ON SS. SEVERUS AND DOROTHEUS, MARTYRS AT ADRIANOPLE,
SYLLOGE.
From the Martyrologies.
Severus, M. at Adrianople. (S.)
Dorotheus, M. at Adrianople. (S.)
BY V. D. B.
[SS. Severus and Dorotheus, martyrs of Adrianople, mixed up with others and moved from their place,] At the present day Fiorentini reads, in his Lucca manuscript codices of the Hieronymian Martyrology: At Atrianopolis, of Severus, Dorotheus; in the Antwerp or Echternach codex: At Andrionopolis, of Severus and Dorotheus; and in the shorter Corbie codex, afterward published by Du Sollier: At Atrianopolis, of Severus, Dorotheus. The Reichenau exemplar, which likewise through the care of Du Sollier, and the Corbie one, which through the labour of D'Achery Spicilegium, volume II, page 20, folio edition. came to light, have a memory altogether like the Antwerp one; and the other Corbie one, ordered printed by Martène Thesaurus anecdotorum, volume III, column 1584., one wholly like the Lucca codices. The Ottobonian, which Giorgi made public, is drawn up thus Martyrologium Adonis, page 686.: At Atrianopolis of Thrace, the birthday of Saint Dorotheus. From here announcements of this sort flowed down into the Additions of the Martyrology of Bede and Florus; namely into the codices of St. Cyriacus, the Vatican and the Barberini Acta Sanctorum, volume II of March, page XXXV.: At Adrianople, of Severus, Dorotheus; and into those of Arras and Tournai: The birthday of SS. Severinus, Dorotheus and Victor; and into that of Liessies: At Caesarea of Cappadocia the passion of SS. Longinus, Severus, Victor and Dorotheus; in which Severinus, Victor, Longinus and Caesarea of Cappadocia have been mingled through a confusion of the bands of other martyrs. In the prose calendars, sprinkled into the metrical Martyrology of Wandelbert by I know not what scribe of Limoges, there occurs D'Achery's Spicilegium, volume II, page 54.: At Trajanopolis, of Severus and Donatus. Hrabanus Canisius, Lectiones antiquae, volume II, part II, page 344, Basnage's edition. and Notker Ibid., part III, page 183. and Galesini, by an error of one day, have at the 24th of October: At Nicomedia the birthday natal day of Severus and Dorotheus. It is read better in the Greven Addition to Usuard Usuard's Martyrology, Du Sollier's edition, page 623.: At Adrianople, of the saints Severus and Dorotheus; which words are also met with in the Brussels Addition at the following day, in this form: At Andronopolis the birthday of the saints Severus and Dorotheus, martyrs. In many calendars too, the place of their contest being omitted, SS. Severus and Dorotheus are spoken of: thus in the Gellone Martyrology D'Achery's Spicilegium, volume II, page 35. one reads: 10th before the kalends of November, of Severus, Dorotheus; similarly in the Augsburg and Labbe martyrologies, published by Du Sollier, and in the abridged Hieronymian of St. Germain of Auxerre Martène, Thesaurus anecdotorum, volume III, column 1561.; but in the very ancient Martyrology of Murbach Ibid., column 1570. and in the Lucca Comes of St. Jerome In Fiorentini, Martyrologium S. Hieronymi, page 1053. the name of Severus alone is noted; and in that of Tours Ibid., column 1590.: Of Severus, Longinus, Dorothea; and in others other things of the kind.
[2] [They are separated from companions wrongly added and are restored to their own seat;] However much those commemorations may seem to conflict among themselves, it is easy to discern which is the true reading, namely: At Adrianople, of Severus and Dorotheus. For that Nicomedia is to be removed is established not only from the trustworthiness of the better codices, but chiefly from the fact that at the following day there comes in the Hieronymian calendars another announcement, framed in these words: At Nicomedia, of Severus, Vitalis, Felix, Rogatus, Paperius, Victoria, Flavian, Victor; which, as often happens, was confused in some codices with the memory of the saints of the preceding day: from which it has also come about that some have drawn part of the band of Nicomedia to the 23rd of October, others the martyrs of Adrianople to the 24th of October; or even to the 22nd of October, since on this day in another crown of Adrianople there occurs St. Severus the presbyter. Trajanopolis, too, is to be rejected, which the Limoges anonymous brought into the Martyrology of Wandelbert, and which at the preceding day an interpolator of Florus, or the writer of the codex of St. Cyriacus, did in this way: At Trajanopolis, of Severus the bishop, Dorotheus and St. Orestes: for these are of the same sort as what is read in the Ottobonian at the 22nd of October: At Trajanopolis of Thrace the birthday of the saints Philip the bishop etc.; where Trajanopolis also has been written in place of Adrianople; as is sufficiently established from what has been made clear at the preceding day. And no names besides those of Severus and Dorotheus are to be retained. For Severinus, who will be treated below on this day, was held to be the same as Severus, and two announcements were fused into one. Victor was taken from the band of Nicomedia, which we said is celebrated on the 24th of October. Longinus or Seuresus are reported in some codices to have been venerated at Caesarea of Cappadocia on this day: which was the cause why in some places Severus and Dorotheus coalesced into one band with one or the other, and were said to have suffered at Caesarea of Cappadocia. Whence Orestes arose is hidden from me; since he has been found in the one codex of St. Cyriacus, he seemed to deserve relegation among the passed-over. In the same codex of St. Cyriacus Severus is called a bishop; but this title is little to be regarded, seeing that it rests only on a single testimony.
[3] Yet very little is known of them. Some things in those Martyrologies and Calendars, then, are to be omitted; some to be corrected; several to be separated and set apart. Care must be taken, however, that St. Severus, who was celebrated at Adrianople on this day, should not be confused with St. Severus the presbyter, whose birthday was also kept at Adrianople, but (as we have said) on the day next before. To prevent this, it must be considered that in all the best Hieronymian codices each Severus is noted or distinguished, and one or the other was omitted only in the worse books; next, that Dorotheus, whom the Limoges interpolator called Donatus, is assigned to him as a companion in codices of better stamp; and St. Severus the presbyter by no means had such a companion. In the Ottobonian codex it is determined which Adrianople was the place of the contest of SS. Severus and Dorotheus, namely Adrianople of Thrace; but since the word Thrace is read in this one book only, it is to be held a manifest addition, admitted without doubt because at the preceding day mention had been made of Adrianople of Thrace. Therefore I should prefer to add nothing and to leave it uncertain in which Adrianople both athletes consummated their martyrdom. For there were several. Besides the Thracian, Paphlagonia had an archiepiscopal city of this name; Aetolia an episcopal one under the archbishop of Naupactus, Pisidia under the archbishop of Antioch, Bithynia and Honorias under that of Claudiopolis: and although the metropolis of Thrace is commonly designated by the bare name of Adrianople, that nevertheless (if it stands alone) is no firm argument. Finally, as regards the time of the martyrdom, I have no wish to guess either; it should be noted, however, that the blessed pair comes forward in the Hieronymian calendars in the first place, which is generally given to more ancient martyrs. Saussay listed these saints among the Gallican saints, having badly interpreted an addition to the Martyrology or Calendar of Toulouse: but on this matter it has been said in the Passed-over.