Heortology : $b A history of the Christian festivals from their origin to the present dayKellner, K. A. Heinrich (Karl Adam Heinrich)
Religion
Heortology : $b A history of the Christian festivals from their origin to the present day
Kellner, K. A. Heinrich (Karl Adam Heinrich)
Church year; Fasts and feasts
Next in order comes a Calendar of the North African Church belonging to
the fifth century, and edited by Mabillon from a codex of the seventh
century formerly belonging to the Monastery of Cluny. The original
must have been completed after 505, for Bishop Eugenius of Carthage is
mentioned in it. It contains St John the Baptist, some apostles and
martyrs not belonging to North Africa, Sixtus, Gervasius and Protasius,
Lawrence, Clement of Rome, Eulalia, Felix of Nola, Agnes, Agatha,
Vincent, and the Machabees, who belong to the Churches of Rome and Spain.
Unfortunately, the list is not quite perfect owing to the bad state of
the MS.
The Calendar of Philocalus for the year 352 contains nothing definitely
Christian.[751] On the other hand, the Calendar of Polemius Silvius,
Bishop of Sion, drawn up between 435 and 455, is interesting as showing a
mixture of Christian and heathen entries. Destination, character, place,
and time of the compilation can be learnt from the calendar itself; it
was not drawn up for one particular year, at least there is nothing by
which to determine the year, for Dominical letters, movable feasts, etc.,
are all wanting; among heathen festivals we have the _Carmentalia_,
_Lupercalia_, _Terminalia_, _Quinquatria_, and _Lavatio Cereris_, all of
which recall heathen religious customs. The _Saturnalia_ are included on
account of their popular, not on account of their religious significance,
and appear as _feriæ servorum_ on the 17th December, as well as _feriæ
ancillarum_ on the 7th July. In addition, there are many other popular
commemorations, such as the 7th January, 13th September, etc., and a
great number of _natales_ of emperors. The number of ecclesiastical
feasts is very small, being limited to Epiphany, the 25th and 27th of
March as the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Christmas, and six
saints’ days—_Depositio Petri et Pauli_ on the 22nd February instead
of the 29th June, Vincent, the Machabees, Lawrence, Hippolytus, and
Stephen on their usual days. Besides these we have the _natales_ of
authors—Cicero and Virgil, and finally, the days are marked on which
the Senate usually held sittings and games were given in the circus.
In comparison with the Calendar of Philocalus, the number of such days
is much reduced; in the former there are over a hundred, here only
fifty-three. The meteorological entries are numerous. The calendar was
evidently intended for the provinces of the western half of the empire,
and takes into account both the ecclesiastical and civil requirements,
although it deals with the former to a limited extent.
3. _The Arian Calendar of the Fourth Century_
(_About 370-380_)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account