The Latin Calendar of Sinai records the feasts of saints through the year, followed by a list of the apostles to various regions of Christianity. Written possibly in North Africa, possibly in the 7th/8th c.; preserved in a manuscript, probably of the 9th c., in St Catherine's monastery, Sinai. Basic Entry.
E05169
Liturgical texts - Calendars and martyrologies
Latin Sinaite Calendar
Text:
MÑS IANUARIUS ABET DIES XXXI (106r)
Kĺds Circumcisio dñi nři Iĥu Xpi l
Apparitio Dñi nři VI d Sĉi Iuliani et
Basilissa VII d Sĉi Sebastiniani XX d
Sĉi Bincenti XXII dies
MÑS FEBRUARIUS ABET DIES XXVIII
Sĉi Simeon et sĉi Trifoni II d Sĉa
Agathe V d Sĉa Lucia VIII d Sĉi
Pantaleon XXV Sĉorum XXIIII XXVII d
MENSE MARTIUS AUET DIES XXXI
Sĉi Gerbensi VII Sĉorum XLa VIIII
Conceptio sĉe marie XXV d
MENSE APRILIS AVET DIES XXX
Sĉi Georgi XXIII dies
MÑS MAIU AUET DIES XXXI
Sĉi Theodori I d Sĉi Emiliani VI d (106v)
Sĉe inbentio Crucis III d Sĉa Prāca
ti XIII d Sĉi Esidori XIIII d Sĉa Doni
ssa XV Sĉorum Casti et Emiliti XXI
MÑS IUNIUS ABET DIES XXX
Sĉi Gurgiti III d Sĉi Theodori XIII
Sĉa Felicitas XVIIII Sĉe Iohanne
Baptiste XXIIII d Sĉi Zacharie XXV
Sĉa Irene XXVI d Sĉi Petri et Pauli XXVIIII
MENSE IULIUS ABET DIES XXXI
Sĉa Thilauga VI d Sĉa Margari
ta XIII d Sĉor/Spati et comitum
XVII d Sĉu Dontiu XXII d Sĉorum
Abbaciri et Iohanni XXIII Sĉa Anasta
sia XXIIII Sĉi Quirici XXVIIII
MENSE AGUSTU ABET DIES XXXI (107r)
Sĉorum Maccabeorum I d Sĉor/
Cosmas et Damiani II d Transfi
guratio Dñi nři in montem Thabor VI
Sĉor/ Tuburbitanorum VII d Sĉi
Laurenti X d Sĉa Susanna XI d
Adsumptio sĉe Marie XV d Sĉe
Masse candida XVIII d Sĉi Bartho
lomei XXIIII Sĉi Felici epi XXX
MENSE SEPTEMBER ABET DIES XXX
Sĉi Terentianu X d Sĉi Iuli epi
XII d Sĉi Cypriani epi XIIII d Sĉi
Leti epi XXIIII d Sĉu Iustu XXV d Sĉa
Margarita XXX dies
MENSE OCTOBRE ABET DIES XXXI (107v)
Sĉa Irini I d Sĉi Iuliani et Basilissa II d
Sĉa Eulalia VI d Sĉi Sorores VI d
Sĉi Thome apli VII d Sĉi Felici epi VIII d
Sĉi Alexander VIIII Sĉi Tharaci et sĉi
Stefani decolune XI Sĉu Foca et Fausti XII
Sĉi Micrini XIIII d Sĉi Agile XVIIII d
Sĉor/ Sergi et Bachu XX d Sĉi Esidori XXII d
Sĉi Elutheri XXIIII Sĉi Iohanni XXXI
S MENSE NOBEMBER ABET DIES XXX
Sĉa Anastasia I d Sĉa Emiliana II d
Sĉor/ III puerorū III d Sĉi Iohanni VII d
Sĉi Michael VIII d Sĉi Mene et Martini XI
Sĉi Adrianini XIIIIII Sĉi Iustu XXV d
Sĉi Andre aple XXX dies
MENSE DECEMBRE ABET XXXI
Sĉa Barbara IIII d Sĉa Crispina V d
Sĉi Nicolae epi VI d Sĉa Eulalia X d
Sĉa Maria X d Sĉor/Casti et Emili XX d
Natibitas Dni XXV Sĉor/ Ioanni et Iacobi XXVII
Sĉorum Innocentium XXVIII Sĉi Stefani XXVI
INCPT NOMINA APĹOR/per SINGULOS CIBITA
TES UBI PREDICABERUNT EUANGELIUM
Petrus: in Roma
Andreas: in Achaia
Iacobus Zebedei: in Spania GRAMMATICA
Ioannes: in Asia ARITHMETICA
Filippus: in Galilea DIALEPTICA
Thomas: in Parthia ASTROLOGIA
Bartholoms: in Licaunica RETHORICA
Matheus: in Macethonia MUSICA
Iacobus Alfei: in Ihŕslm GEOMETRICA
Iudas: in Mesopotamiam FILOSOFIA
Mathias: in Iudea
Simeon Zelotes: in Egiptum
Translation:
THE MONTH OF JANUARY HAS 31 DAYS.
