Martyrologium Hieronymianum

The Martyrologium Hieronymianum, the most trustworthy collection of martyrs’ memories bequeathal, is an assemblage of many different sources. The author of this paper tries to extract from that work only the part relating to Italy, collating an Italian
calendar – also known as Calendarium Italicum – as complete as possible. Through the analysis of more than 250 memories, thus collected, and of the norms of the ancient Councils and of the  regulae monasticae, the author identifies a direct relationship
between fasting and exclusion of martyrs’ memories, which influenced, between fifth and sixth centuries, the position of memories on the ancient martyrology itself.

Le Martyrologe Hiéronymien, la collection la plus fiable de souvenirs des martyrs transmis, est une sorte de spicilège de nombreuses sources différentes. L’auteur de cet article tente d’extraire du martyrologe la partie relative à l’Italie, rassemblant un calendrier italique, aussi complète que possible. À travers l’analyse de plus de 250 événements, ainsi recueillies, sur la base des normes des Conseils et des regulae monastiques, l’auteur identifie une relation directe entre le jeûne et l’exclusion de certaines mémoires des martyrs, qui ont influencé, entre les cinquième et sixième siècles, la disposition des souvenirs sur le martyrologe lui-même.

[résumé français: ci-dessous]
This essay questions two assumptions that have guided the study of martyrologies: the Martyrologium Hieronymianum did not, the author argues, contain any historical entries, which are indeed Bede's creation, and Bede's Martyrologium did not include brief entries, which are characteristic of the earlier work. Although making a sharper distinction between these works, it also reveals Bede's lifelong study of his source and his profound faith in the authority it shared with liturgical tradition.

Cet article remet en question deux hypothèses qui ont guidé jusqu’ici l’étude des martyrologes.  Selon l’A., le Martyrologium Hieronymianum n’a contenu aucun éloge historique: ceux-ci sont en réalité une création de Bède; de son côté, le Martyrologium de Bède ne comportait pas de brèves entrées, qui sont caractéristiques du Hiéronymien.  Bien qu’il opère une distinction plus nette entre ces deux œuvres, l’article révèle également l’importance accordée par Bède, sa vie durant, au Martyrologe Hiéronymien comme source, et son profond attachement à l’autorité que celle-ci partageait avec la tradition liturgique.

This text revisits the question of martyrology versus calendar, taking an early Irish martyrology as a case study and showing how it combines the function of a martyrology (the day on which a holy person died) with that of a calendar (showing which saints were celebrated on particular days in the Church's year) with that of hagiography (information about the lives of the saints).

Many hagiographical texts were composed in late antique and early medieval Gaul, among them there are two peculiar and interesting hagiographical collections that were composed, approximately, during the same period. The first is the book of the Glory of the Martyrs written in the late sixth-century by the bishop Gregory of Tours; and the second is an extensive and eclectic calendar known as the “Maryrologium Hieronymianum” which was composed in Gaul sometimes between the end of the sixth century and the beginning of the seventh century.
The major feature that distinct the Glory of the Martyrs and the Martyrologium from other contemporary hagiographical works is the variety of geographical origins of the saints that were included in them. Usually, hagiographical records focused on the lives, deaths and miracles of local saints and responded to their local cults. Yet the Glory of the Martyrs and the Maryrologium Hieronymianum contain records of saints and martyrs from the entire Christian world, who were not necessarily venerated in Gaul. Thus, it is not clear why the authors of these texts included such accounts in their works. This question hardly got any scholarly attention, even though understanding the reasons that lead to the inclusion of these accounts is crucial for our understanding of the aims and purposes of each text. Therefore, I wish to elaborate on this matter and demonstrate that examining these texts in a broader historical context may help us understand why foreign saints were included in these hagiographical collections.

During the late sixth and early seventh century, two interesting compositions that focus on saints were composed in Merovingian Gaul: the first, the book of the Glory of the Martyrs written by the bishop Gregory of Tours; the second is an extensive and eclectic calendar known as “The Martyrology of Jerome”. In contrast to many other hagiographical works that were written at that time and usually include accounts about local saints, both the Martyrology of Jerome and The Glory of the Martyrs contain entries about saints and martyrs from the entire Christian world. This paper seeks to examine why the non-Gallic saints were included in these works, and demonstrate that their inclusion was  part of an attempt to construct a Christian identity rather than promote or record existing cults of foreign saints.