin and martyr of Rome, buried on the via Salaria vetus | Basila/Basilla | Certain | S01079 | Hōros, bishop and martyr | Sirus/Syrus | Uncertain | S01080 | Serapiōn, presbyter and martyr | Serapio | Certain | S02421 | Maurilius/Maurilio, bishop of Angers, ob. 453 | Maurilion | Certain | S02579 | Twelve brothers, four groups of southern Italian martyrs enshrined in Benevento (Italy), early 4th cent. | Felix; Donata/Donatus | Certain | S02622 | Patiens, archbishop of Lyon (Gaul), ob. 480 | Patiens/Paciens | Certain | S02623 | Regula, saint of Lyon | Regula | Certain |
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