The Circumcision of Our Lord Jesus Christ is the 1st day.
The Epiphany of Our Lord is the 6th day.
(The feast) of Ss. Iulianus and Basilissa is the 7th day.
(The feast) of St. Sebastian is the 20th day.
(The feast) of St. Vincent is the 22nd day.
THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY HAS 28 DAYS.
(The feast) of St. Simeon and of St. Tryphon is the 2nd day.
St. Agatha is the 5th day.
St. Lucia is the 8th day.
(The feast) of St. Pantaleon is the 25th day.
(The feast) of the 24 saints is the 27th day.
THE MONTH OF MARCH HAS 31 DAYS.
(The feast) of Gervensus is the 7th day.
(The feast) of the 40 saints is the 9th day.
The conception of St. Mary is the 25th day.
THE MONTH OF APRIL HAS 30 DAYS.
(The feast) of St. George is the 23rd day.
THE MONTH OF MAY HAS 31 DAYS.
(The feast) of St. Theodore is the 1st day.
(The feast) of St. Aemilian is the 6th day.
The Discovery of the Holy Cross is the 3rd day.
(The feast) of St. Pancratius is the 13th day.
(The feast) of St. Isidore is the 14th day.
St. Donissa is the 15th day.
(The feast) of Ss. Castus and Aemilius is the 21st day.
THE MONTH OF JUNE HAS 30 DAYS.
(The feast) of St. Gurgitus is the 3rd day.
(The feast) of St. Theodore is the 13th day.
St. Felicity is the 19th day.
(The feast) of St. John the Baptist is the 24th day.
(The feast) of St. Zechariah is the 25th day.
St. Irene is the 26th day.
(The feast) of Ss. Peter and Paul is the 29th day.
THE MONTH OF JULY HAS 31 DAYS.
St. Thilauga is the 6th day.
St. Margaret is the 13th day.
(The feast) of Ss. Speratus and companions is the 17th day.
(The feast) of St. Dontius is the 22nd day.
(The feast) of Ss. Cyrus and John is 23rd day.
St. Anastasia is the 24th day.
(The feast) of St. Quiricus is the 29th day.
THE MONTH OF AUGUST HAS 31 DAYS.
Feast of the Macchabaean saints is the 1st day.
(The feast) of Ss. Cosmas and Damian is the 2nd day.
The Transfiguration of Our Lord on Mount Tabor is the 6th day.
(The feast) of the saints of Thuburbo is the 7th day.
(The feast) of St. Laurence is the 10th day.
St. Susanna is the 11th day.
The Assumption of St. Mary is the 15th day.
(The feast) of the saints of Massa Candida is the 18th day.
(The feast) of St. Bartholemew is the 24th day.
(The feast) of saint Felix the Bishop is the 30th day.
THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER HAS 30 DAYS.
(The feast) of St. Terentianus is the 10th day.
(The feast) of saint Iulius the Bishop is the 12th day.
(The feast) of saint Cyprian the Bishop is the 14th day.
(The feast) of saint Laetus the Bishop is the 24th day.
(The feast) of St. Iustus is the 25th day.
St. Margaret is the 30th day.
THE MONTH OF OCTOBER HAS 31 DAYS.
St. Irene is the 1st day.
(The feast) of Ss. Julian and Basilissa is the 2nd day.
St. Eulalia is the 6th day.
The saints the Sisters is the 6th day.
(The feast) of St. Thomas the Apostle is the 7th day.
(The feast) of the saint Felix the Bishop is the 8th day.
