ON THE HOLY AFRICAN MARTYRS: TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY OR ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY, AND OTHER MARTYRS OF THE HIERONYMIAN MARTYROLOGY,
CRITICAL SYLLOGE.
The African martyrs, 220 or 120. (SS.)
BY V. D. B.
§ Sole. Besides the 220 or 120 martyrs, the others recorded today in the Hieronymian codices do not seem to have suffered in Africa.
Among the martyrs whom Morcelli today claims for Africa, Morcelli, who inserted in his Africa Christiana a Martyrology of the African Church, most skilfully collected from the Hieronymian Martyrology and other calendars and from the Passions of the martyrs, today puts forward this band Africa christiana, volume II, page 363.: In Africa the holy martyrs, 220, of Felix, Quinctus, Luke, Lucian, Victor, Vitalis, Donatus, Peter, Marius, Januarius, Firma, Hermes, Urban, Atticus, Felician and companions. This is taken word for word from the Lucca codex of Fiorentini, except that here at the end there is not read: of Felician and companions; but after Atticus there follows: And the passion of St. Felician with his companions. At Antioch, of Januarius, Marcian. In the greater Corbie codex of d'Achery the bands are thus divided: And in Africa the passion of the saints, one hundred and twenty martyrs in number. Likewise of Felix, Quintus, etc., as in the Lucca codex: yet in place of Firma, Firia is read. Almost the same in the Antwerp codex: And in Africa the passion of 220 martyrs. Likewise of Felix, Quintus, Lucia, Lucian, Victor, Vitalis, Donatus, Peter, Marus, Januarius, Firma, Hermes, Urban, Atticus, and Felician with his companions. Part of these names is also found in the abridged Hieronymian lists and in the auctaria of Bede and Usuard: but no light shines from these.
[2] only these are to be kept, besides St. Marcellus the centurion, Whatever that may be, the first question about them is whether the band of two hundred and twenty martyrs is a separate one, or is to be joined with those that follow. The former is entirely to be affirmed, it seems. The Ottoboni Martyrology, which is conspicuous for its purity generally, and today especially, reports this: On the same day, in Africa, the passion of the saints, 120 in number. The Little Roman: In Africa, of 220 martyrs; and following it Ado: In Africa the birthday of 220 martyrs; and likewise Usuard, except that he places the word in number before 220; but among these no one has added the name of Felix, Quinctus or the others. Wandelbert wrongly joined them with St. Marcellus the centurion, martyr of Tangier (for St. Marcellus had no companions in his passion, as is plain from the Acts); but even he read not one hundred and twenty, but two hundred and twenty, as appears in these verses of his:
On the third, * Marcellus, helmeted with the love of Christ, consecrated to heaven a century worthy and twin, accompanied by twice a hundred martyrs and twice ten.
[3] Whether this number (to speak of this second question in this place), which was received also into the Roman Martyrology of Baronius two hundred and twenty or one hundred and twenty. and is found in four auctaria of Bede, should be retained, I would not venture to determine. For this memorial does not seem to have been written in the earlier or Italian Hieronymian Compilation, of which above at SS. Calendio and Theophilus; for in the contracted Hieronymian texts, excerpted from that rather than from the Gallican one, no trace of this little band exists. It seems therefore to have been taken and transferred into the Gallican compilation from some ancient Gallican Martyrology, which was close to the Ottoboni one: and since in that Ottoboni one the number 120 is read, the authority is not the slightest. Nor is this authority solitary, since the Corbie Hieronymian codex of d'Achery supports it. But on the other side stand the Little Roman with its followers Ado and Usuard, and the remaining Hieronymian codices with Wandelbert, who is accustomed to follow both these and Ado. Those who prefer to agree with the majority will retain 220; but those who like to weigh not so much the number as the trustworthiness of the witnesses will perhaps remain doubtful between 120 and 220, and indeed 230. For the Bern codex, which we have already said above is to be greatly valued, gives us hesitation. In it we find this: And in Africa there suffered martyrs in number TWO HUNDRED 30. Likewise of Felix, Quintus, Luke, Lucian, Victor, Vitalis, Donatus, Peter, Marus, Januarius, Firma, Hermes, Orbanus, Atticus. The passion of St. Felician with his companions. The same occurs in the manuscript codex of the monastery of St. Cyriacus: And in Africa the passion of the two hundred and thirty holy martyrs Africa christiana, volume II, page 363..
