Hippolyte Delehaye

“ The Church of Smyrna had early to explain its position in this matter with regard to St Polycarp: “We worship Christ, as the Son of God; as to the martyrs, we love them as the disciples and imitators of the Lord” (Martyrium Polycarpi, xvii. 3) . St Cyril of Alexandria defends the worship of the martyrs against Julian; St Asterius and Theodoret against the pagans in general, and they all lay emphasis on the fact that the saints are not looked upon as gods by the Christians, and that the honours paid to them are of quite a different kind from the adoration reserved to God alone. ”

“ A great number of saints of the name of Januarius are mentioned in the martyrologies. The best-known are the Roman martyr (festival, the 10th of July) , whose epitaph was written by Pope Damasus (De Rossi, Bullettino, p. 17, 1863) , and the martyr of Cordova, who forms along with Faustus and Martialis the group designated by Prudentius (Peristephanon, iv. 20) by the name of tres coronae. The festival of these martyrs is celebrated on the 13th of October. ”

“ The cult of the saint spread rapidly. In 353 we find a church of St Sergius at Eitha, in Batanaea (Waddington, Inscriptions de Syrie, n. 2124) —the most ancient example of a dedication of this kind. In the 6th century St Sergius was honoured in the West (Gregory of Tours, De gloria martyrum, 96) . According to their Acta (which, however, have little authority) , SS. Sergius and Bacchus were soldiers. In art they are most generally represented in military costume. ”

“ To realize the present state of hagiology the Bibliotheca hagiographica, both Latin and Greek, published by the Bollandists, and the Bulletin hagiographique, which appears in each number of the Analecta Bollandiana (see Bollandists) , must be consulted. Thanks to the combined efforts of a great number of scholars, the classification of the hagiographic texts has in recent years made notable progress. ”

“ The cult of St Florian was introduced into Poland, together with the relics of the saint, which were brought thither in 1183 by Giles, bishop of Modena. Casimir, duke of Poland, dedicated a church at Cracow to him. He is represented in various ways, especially as a warrior holding in his hand a vessel from which he pours out flames. His protection is often sought against fire. ”

“ CANONIZATION, in its widest sense, an act by which in the Christian Church the ecclesiastical authority grants to a deceased believer the honour of public cultus. In the early Church there was no formal canonization. The cultus applied at first to local martyrs, and it was only in exceptional circumstances that a kind of judiciary inquiry and express decision became necessary to legitimate this cultus. ”

“ The records of the pseudo-council of Sinuessa, which were fabricated at the beginning of the 6th century, state that Marcellinus after his fall presented himself before a council, which refused to try him on the ground that prima sedes a nemine iudicatur. According to the Liber pontificalis, Marcellinus was buried, on the 26th of April 304, in the cemetery of Priscilla, on the Via Salaria, 25 days after his martyrdom; the Liberian catalogue gives as the date the 25th of October. The fact of the martyrdom, too, is not established with certainty. ”

“ The principal centre of the cult of St Helena in the West seems to be the abbey of Hautvilliers, near Reims, where since the 9th century they have claimed to be in possession of her body. In England legends arose representing her as the daughter of a prince of Britain. ”

“ Towards the 6th century the legend of the woman with the issue of blood became merged in the legend of Pilate, as is shown in the writings known in the middle ages as Cura sanitatis Tiberii and Vindicta Salvaloris. According to the former of these accounts Veronica, in memory of her cure, caused a portrait of the Saviour to be painted. The emperor Tiberius, when afflicted with a grievous sickness, commanded the woman to bring the portrait to him, worshipped Christ before her eyes, and was cured. ”

“ The punishment of the gridiron and the speech of the martyr are probably a reminiscence of the Phrygian martyrs, as related by Socrates (iii. 15) and Sozomen (v. 11) . But the fact of the martyrdom is unquestionable. ”

“ We possess no historical documents on St Margaret as distinct from St Pelagia. An attempt has been made, but without success, to prove that the group of legends with which that of St Margaret is connected is derived from a transformation of the pagan divinity Aphrodite into a Christian saint. The problem of her identity is a purely literary question. The cult of St Margaret was very widespread in England, where more than 250 churches are dedicated to her. ”

“ But there is no doubt of the existence of the first Pelagia of Antioch, the Pelagia of Ambrose and Chrysostom. The legends which have subsequently become connected with her name are the result of a very common development in literary history. ”

“ But it was found that no force which could be applied was able to move her from the spot on which she stood; even boiling oil and burning pitch had no power to hurt her, until at last she was slain with the sword. The most important documents concerning St Lucy are the mention in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum and the ancient inscription discovered at Syracuse, in which her festival is indicated. Many paintings represent her bearing her eyes in her hand or on a salver. Some artists have even represented her blind, but nothing in her Acta justifies this representation. ”

“ The procedure per viam casus excepti consists in the legitimation of a cultus which has been rendered to a saint for a very long time. The causes of the martyrs (declarationis martyrii) also are exceptional. Juridical proof is required of the fact of the martyrdom and of its cause, i.e. it must be established that the servant of God was put to death through hatred of the faith. These are the two cases which constitute exceptional procedure.
The common procedure is that in which the cause is prosecuted per viam non cultus. ”

“ In it we see that Hubert in 708 succeeded Lambert in the see of Maestricht (Tongres) , and that he erected a basilica to his memory. In 825 Hubert’s remains were removed to a Benedictine cloister in the Ardennes, which thenceforth bore his name (St Hubert, province of Luxemburg, Belgium) , and ultimately became a considerable resort of pilgrims. The later legends (Bibliotheca hagiographica latina, nos. 3994-4002) are devoid of authority. One of them relates, probably following the legend of St Eustace, the miracle of the conversion of St Hubert. ”

