The prologue to a work in Latin on computing the date of Easter refers to the martyrdoms of *Peter (the Apostle, S00036) and *Paul (the Apostle, S00008), *Augustinus and Felicitas (martyrs of Capua, S01993), *Cyprian (bishop and martyr of Carthage, S00411), *Marcellinus and Petrus (martyrs of Rome, S00577), *Domnius (martyr of Salona, S01002), and Felix (martyr of Salona, S02978). Written in 395, probably in Italy, and known by various titles including the Prologus Paschae ad Vitalem, and the Short Chronicle.
E07120
Canonical and legal texts
Prologus Paschae (ad Vitalem)
The prologue contains a brief, chronicle-style survey of various events from the creation of the world to the time of writing, including references to past persecutions of the church. These are dated by consulships, though the dating is very inaccurate: all the consular years in the passage below are erroneous.
Nam Galba et Sylla consulibus apostolus Petrus cathedram episcopatus sedit in urbe. Saturnino autem et Pisone consulibus persecutionem passi sunt Christiani a Nerone: novis tormentis eos interfecit. tunc Petrus et Paulus passi sunt prima persecutione.
[...]
Seculare et Donato consulibus Christiani quarto persecutionem passi sunt a Decio imperatore auctore malorum. Hac persecutione Cyprianus hortatus est per epistolas suas Augustinum et Felicitatem, qui passi sunt apud civitatem Capuensem, metropolim Campaniae.
Valeriano et Vicillo consulibus Christiani passi sunt quinta persecutione a Valeriano. Tunc etiam Cyprianus passus est apud Cartaginem.
Diocletiano septies et Maximiane sexies consulibus Christiani persecutionem sextam passi sunt. In ea persecutione passi sunt Petrus et Marcellinus Romae et Domnius et Felix martyres passi sunt Salona.
'In the consulship of Galba and Sulla, the apostle Peter established the seat of his bishopric in the city. But in the consulship of Saturninus and Piso Christians suffered persecution by Nero: he killed them with new torments. Then Peter and Paul were martyred in the first persecution.
[...]
In the consulship of Secularis and Donatus, Christians suffered the fourth persecution, by the author of evils, the emperor Decius. In this persecution Cyprian encouraged with his letters Augustinus and Felicitas, who were martyred at the city of Capua, metropolis of Campania.
In the consulship of Valerian and Vicillus, Christians suffered the fifth persecution, by Valerian. Then Cyprian too was martyred at Carthage.
In the seventh consulship of Diocletian and the sixth of Maximian, Christians suffered the sixth persecution. In this persecution Petrus and Marcellinus were martyred at Rome, and Domnius and Felix were martyred at Salona.'
Text: Mommsen 1892, 738.
Translation: David Lambert.
Source
This anonymous text is found in two early medieval manuscripts as the preface to a set of tables for calculating the date of Easter (Krusch 1880, 33-4; Mommsen 1892, 736). Addressed to an unidentified Vitalis and dated to the consulship of Olybrius and Probinus (= 395), it contains a brief summary of biblical history, of the dates of the life of Christ, and of six persecutions of the church, from Nero to Diocletian, followed by a technical discussion of the calculation of Easter. The place of composition is unknown, but the fact that the author refers to Rome simply as 'the city' suggests that it was Rome, or at least Italy (Krusch 1880, 33, n. 2).The two manuscripts of the prologue are Cologne, Dombibliothek Cod. 83-II (8th c.), and Oxford, Bodleian, MS. Digby 63 (9th c.). The full text was edited by Bruno Krusch in 1880; the chronographical part only was subsequently edited by Mommsen for the MGH Chronica minora, reproduced here. The text, which is headed Prologus Paschae ('Easter prologue') in the Cologne manuscript and has no title in the Oxford manuscript, has been referred to by a variety of titles by modern scholars. In Mommsen's MGH edition it is headed Prologus Paschae ad Vitalem, while Krusch, who was unaware of the Oxford manuscript when he produced his edition, refers to it as the 'Cologne Prologue' ('Cölner Prolog'). It is also often cited as the 'Short Chronicle'/'Petite chronique', as by Yasin 2012, 70 (following earlier scholars such as Delehaye).
The material on biblical and church history in the prologue is generally similar to that in comparable chronographical texts, but some of its references to individual saints do not appear elsewhere.
Discussion
The martyrs mentioned by name in the author's list of persecutions comprise Peter and Paul, Cyprian of Carthage, the somewhat less celebrated but still relatively well-known Peter and Marcellinus of Rome (S00577), and the less well-known Augustinus and Felicitas of Capua (S01993), and Domnius (S01002) and Felix (S02978) of Salona.Augustinus and Felicitas are described as having been martyred at Capua during the persecution of Decius (r. 249-251), and having been encouraged by letters from Cyprian of Carthage. Augustinus and Felicitas are not entirely unknown elsewhere since they appear in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum (see S01993), but the Prologus Paschae is the only early source to provide any detail about them. According to De Rossi 1884-5, 114, certain medieval church calendars from southern Italy state that Augustinus was bishop of Capua and that Felicitas was his mother, though the ultimate provenance of this information remains unclear. No letters to them survive in Cyprian's extant corpus.
Domnius of Salona is evidently the Domnion, bishop of Salona, who is mentioned in the Syriac Martyrology of 411 and the Martyrologium Hieronymianum (E01474, E04772), and is among the Dalmatian and Istrian martyrs depicted in the 7th c. mosaics of the San Venanzio chapel in the Lateran baptistery at Rome (E08276, E01626). The Prologus provides the earliest surviving reference to him, dating his martyrdom to the Great Persecution of the early 4th century, together with a martyr named Felix who is otherwise unattested. For further details, with references to earlier scholarship, see Yasin 2012, 69-72.
Bibliography
Edition:Mommsen, T., Prologus paschae ad Vitalem, in: Chronica Minora saec. IV. V. VI. VII., vol. 1 (Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Auctores Antiquissimi 9; Berlin: Apud Weidmannos, 1892), 737-738.
Krusch, B., Studien zu christlich-mittelalterlichen Chronologie. Der 84jährige Ostercyclus und seine Quellen (Leipzig, 1880), 227-234.
Further reading:
De Rossi, G.B., "Agostino vescovo e la sua madre Felicita martiri sotto Decio, e le loro memorie e monumenti in Capua," Bullettino de archeologia cristiana, ser. 4, vol. 3 (1884-5), 104-122.
Yasin, A.M., "Reassessing Salona’s Churches: Martyrium Evolution in Question," Journal of Early Christian Studies 20:1 (2012), 59-112.
David Lambert
08/01/2022
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00008 | Paul, the Apostle | Paulus | Certain | S00036 | Peter, the Apostle | Petrus | Certain | S00411 | Cyprian, bishop and martyr of Carthage | Cyprianus | Certain | S00577 | Marcellinus and Petrus, priest and exorcist, martyrs of Rome, buried on the via Labicana | Marcellinus, Petrus | Certain | S01002 | Domnion/Domnius, bishop and martyr of Salona (Dalmatia) under Diocletian | Domnius | Certain | S01993 | Augustinus and Felicitas, martyrs of Capua | Augustinus, Felicitas | Certain | S02978 | Felix, martyr of Salona (Dalmatia) | Felix | Certain |
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