[4] SS. Felix or Felician, Quintus, Luke, are to be omitted; But let us return to the names of Felix, Quinctus, Luke, Lucian and the others, and especially to the passion of St. Felician with his companions. On the previous day, that is, at the 29th day of October, the earlier or Italian Hieronymian compiler had written: In Lucania, of St. Sanecintus (Hyacinth), Quintus, Felician and Lucius (Lucian, Licinius). These things the Gallican compiler found, or transferred, in both Excerpts (on which see likewise what we have said at SS. Calendio and Theophilus) moved to the following day and wondrously distorted; so that Felix is the same as Felician, and is repeated in the usual way according to the two Excerpts; Luke takes the place of Lucania; and with his companions amounts to the same as Quintus and Lucian. Since these thus have nothing in common with the African martyrs, there is likewise no reason why those who follow should be assigned to Africa.
[5] likewise SS. Victor, Donatus and Vitalis; St. Victor, who also at the following day according to both Excerpts appears once under the name Victorius or Victoria, and once in the form Victorinus, is none other than St. Victor of Xanten. For today, in the Lübeck-Cologne edition of Usuard, there is announced: At the city of Troy, which is called Xanten, the translation of St. Victor, martyr; and in the auctaria of Molanus: The translation of St. Victor, our patron, in the city which is called Xanten. He is a companion of SS. Gereon, Malusius and the other soldiers who bore martyrdom at Cologne and in the neighbourhood; with whom he has already been announced at the 10th day of October in the Hieronymian calendars and treated in our Work. St. Vitalis, who as a Macedonian martyr, as it were, is also announced from those same Excerpts at the 31st day, and St. Donatus, who is likewise mentioned there twice after St. Felicissimus or Felix, seem to be genuine martyrs, first received into the Italian Compilation and from there into the Gallican. St. Donatus is a companion of St. Felix, martyr of Noyon, praised on the previous day.
[6] likewise Peter, Marius, and Firma for Syria; The names of Peter, Marus, Januarius and Firma are no less obscure. But St. Firma is above all to be struck out. For a little lower these words are read: At Antioch, of Januarius, Marcian; and it must be considered that in the greater Corbie codex of d'Achery there is read not Firma, but Firia, in place of Syria; so that there was first written At Antioch of Syria: at the 5th day of March, similarly, the word Siria in place of Syria has been separated from Antioch in the Hieronymian texts, and turned into the name of a saint. And on that same 5th day of March the names of Peter and Marus, Marius or Maris have already appeared together as African martyrs; who were probably referred to the present day because, as is understood from the Calendar of Carthage Analecta of Mabillon, de la Barre edition, page 163., the African Church did not keep the birthdays of the saints in the time of Lent.
[7] also Hermes, Urban and Atticus? Is Hermes, who follows, the same as the martyr of Hadrianople, celebrated on the 18th and 22nd days of October in the Hieronymian texts, or he who on the 2nd day of November is mixed in with the African martyrs? There is no Urban nearer than he who is numbered there at the 3rd day of October among other African martyrs. Atticus is perhaps the same as he who on the 9th day of October is assigned to an unknown place, or he who on the 6th day of November is assigned to Phrygia. These three martyrs do not seem to have been written in the Italian Hieronymian Compilation, since they are not doubled or tripled from the Excerpts in the Gallican Compilation; nor are they found in the auctaria of the martyrology once attributed to Bede, and so they are to be thought to have been inserted by the Gallic compiler.
