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 5 December.
E05042
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 5 December the following feasts:
*Crispina, of Thagora, martyred at Theveste, (S00905), with companions
Perhaps *Sossius, deacon of Miseno, martyred at Pozzuoli, (S00621),
Possibly *Trophimos and *Eukarpion, soldiers and martyrs of Nicomedia, (S00393, S00392),
*Other saints, on 5 December in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum: in Africa (S02040).
BnF 10837:
'On the Nones of December, in the city of 'Togora' [= Thagura], the feast of Iulus, Potamia, Crispina, and 7 others.
In 'Misita', the feast of Crispinus.
In Africa, [the feast of] Humilus, Felix, Eraclus, Misus, Victor, Trofimus, Serapio, and 8 others, Candonanus, Paulus, Marcus, Sussus, Privatus, Fulgentus, Matrona, Feladus, the holy Maria.
And elsewhere, [the feast of] bishop Amantus.'
Weissenburg 81:
'On the Nones of December, the feast of saint Crispinus.
In Africa, [the feast of] Humilus, Felix, Iulus, Pontamia, Eraclus, Missus, Victor, Trofimus, Euocarpio, and 8 others, Candorinanus, Famo, Paulus, Marcus, Sussus, Privatus, Fulgentus, Matrona, Filadus and the holy Maria, the holy bishop Amantus.'
In Bern 289 all the entries from 22 November to 24 December are missing from the manuscript.
Quentin generally follows the early manuscripts, but not carefully.
Delehaye suggests several emendations to the text.
Translation and comments: M. Vukovic.
Saint’s feast
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
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 5 December, manuscript BnF 10837 of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum first records the commemoration of ten saints in 'the city of Togora': Iulus, Potamia, Crispina, and seven others (unnamed). This entry certainly refer to Crispina, a martyr of Theveste (S00905) and some companion martyrs. Crispina, according to her Martyrdom (E07611), was martyred in Theveste, but was from Thagura (i.e. 'Togora'), both cities being in Numidia (central North Africa). Her Martyrdom mentions, but does not name, any companion martyrs, but the Calendar of Carthage (E02203), as well as concurring with the Hieronymianum in dating her feast day to 5 December, names Potamia, Bilus (who may well be BnF 10837's Iulus) and Felix (who is not mentioned in BnF 10837), and mentions other unnamed and unnumbered companions. In the Hieronymianum, Crispina is probably also commemorated on 3 December (E05040). She acquired a prominence not attained by any of her companions: two of Augustine's sermons were preached on her feast day (E01771, E01775), and she features in the mosaic procession of female saints in Ravenna's Sant'Apollinare Nuovo (E06046).Both BnF 10837 and Weissenburg 81 then record the feast of a certain Crispinus, BnF 10837 stating that it was in a place called 'Misita'. This is probably a confused record of the feast of Crispina discussed above, though Delehaye ingeniously (but implausibly) links 'Misita' with the name 'Sussus' that appears in the list of African matyrs below, and argues that this is a reference to a feast in Miseno of *Sossius (deacon of Miseno, martyred at Pozzuoli, S00621).
Both early manuscripts of the Hieronymianum then list a number of saints commemorated in Africa. Most are the same in both lists: Humilus, Felix, Eraclus, Misus/Missus, Victor, Trofimus, Serapio/Euocarpio, 8 'others', Candonanus/Candorinanus, Paulus, Marcus, Sussus, Privatus, Fulgentus, Matrona, Feladus/Filadus, Maria, and Amantus (described as a bishop in Weissenburg 81, said to be commemorated 'elsewhere' in BnF 10837). Weissenburg 81 additionally lists Iulus, Pontamia, and Famo. Felix (in both lists) and Iulus and Pontamia (in Weissenburg 81 alone) are presumably the companions of Crispina of Thagura/Thagaste who bear these names in the Calendar of Carthage (see above). Delehaye argues that Trofimus and Serapio/Eucarpio are *Trophimos and *Eukarpion (soldiers and martyrs of Nicomedia, S00393 and S00392), saints who often appear as a pair. Although it is strange to find them listed as commemorated in Africa, and their feast day in the Greek tradition was in March, the coincidence of paired unusual names and the fact (cited by Delehaye) that a Latin version of their martyrdom dates their deaths as occurring on 5 December, lends support to this identification. All the others listed cannot be identified. It is worth noting that Bishop Amantus, commemorated 'elsewhere' in BnF 10838, is very unlikely to be *Amantius (bishop of Rodez, 5th c., S00026), because his day of burial is recorded as 13 November elsewhere in the Hieronymianum (E05018).
Unidentified saints are listed by us among *Other saints, on 5 December in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum: in Africa (S02040).
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nonas dec̃ civĩ togora nt̃ iuli potamiae crispinae et aliorū VII. | in Africa Crispinae. 〈item in Africa〉 Iuli, Felicis, Potamiae et aliorum VIII. | ||||||
in misita nt̃ crispini | NON. DEC. Nat̃ sc̃i crispini | In Misita natale Crispini. | Natale Crispini. | ||||
in af̃f humili felicis eracli misi victoris trofimi serapioni et aliorū VIII. candonani pauli marci sussi privati fulgenti matronae feladi sc̃ae mariæ | In africa. humili felicis iuli pontamiae eracli missi uict̃oris trofimi. euocarpion et aliorum VIII sc̃orum candorinani famon pauli marci sussi priuati fulgenti. matronae filadi sancte et mariȩ sc̃i amanti ep̃i | in Africa Humili Felicis Eracli Misi Victoris Trofimi Serapioni et aliorum VIII Candonani Pauli Marci Sussi Privati Fulgenti Matronae Feladi sanctae Mariae. | in Africa Humili Felicis Iuli Pontamiae Eracli Misi Victoris Trofimi Serapioni et aliorum VIII Candonani Namfamon Pauli Marci Sussi Privati Fulgenti Matronae Feladi sanctae Mariae. | in Nicomedia Trofimi 〈et〉 Eucarpionis. | |||
et alibi amanti ep̃i. | et alibi sancti Amanti episcopi. | et alibi sancti Amanti episcopi. | in Miseno Sussi. |
Marijana Vukovic
26/08/2021
ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00392 | Eukarpion, soldier and martyr of Nicomedia | Serapio/Euocarpio | Uncertain | S00393 | Trophimos, soldier and martyr of Nicomedia | Trofimus | Uncertain | S00621 | Sossius, deacon of Miseno, martyred at Pozzuoli | Uncertain | S00905 | Crispina, of Thagora, martyred at Theveste, with companions | Crispinus/Crispina; Felix; Iulus; Pontamia/Potamia | Certain | S02040 | Other saints, on 5 December in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum: in Africa | Humilus; Eraclus; Misus/Missus; Victor; Candonanus/Candorinanus; Famo; Paulus; Marcus; Sussus; Privatus; Fulgentus; Matrona; Feladus/Filadus; Maria; Amantus | Certain |
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