(The feast) of St. Alexander is the 9th day.
(The feast) of St. Tarachus and of St. Stephen the (?) is the 11th day.
(The feast) of St. Phocas and Faustus is the 12th day.
(The feast) of St. Micrinus is the 14th day.
(The feast) of St. Agileus is the 19th day.
(The feast) of Ss. Sergius and Bacchus is the 20th day.
(The feast) of St. Isidore is the 22nd day.
(The feast) of St. Eleutherius is the 24th day.
(The feast) of St. John is the 31st day.
THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER HAS 30 DAYS.
St. Anastasia is the 1st day.
St. Aemiliana is the 2nd day.
(The feast) of the saints the 3 boys is the 3rd day.
(The feast) of St. John is the 7th day.
(The feast) of St. Michael is the 8th day.
(The feast) of Ss. Menas and Martin is the 11th day.
(The feast) of St. Adrianinus is the 16th day.
(The feast) of St. Justus is the 25th day.
(The feast) of St. Andrew the apostle is the 30th day.
THE MONTH OF DECEMBER HAS 31 DAYS.
St. Barbara is the 4th day.
St. Crispina is the 5th day.
(The feast) of saint Nicholas the Bishop is the 6th day.
(The feast) of St. Eulalia is the 10th day.
(The feast) of St. Mary is the 10th day.
(The feast) of Ss. Castus and Aemilius is the 20th day.
The Nativity of the Lord is the 25th day.
(The feast) of Ss. John and James is the 27th day.
(The feast) of the Holy Innocents is the 28th day.
(The feast) of St. Stephen is the 26th day.
Edition: Gribomont, O. S. B. (1957)
Translation: https://www.ucc.ie/archive/milmart/sinai.html#Bibliog
Saint’s feast
Source
This calendar survives in a single copy, on folios 106-108 of a Latin codex (containing primarily a Psalter and various Canticles), preserved amongst the Slavonic manuscripts of St Catherine's monastery on Sinai (St Catherine's, Slavonic MS 5). The codex was studied in detail from photographs by E.A. Lowe who concluded, on the basis of the layout and details of the script, and of the spellings and abbreviations used, that the text we have is probably ninth-century in date and written, not in a western, but in an east-Mediterranean milieu.The place where the text originated cannot be located with any confidence. There are several fairly obscure African saints in it, pointing to an African origin, and almost every saint listed is a martyr (which perhaps also points to an African origin); but there is at least one very strange African absence (the feast of Perpetua and her companions), and strikingly few Roman martyrs (whom we'd expect in a document from Africa); and there are a large number of eastern saints, not all of them major.
Nor can it be dated with any confidence. The script of the manuscript is sui generis so not reliably datable (or locatable), and E.A. Lowe's suggestion of a 9th-century date is tentative. The text could of course be earlier, though it is unlikely to be very early (with three feasts of Mary, it is probably 7th c. or later). Its editor, Gribomont, attributed it to Africa and the last years of Byzantine rule (i.e. the seventh century); but other scholars have been much less confident, and its date and provenance remain open questions (see, for instance, Duval and Février 1969, 298-9).
Many of the feasts are 'standard', and so not hugely significant. But, of those that aren't, a large number are problematic: for instance, several saints we think we recognise (like Theodorus and Pantaleimon) are celebrated on the 'wrong' days, so may be different to the people we expect; and there are many names otherwise wholly unknown (e.g. Gerbensus, Gurgitus). If we could locate the origins of this text (and date it), these anomalies and unknown saints might be very interesting; but floating geographically and chronologically, as they do, they are of less significance.
Furthermore, unlike another very difficult text (the Martyrologium Hieronymianum), which was hugely influential, the Sinai Calendar stands on its own, with no clear ancestry and no known descendants.
For these reasons, particularly because the Calendar can neither be dated nor provenanced with any confidence, and because so many of its entries are problematic, we have decided to create this single basic entry for it (where the text, and this brief discussion, can be found); but not to write a commentary nor to tag any but the most obvious saints (with the identity of so many in the Calendar being problematic). Entering the Sinai Calendar fully into our database would require many difficult days of work. There is an additional reason not to dedicate our limited resources to this labour: Gribomont's edition and commentary is learned, clear and full, and is also relatively easy of access.
