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 23 November.
Evidence ID
E05028
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 23 November the following feasts:
*Clement, bishop of Rome, martyr of the Crimea, (S00111),
*Felicitas, martyr of Rome with her seven sons, (S00525),
Probably *Chrysogonus, martyr of Aquileia, venerated in Rome, (S00911),
Probably *Berenikianos, martyr in Kaisareia of Cappadocia, (S01114),
*Petros, bishop and martyr of Alexandria, (S00247),
*Mustiola, martyr at Chiusi in Tuscany (Italy), (S01982),
Possibly *Bonifacius I, bishop of Rome, ob. 422 (S00472),
*Columbanus, monk, missionary and founder of the monastery Bobbio, Italy, ob. 615, (S01983),
*Trudo, Benedictine abbot, founder of the monastery at St Truiden, seventh century, (S01984),
*Other saints, on 23 November in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum: in Rome, Capua, Caesarea, Tuscany, and Bourges (S02947).
BnF 10837:
'On the ninth day before the Kalends of December, in Rome, [the feast of] bishop Clemens. And in the cemetery of Maximus, [the feast of] Felicitas.
And in Cappadocia, [the feast of] Niceanus, Crisogonus, bishop Marcus.
In Caesarea of Cappadocia, [the feast of] Verocian, Eutices.
In Alexandria, [the feast of] bishop Peter.
In Tuscany, [the feast of] Muscola, Felix, Vitalis, Marocianus, Bonaefaciens.
In Bourges (France), [the feast of] presbyter Faretus.
In Italy, in the monastery Bobbio, [the feast of] abbot Columbanus.'
Weissenburg 81:
'On the ninth day before the Kalends of December, in Rome, the feast of Maximus, bishop and martyr Clemens, Crisogonus, Felicitas, Maximus, and bishop Marcus.
In Caesarea of Cappadocia, [the feast of] Verovanus and Eutices.
In Alexandria, the feast of bishop.
In Tuscany, [the feast of] Mustiola, Felix, Vitalis, Marcianus, Bonifacian.
In Bourges (France), [the feast of] presbyter Faterus.
In Italy, in the monastery Bobbio, burial of abbot Columbanus.
In the village Zerkingen (today Sint-Truiden, Belgium), burial of blessed presbyter and confessor Trudonus.'
In Bern 289 all the entries from 22 November to 24 December are missing from the manuscript.
In his two versions of the text, Quentin follows the two manuscripts carefully, but he omits the information about the commemoration of *Trudo.
Delehaye also follows the manuscripts quite closely.
Translation and comments: M. Vukovic
FestivalsEcclesiastics - bishops
Saint’s feast
Cult PlacesBurial site of a saint - cemetery/catacomb
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - abbots
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
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
Both early manuscripts of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum record commemoration on November 23 of *Clement (bishop and martyr of Rome, S00111), also known as the Pope Clement I, and the disciple of Peter (the Apostle, S00036). He is otherwise commemorated in the Georgian Calendar of Ioane Zosime on November 22 (E03934) and November 26 (E03938) and in a number of other records of this database, such as the works of Gregory of Tours (E00535, E00536, E00581, E02011, E02397), the Dialogues of Gregory the Great (E04582), and the Liber Pontificalis (E00268).Another saint in Rome, *Felicitas (martyr of Rome with her seven sons, S00525) is recorded in the two early manuscripts of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum. As for Maximus, it is not clear whether this saint has a commemoration on November 23, as is recorded in Weissenburg 81, or he is mentioned only in the context of his cemetery in Rome and the commemoration of *Felicitas (martyr of Rome with her seven sons, S00525) in it.
Crisogonus, who is recorded in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum to have commemoration in Capppadocia/Rome, is probably the same saint who is commemorated on November 24 (E05030), *Chrysogonos (martyr of Aquileia, venerated in Rome, S00911).
Marcus in Rome/Capua is not easily identified.
Verocianus/Verovanus in Caesarea, Cappadocia is, according to Delehaye, *Berenikianos (martyr in Kaisareia of Cappadocia, S01114), who is commemorated in the Syriac Martyrology on November 24 (E01588). Delehaye also notes that *Berenikianos (martyr in Kaisareia of Cappadocia, S01114) was the son of Nicianus, the name similar to Niceanus, mentioned in connection to commemoration in Cappadocia.
Eutices in Caesarea is not identified.
Delehaye suggests that Peter in Alexandria, whose name is actually omitted in Weissenburg 81, is *Petros (bishop and martyr of Alexandria, S00247).
Muscola/Mustiola in Tuscany is, as suggested by Delehaye, *Mustiola (martyr at Chiusi in Tuscany (Italy), S01982). Felix, who is commemorated together with Mustiola, could be the same saint who is mentioned in the Martyrdom of Mustiola (E04779).
Vitalis and Marocianus/Marcianus in Tuscany are not identified.
