Martyrologium Hieronymianum
The Martyrologium Hieronymianum or Martyrologium sancti Hieronymi ("Martyrologium of St. Jerome") was a very influential text on the martyrs of early and early Christianity that was widespread in western Europe during the Middle Ages . It was compiled from texts of various geographical origins in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages and was the first martyrology with the claim to capture the martyrdom in its entirety, as well as the starting point for all subsequent Western writings.
The text refers to Hieronymus at the beginning with a reference to his vita Malchi from the year 392, where he declared in the introduction his intention to write a martyr's story from the arrival of the Savior to his present. However, today one no longer assumes an actual authorship of the church father Hieronymus and therefore also calls the script the martyrology of the pseudo-Hieronymus .
The Martyrologium Hieronymianum has the character of a list. Most of the entries consist solely of dates, places and names such as: III id. ian. Romæ, in cymiterio Callisti, via Appia, depositio Miltiadis episcopi. (“On the third day before the Ides of January, in Rome, in the cemetery of Callistus , on the via Appia , burial of Bishop Miltiades .”) Information going beyond this is only given sporadically. Martyrologies with actual martyrs , consisting of detailed depictions of life and suffering, cannot be found before the Carolingian era (for example in the Martyrologium Adonis ).
The Martyrologium Hieronymianum was created over a long period of time and consists of different parts that originally did not belong together. The version that has survived today is an early medieval compilation, which draws from a general martyrology in the area of the Roman East , from Italian and African martyrologies and various local martyrologies of Merovingian Gaul , whereby according to the common doctrine the entries at the beginning of each date are from the earliest versions of this martyrology come from, while at the end each of them was added over the course of time. Obviously, names have been duplicated or distorted due to misunderstandings or dates have been shifted depending on the local cult tradition. There are only guesses as to the place of origin of the original text . The Patriarchate Aquileia is mentioned between the years 430 and 450 and the area of Auxerre , where around 600 a revision and enrichment with Gallo-Roman martyr entries should have taken place.
The scientific study of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum has proven to be extremely difficult. The three oldest surviving manuscripts can be found in the following codices:
1.) Codex from the beginning of the 8th century in the French National Library in Paris, created in the Echternach monastery ,
2.) Codex from the second half of the 8th century in the Herzog-August Library Wolfenbüttel, created for the Norman monastery Saint-Wandrille and later transferred to the monastery Weissenburg in Alsace
3.) Codex from the first third of the 9th century in the Burgerbibliothek Bern, in Metz.
The processing by Francesco Fiorentini from 1668 remained unsurpassed for two centuries. It was not until the publication of the Martyrologium Syriacum 1866, which was probably written in Nicomedia at the beginning of the 5th century , that research received a new impetus, as the direct influences of the oriental script on the western one were recognized. The critical edition of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum by Giovanni Battista de Rossi and Louis Duchesne from 1894 serves as a reference work that is still valid today .
literature
- Giovanni Battista de Rossi and Louis Duchesne (eds.): Martyrologium Hieronymianum. In: Acta Sanctorum , November, T. 2, ps. 1, Brussels 1894.
- Hippolyte Delehaye : Commentarius perpetuus in Martyrologium Hieronymianum . In: Acta Sanctorum , November, T. 2, ps. 2, Brussels 1931.
Remarks
- ↑ Scribere enim disposui [...] ab adventu salvatoris usque ad nostram aetatem, id est, ab apostolis, usque ad nostri temporis faecem, quomodo et per quos Christi ecclesia nata sit, et adulta, persecutionibus creverit, et martyriis coronata sit. (“Indeed, from the coming of the Savior to our own time, that is, from the apostles to our depraved times, I made up my mind to write about how and through whom the Church of Christ was born, grown older in persecutions and martyrdoms found their coronation. ")
- ^ Bibliothéque nationale de France, ms. lat. 10837 Online
- ↑ Cod. Guelf. 81 white. (formerly Cod. 4 ° 23) Online
- ↑ Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 289 catalog
- ↑ Francesco Maria Fiorentini (1603–1673): Vetustius occidentalis ecclesiae martyrologium , Lucca 1668.