“ The In gloria martyrum and In gloria confessorum of Gregory of Tours are valuable for the sources used in their compilation. The most important collections are those which comprise the Acts of the Martyrs and the lives of saints, arranged in the order of the calendar. ”

“ His Acta, which have scarcely any historical value, relate that he left Ireland, and came to France with his companions. He approached St Faro, the bishop of Meaux, to whom he made known his desire to live a life of solitude in the forest. ”

“ BOLLANDISTS, the Belgian Jesuits who publish the Acta Sanctorum, the great collection of biographies and legends of the saints, arranged by days, in the order of the calendar. The original idea was conceived by a Jesuit father, Heribert Rosweyde (see Hagiology) , and was explained by him in a sort of prospectus, which he issued in 1607 under the title of Fasti sanctorum quorum vitae in Belgicis Bibliothecis manuscriptae. His intention was to publish in eighteen volumes the lives of the saints compiled from the MSS., at the same time adding sober notes. ”

“ In the West she was identified with Martha of Bethany; in the East she was called Berenike, or Beronike, the name appearing in as early a work as the Acta Pilati, the most ancient form of which goes back to the 4th century. ”

“ In the early days each church confined itself to celebrating its own martyrs; but it was not long before it became customary to celebrate the anniversaries of martyrs of other churches. In the oldest Roman ferial we already find festivals of Carthaginian martyrs, and similarly, in the Carthaginian calendar, Roman festivals, while Wright’s Syrian Martyrology contains numerous traces of this exchange of festivals. From the 5th century onwards certain celebrated saints were honoured almost universally ”

“ On these occasions the substance contained in the phial liquefies, and the Neapolitans see in this phenomenon a supernatural manifestation. The “miracle of St Januarius” did not occur before the middle of the 15th century. ”

“ The corresponding works in the Western Church are the passionaries or legendaries, varieties of which are dispersed in libraries and have not been studied collectively. They generally draw from a common source, the Roman legendary, and the lives of the local saints, i.e. ”

“ The great popularity of the saint is due more particularly to her Acta, which in all their forms derive from the apocryphal work known as the Acta Pauli et Theclae. According to her Acta, Thecla was born of illustrious parentage at Iconium, and came under the personal teaching of the apostle Paul. ”

“ From the 4th century on are recorded cases of translation of the bodies of saints, and they did not even shrink from dividing the sacred relics. In the West the principle already laid down by St Gregory the Great in his letter to Constantia, namely that of not disturbing the bodies of the saints, was for a long time the rule in all cases, and the portions distributed to the churches were simply brandea, that is to say, linen which had lain upon the tomb of the saint, or, in other words, representative relics. ”

“ The oldest texts which refer to him are an 8th century necrology at Würzburg and the notice by Hrabanus Maurus in his martyrology. According to Maurus Kilian was a native of Ireland, whence with his companions he went to eastern Franconia. After having preached the gospel in Würzburg, the whole party were put to death by the orders of an unjust judge named Gozbert. It is difficult to fix the period with precision, as the judge (or duke) Gozbert is not known through other sources. Kilian’s comrades, Coloman and Totman, were, according to the Würzburg necrology, respectively priest and deacon. ”

“ Of the best-known historical martyrologies the oldest are those which go under the name of Bede and of Florus (Acta sanctorum Martii, vol. ii.) ; of Wandelbert, a monk of Prüm (842) ; of Rhabanus Maurus (c. 845) ; of Ado (d. 875) ; of Notker (896) ; and of Wolfhard (c. 896 v. Analecta bollandiana, xvii. 11) . The most famous is that of Usuard (c. 875) , on which the Roman martyrology was based. The first edition of the Roman martyrology appeared at Rome in 1583. The third edition, which appeared in 1584, was approved by Gregory XIII., who imposed the Roman martyrology upon the whole Church. ”

“ The undoubted abuses which grew up, especially during the middle ages, raised up, at the time of the Reformation, fresh adversaries of the cult of the saints. The council of Trent, while reproving all superstitious practices in the invocation of the saints, the veneration of relics and the use of images, expresses as follows the doctrine of the Roman Church: “That the saints who reign with Christ offer to God their prayers for men ”

“ The menology of Metaphrastes is a collection of lives of saints for the twelve months of the year, easily recognizable among analogous collections, and consisting of about 150 distinct pieces, some of which are taken bodily from older collections, while others have been subjected to a new recension (μετάφρασις) . Among other works attributed (though with some uncertainty) to Symeon are a Chronicle, a canonical collection, some letters and poems, and other writings of less importance. Symeon's great popularity is due more particularly to his collection of lives of saints. ”

“ In several of his discourses St Augustine pronounces the eulogy of this martyr, and refers to Acts which were read in the church. It is doubtful whether the Acts that have come down to us (Acta Sanctorum, January, ii. 394–397) are those referred to by St Augustine, since it is not certain that they are a contemporary document. ”

“ The oldest historical synaxaria apparently go back to the tenth century. The heterodox Eastern churches also have their synaxaria.
The publication of the Arabic text of the synaxarium of the Church of Alexandria was started simultaneously by J. Forget in the Corp. script. orient, and by R. Basset in the Patrologia orient., and that of the Ethiopian synaxarium was begun by I. Guidi in the Patrologia orient. The Armenian synaxarium, called the synaxarium of Ter Israël was published at Constantinople in 1834. ”

“ The supreme judge in the matter is the pope himself. The postulator, who is the mandatory of a diocese or ecclesiastical commonalty, is the solicitor. He must furnish the proofs, which are collected according to very stringent rules. ”