Bibliography
Edition and Commentary:Gribomont, J. "Le mystérieux calendrier Latin du Sinai: Édition et commentaire," Analecta Bollandiana 75 (1957), 105-34.
Further reading:
Duval, Y. and P.-A. Février, "Procès-verbal de déposition de reliques de la région de Telergma (VIIe s.)," Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire de l'École française de Rome 81.1 (1969), 257-320, at pp. 298-9.
Lowe, E.A. "An Unknown Latin Psalter is Mount Sinai," Scriptorium 9 (1955), 177-99. Bryan: I have read this and summarised its conclusions above.
Marijana Vukovic, Bryan Ward-Perkins
30/08/2023
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00007 | Kyrikos/Cyricus and Ioulitta/Julitta, child and his mother, martyrs of Tarsus | Quiricus | Certain | S00008 | Paul, the Apostle | Paulus | Certain | S00020 | John the Baptist | Iohanne Baptiste | Certain | S00023 | Sergios, soldier and martyr of Rusafa | Sergius | Certain | S00030 | Stephen, the First Martyr | Stefanus | Certain | S00033 | Mary, Mother of Christ | Maria | Certain | S00036 | Peter, the Apostle | Petrus | Certain | S00042 | John, the Apostle and Evangelist | Iohannes | Certain | S00079 | Bakchos, soldier and martyr of Barbalissos | Bachus | Certain | S00103 | Forty Martyrs of Sebaste | Sĉorum XLa | Certain | S00108 | James, the Apostle, son of Zebedee | Iacobus | Certain | S00199 | Thomas, the Apostle | Thomas | Certain | S00256 | Bartholomew, the Apostle | Bartholomeus | Certain | S00259 | George, soldier and martyr, and Companions | Georgus | Certain | S00268 | Innocents, children killed on the orders of Herod | Sĉorum Innocentium | Certain | S00285 | Symeon (the God-receiver), elder of the temple of Jerusalem | Simeon | Certain | S00288 | Andrew, the Apostle | Andras | Certain | S00290 | Vincentius/Vincent, deacon and martyr of Zaragoza and Valencia | Bincentus | Certain | S00303 | Maccabean Martyrs, pre-Christian Jewish martyrs of Antioch | Maccabeorum | Certain | S00307 | Pancratius, martyr of Rome | Prancatus | Uncertain | S00385 | Kosmas and Damianos, brothers, physician martyrs of Syria | Cosmas et Damianus | Certain | S00400 | Sebastianus, martyr of Rome | Sebastinianus | Certain | S00406 | Kyros and Ioannes/Cyrus and John, physician and soldier, martyrs of Egypt | Abbacirus et Iohannes | Certain | S00407 | Eulalia, virgin and martyr of Mérida | Eulalia | Certain | S00411 | Cyprian, bishop and martyr of Carthage | Cyprianus | Certain | S00421 | Felix and Adauctus, martyrs of Rome, buried on the via Ostiensis | Felix | Certain | S00425 | Isidoros, soldier and martyr of Chios | Esidorus | Uncertain | S00439 | Tryphon, martyr of Nicaea | Trifonus | Certain | S00480 | Theodore, soldier and martyr of Amaseia and Euchaita | Theodorus | Uncertain | S00596 | Pantaleon/Panteleemon, martyr of Nicomedia | Pantaleon | Certain | S00602 | Anastasia, martyr of Sirmium and Rome | Anastasia | Certain | S00630 | Agileus, martyr of Carthage | Agileus | Certain | S00794 | Agatha, virgin and martyr of Catania | Agatha | Certain | S00846 | Lucia, virgin and martyr of Syracuse | Lucia | Certain | S00892 | Susanna, virgin and martyr of Rome | Susanna | Certain | S00904 | Martyrs of Massa Candida (Utica) | Masse candida | Certain | S00905 | Crispina, of Thagora, martyred at Theveste, with companions | Crispina | Certain | S01202 | Castus and Aemilius, martyrs of Carthage | Castus et Emilitus | Certain | S01341 | Ioulianos and Basilissa, martyrs of Antinoopolis | Iulianus et Basilissa | Certain | S01812 | Maxima, Donatilla and Secunda, virgins and martyrs of Thuburbo | Tuburbitani | Uncertain |
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Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Marijana Vukovic, Bryan Ward-Perkins, Cult of Saints, E05169 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E05169