Bonaefacientus/Bonifacianus in Tuscany is probably, and according to Delehaye, *Bonifacius I, (bishop of Rome, ob. 422 S00472).
Faretus/Faterus in Bourges (France) is not easily identified. Delehaye recalls that it could be the same saint who is described in Vita Phaletri (BHL 6790); however, this saint is not recorded in this database. Faretus/Faterus stays unidentified.
The burial/feast day of *Columbanus (monk, missionary and founder of the monastery Bobbio, Italy, ob. 615, S01983) is commemorated in Italy, in the monastery Bobbio on November 23, according to both early manuscripts of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum. He was also the founder of the monastery of Luxeuil in Burgundy in 591, and Bobbio in 612.
*Trudo (Benedictine abbot, founder of the monastery at St Truiden, seventh century, $S01984) is recorded in the manuscript Weissenburg 81 to have commemoration on November 23.
Unidentified saints are listed by us among *Other saints, on 23 November in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum: in Rome, Capua, Caesarea, Tuscany, and Bourges ($S02947).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VIIII k dec̃ rom̄ clementis ep̃i et in cym̄ maximi felicitatis | UIIII KL. DEC. Rom̄ maximi ntł sc̃i clementis ep̃i et mar̃ crisogoni et sc̃i felicitatis maximi et sc̃i marci ep̃i | Romae Clementis episcopi. et in cimiterio Maximi Felicitatis. | Romae Maximi natale sancti Clementis episcopi et martyris Crisogoni et sancti Felicitatis Maximi et sancti Marci episcopi. | Romae natale sancti Clementis episcopi et martyris. 〈item〉 Romae in cimiterio Maximi Felicitatis. | |||
| et in capp̃ niceani crisogoni sc̃i marci ep̃i | et in Cappadocia Niceani Crisogoni sancti Marci episcopi. | ||||||
| cessã cappõ verociani euticis | In caesaria cappđ uerouani et euticis | Cesarea Cappadociae Verociani Euticis. | Cesarea Cappadociae Verociani Euticis. | Caesarea Cappadociae Veroniciani. | |||
| alaxañ petri ep̃i | In alexã nat̃ sc̃i ep̃i | in Alexandria Petri episcopi. | in Alexandria Petri episcopi. | in Alexandria Petri episcopi. | |||
| in tuscia muscolae felicis vitalis marociani bonaefacienti | In tuscia sc̃ae mustiolae felicis uitalis marciani bonifaciani | in Tuscia sanctae Muscolae Felicis Vitalis Marociani Bonae facienti. | in Tuscia sanctae Muscolae Felicis Vitalis Marociani Bonaefacienti . | in Tuscia sanctae Mustiolae. | |||
| betoricas fareti prƀ | betoricas sc̃i fateri prƀi | Beturicas sancti Fareti presbyteri. | Beturicas sancti Fareti presbyteri. | Beturicas sancti Fareti presbyteri. | |||
| In italia monas̃ bobio colummani abƀ. | In italia monast̃ bobio dep̃ sc̃i columbani aƀƀ | in Italia monasterio Bobio depositio sancti Columbani abbatis. | in Italia monasterio Bobio depositio sancti Columbani abbatis. | in Italia monasterio Bobio depositio sancti Columbani abbatis. | |||
| In uilł sarchynio deps̃ beati trudoni prƀi et conf̃ | in villa Sarchynio depositio beati Trudoni presbyteri et confessoris. |
Record Created By
Marijana Vukovic
Date of Entry
04/10/2021
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00111 | Clemens/Clement, bishop of Rome, martyr of the Crimea | Clemens | Certain | S00247 | Petros, bishop and martyr of Alexandria, and companion martyrs | Petrus | Certain | S00472 | Boniface/Bonifacius I, bishop of Rome, ob. 422, buried on the via Salaria | Bonaefacientus/Bonifacianus | Uncertain | S00525 | Felicitas, martyr of Rome, with her sons, buried on the via Salaria | Felicitas | Certain | S00911 | Chrysogonus, martyr of Aquileia, venerated in Rome | Crisogonus | Uncertain | S01114 | Berenikianos, martyr in Caesarea/Kaisareia of Cappadocia | Verocianus/Verovanus | Certain | S01982 | Mustiola, martyr at Chiusi in Tuscany (Italy) | Muscola/Mustiola; Felix | Certain | S01983 | Columbanus, monk and missionary in Ireland, Gaul and Italy, ob. 615 | Columbanus | Certain | S01984 | Trudo, Benedictine abbot, founder of the monastery at St Truiden, 7th cent. | Trudonus | Certain | S02947 | Other saints, on 23 November in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum: in Rome, Capua, Caesarea, Tuscany, and Bourges | Marcus; Eutices; Vitalis; Marocianus/Marcianus; Faretus/Faterus | Certain |
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