ON SS. HOSEA AND HAGGAI, PROPHETS.
Their memory in the sacred Fasti; an epitome of their life from the sacred Scriptures.
Hosea the Prophet, in Palestine (S.)
Haggai the Prophet, in Palestine (S.)
J. B. S.
In our edition of Usuard we long since showed that the chief announcer of the Prophets of the Old Testament was the author of the Little Roman Martyrology, from whom Ado first received them, adding the title of Prophets, The day of their cult among the Latins, Greeks, etc. which in his predecessor had been omitted. Usuard, as we there also said, truncated the text of Ado, passing over Haggai, whom the more recent codices, cited in the same place, restored either jointly or separately—as also Bellinus, whom the reformers of the present-day Roman Martyrology are generally accustomed to follow, in which the genuine announcement of Ado has been most fittingly adopted. The commemoration of Hosea is made in the Greek Menology on the XVII of October, for which Baronius wrongly noted the XVII Kalends of October, that is, the XV of September. The aforesaid day is kept in the Greco-Muscovite Ephemerides before the first volume of May:
Ἑβδομάτῃ δεκάτῃ νέκυν ΩΣΗΕ περιῆγον
"On the seventeenth they carried about the corpse of HOSEA."
Papebroch supposed that a translation of the relics was indicated, to which I do not see it necessary to have recourse, since "carried about" can there be understood in another sense. For the rest, however, both among the Latins and the Greeks, certain days are assigned rather arbitrarily to the cult of such Saints, just as also among the Copts, who were pleased to choose the XXVII of Amshir, which corresponds to our XXI of February, where they read with the rubric, "Hosea the Prophet." Nearly the same is the reckoning of the festivity of Haggai, concerning whom the Greeks say in the Menology on the XVI of December: "The commemoration of the holy Prophet Haggai." In the Ephemerides, moreover, this is adorned with the following little verse:
Ἕκτῃ καὶ δεκάτῃ ΑΓΓΑΙΟΝ γαῖα συνέσχεν
"The earth received Haggai on the sixteenth."
Finally, among the Copts he is venerated on the XX of Choiak, which is the very XVI of December, in which they agree with the Greeks. So much for the memory of both Prophets in the sacred Fasti.
[2] As for their deeds, these must be sought from their own prophecies and from the commentaries of the interpreters upon them. Here [Hosea especially prophesied the destruction of Israel;] Rosweyde left us two shorter lives, received from the Utrecht manuscript of St. Salvator, in which some doubtful matters occur, nothing certainly worthy enough to be brought forward here. It is most well known that Hosea holds the first place among the twelve Prophets whom they call the Minor, because he is reckoned the most ancient of all. He names himself the son of Beeri; whether he was of the tribe of Issachar, born in Bethlemoth or Belemoth, as our manuscript has it, does not seem sufficiently established. This much is beyond doubt, that he prophesied for many years under various kings of Judah and Israel, and especially in the last years foretold their destruction, on account of their enormous sins and most shameful idolatry. They hold that he prophesied not only in words but also in his own actions, when he was commanded to take a harlot to wife, from whom he should beget children of fornication, on whom he imposed dire names. Nor less wonderful are the things which are recorded concerning the love of the adulteress, so much so that some have judged these things to be parabolic, enigmatic, or shown through a vision, although nevertheless they must be called historically true, as expounding the most desired union of Christ our Savior with us together with the Gentiles, as the interpreters more fully show, to whom we send our readers. Equilinus may also be consulted, book 6, chapter 50.
[3] Haggai rebuked the Jews because they neglected the temple of God. Of Haggai, tenth in the order of the Minor Prophets, neither the family nor the tribe is disclosed; he himself, in his brief prophecy, clearly sets forth what and when he did, and what he said to Zerubbabel, leader of Judah, and to Jeshua son of Josedech the high priest—reproaching not them, but the people, because they dwelt in paneled houses, taking no care about building the house of the Lord: for which cause he asserts that a barrenness was sent by God, and so forth. The Prophet's admonition took effect, for the people being now abundantly stirred up, the Leader and the Priest immediately built the house of the Lord; which, though it seemed almost nothing when compared with the former, Haggai prophesies that there shall come the desired of all nations, and that this house shall therefore be filled with greater glory than that of the former Solomonic temple, however precious it had been. Then indeed, just as the Jews, on account of their neglect of the rebuilding of the temple, had been made unclean before God and had suffered very many things, so after the rebuilding was begun all things fell out for them prosperously and happily. For a somewhat longer series of his life or deeds, let the interpreters here also be consulted, or the Catalogue of Equilinus, chapter 51.