[8] SS. Marcian and Januarius seem to be martyrs of Antioch. Last of all there are commemorated the Antiochene martyrs Januarius and Marcian. These were most certainly written in the Italian Compilation: for Januarius appears three times in the Gallican Compilation, Marcian twice, being changed once in some codices into Martial. But here too we are at a stand. If I see anything, however, under this form lies hidden St. Marcian, companion of St. Lucian; both of whom are everywhere commonly called martyrs of Nicomedia and are celebrated on the 26th day of October. For at this day in the better codices is read: At Nicomedia, of Lucian, Marcian, Florus, Heraclius, Titus and Florus; and it is by this authority that SS. Lucian and Marcian, in whose Passion the place of the martyrdom is not expressed, are everywhere in the martyrologies, even in the Roman, reported to have contended at Nicomedia. But Florus, Heraclius and Titus (I omit the second Florus, doubled from the Excerpts) were not companions of SS. Lucian and Marcian, since no mention of companions is made in the Passion of these: so that those three are to be separated from this pair, and it does not seem absurd to read: Of Lucian, Marcian, at Nicomedia of Florus, Heraclius and Titus; and indeed in the very ancient Syriac Martyrology of Wright, written in the year 412, at the 20th day of January, Florus is numbered among the martyrs of Nicomedia, and at the nearest following day, the 25th, Titus; although in so great a multitude of Nicomedian martyrs several were perhaps called by those names. But what is of greater moment, at the 26th day of October in Wright's Martyrology we read this: At Antioch, of Silvanus and Marcian, of the number of the ancient confessors; so that the place of Marcian's combat is set in this most ancient monument not at Nicomedia, but at Antioch, and his companion is said to be not Lucian, but Silvanus. But are not at Antioch two
martyrs named Marcian to be found, one venerated on the 26th day of October with his companion St. Lucian or Silvanus, the other on the 30th day of the same month with his companion Januarius? I for my part dare affirm nothing, but am by no means prepared to double, within so short a space of days, St. Marcian of Antioch on the sole authority of the Hieronymian Martyrology; or to bring SS. Lucian and Marcian in among the martyrs of Nicomedia, since the Syriac Martyrology is silent about them, although their Passion has been written down, and that Martyrology abounds far above all in martyrs of Nicomedia.
[9] [SS. Nazarius and Celsus, Vitalis and Valerius, Gervase and Protase are to be omitted.] After Januarius and Marcian, there occur the names of Nazarius, Gervase, Protase and the boy Celsus; which did not exist in the Italian Hieronymian Compilation, and so are not doubled from the Excerpts, nor marked in the auctaria to Bede. These the Gallic compiler beyond doubt received from a Milanese Calendar, although neither our Papebroch nor Sassi, in their Commentaries on SS. Gervase and Protase, mention this festival, nor is mention made of it in the ancient Milanese calendars published by Giorgi after the Martyrology of Ado. But in the Usuard codices of Anchin and Cluny, published by Sollerius, the memorial of St. Gervase, martyr, is celebrated, and in the Caudiacum codex the translation of St. Gervase, martyr. But when this took place, if indeed it took place, is not clear to me. In the Hieronymian texts Nazarius, Protase and Celsus are added in the usual way; and indeed St. Vitalis as well, father of SS. Gervase and Protase; and on the following day too the same St. Vitalis with his wife St. Valeria, changed into Valerius; and since he had already been admitted by the Italian compiler, he easily gave occasion for taking on SS. Nazarius, Gervase, Protase, Celsus and Valeria; so that no translation of St. Gervase took place on this day. But in the Bollandist Work SS. Vitalis and Valeria have been treated at the 28th day of April, and SS. Nazarius and Celsus at the 28th of July: these four are commonly joined, even at Milan, and are venerated by the Greeks on the 14th day of October. I will add this one thing, that at the beginning of the year 1864 the tombs of SS. Ambrose, Gervase and Protase were uncovered: on which discovery Luigi Biraghi and Giovanni Battista de Rossi have written learnedly.
Annotatum* i.e. III Kalends of November.