HEORTOLOGY A HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN FESTIVALS FROM THEIR ORIGIN TO THE PRESENT DAY BY DR K. A. HEINRICH KELLNER PROFESSOR OF CATHOLIC THEOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF BONN TRANSLATED WITH THE AUTHOR’S PERMISSION FROM THE SECOND GERMAN EDITION BY A PRIEST OF THE DIOCESE OF WESTMINSTER LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER & CO., LIMITED DRYDEN HOUSE, GERRARD STREET, W. 1908 _NIHIL OBSTAT_ FR. OSMUND, O.F.M., Censor deputatus. _IMPRIMATUR_ ✠ GULIELMUS, Episcopus Arindelensis, Vicarius Generalis. Westmonasterii, _die 24 Feb., 1908_. _IMPRIMATUR TO THE SECOND GERMAN EDITION_ ✠ THOMAS, Archiepp̄s. Friburgi Brisgoviæ, _die 8 Maii, 1906_. AUTHOR’S PREFACE TO THE FIRST GERMAN EDITION In older works on liturgy, the festivals of the Church have been generally dealt with as forming part of a greater whole, while in more recent times various questions relating to them have been discussed in separate articles in encyclopædias and reviews. The time seems now to have come when the cycle of ecclesiastical festivals ought to be regarded as a definite department of study by itself. The older works, besides being difficult of access, do not come up to the standard of modern works on the same subject, and the independent investigations of recent date, although throwing much new light upon some points, have left others untouched, with the result that the reader is unable to gain a clear conception of the matter as a whole. The solid results gained by investigations into this branch of study in earlier and later times must now be collected, and systematised, and brought up to the level demanded by modern science. Much remains to be done in this department owing to the fresh light that has been thrown upon it by the publication of documents hitherto inaccessible, among which we may mention the so-called Peregrinatio Silviæ discovered by Gamurrini, the Lectionaries of Silos, and the critical edition of the so-called Martyrologium Hieronymianum of de Rossi and Duchesne. The last-named document has so far been more of a hindrance than a help in this branch of study, some attributing too much importance to it, and others none at all.