ON ST. LEUGATUS OR LEOGATHUS, MARTYR,
IN THE 1ST, 2ND OR 3RD CENTURY.
COMMEMORATION FROM THE HIERONYMIAN MARTYROLOGIES.
Leugatus or Leogathus, martyr. (S.)
B. B.
In most of the Hieronymian martyrologies on this day memory is made of that holy Martyr whose name is written in various ways: Leugatus, Legatus, Leucatus, Leucadius, Leogatus, Leogathus. Since the Hieronymian martyrologies are the briefer the purer they are, and nothing about St. Leugatus has come down to us from any other source (as happens not infrequently in similar cases), nothing else falls to me to do but to review the various martyrologies or codices in which mention of St. Leugatus occurs, subjoining their text as far as is needed. Let us begin with the Martyrology which, as Martène relates Martène. Thesaurus anecdotorum, vol. III, col. 1545 and 1546., d'Achery first published under the name of St. Jerome from a codex of Corbie in the year 1661, and which was afterwards inserted by Vallarsi in the appendix of the works of St. Jerome Migne, Patrology, vol. XXX, col. 433 and following.. It reads thus [Spicilegium, vol. II, page 20. Folio edition. Migne, where cited above, col. 479.]: "On the 11th of the Kalends of November. At Adrianople in Thrace, of Philip the bishop, of Eusebius and Hermes, of Severus. At Portus, of St. Valerius, martyr. In Thrace likewise of Severus. And elsewhere, the passion of St. Leugatus." Seven years after d'Achery, Fiorentini also published a twofold Hieronymian martyrology, one lengthy, the other briefer; in the latter mention is made of St. Philip alone; in the former the same names, indeed words, recur in the same order as in d'Achery, except that they are rendered a little differently here and there, as Legati, Atriopoli, etc., and the whole announcement of St. Valerius is omitted. Fiorentini, however, notes on this place Fiorentini, page 931. that he had not found elsewhere this martyr Legatus or Leugatus or Leogathus, indicated in an uncertain place. The Martyrology of Gellone, which the same d'Achery first made public in the year 1717, has thus: "Of Philip, Eusebius, Hermes, Severus, Leucatus" Spicilegium, where cited above, page 35.; and in exactly the same way do the Augsburg and the Labbe martyrologies read in Sollerius [The contracted Hieronymian Martyrologies. See Acta SS. vol. VII of June at the end, page 22 and 29.], as does also that of Auxerre in Martène Thesaurus, vol. III, col. 1561.. That of Reichenau, as regards St. Leugatus, agrees entirely with those of d'Achery and Fiorentini: "In Thrace, of Philip the bishop. And of St. Severus, martyr, and of Hermes his disciple, and of Eusebius. And elsewhere, the passion of St. Leucadius" Contracted Martyrologies, page 13.. Nor will it be irksome to add here what Sollerius wrote about the Martyrology of Reichenau Ibid. preface, page IV., namely that it is ancient and of the best note,
and not to be placed after that of Gellone, although here and there it has names of more recent Saints, especially German ones, written in. "If it were not for this, I should unhesitatingly prefer it to almost all the others... The title of saint displeases me, added by the copyist somewhat more frequently than is customary in the Hieronymian martyrologies." For it is known that in these, as St. Gregory the Great says Epist. book VIII, ep. 29. Migne, vol. LXXVII, col. 931., only the name, the place and the day of the passion are set down. Whence again Sollerius Preface to Usuard, num. 148.: "Whoever finds more in any martyrology, let him take it as certain that he has not in hand a pure Hieronymian martyrology." Finally, in a fragment of a very ancient martyrology of the church of Tours there is read Martène, Thesaurus, vol. III, col. 1590.: "The passion of Leucadius, Philip, Eusebius." From which indeed the name and memory of our holy Martyr become known, but nothing occurs by which we might determine anything either about the place or about the time of his passion. I have therefore written in the margin "1st, 2nd or 3rd century"; and if anyone should wish to add the beginning of the 4th century, I shall not oppose it. This one thing remains to be noted, that the memory of Leogatus, martyr, is celebrated in the Additions to Usuard from the edition of Greven Sollerius, Martyrol. Usuardi, page 620., and that in the additions to Wandalbert in d'Achery there is marked Spicilegium, vol. II, page 54. "the passion of St. Leodegalis in the city of Thrace." Whether he is the same as Leogathus or Leugatus?