Again, the local character of the observance of the days of martyrs is a marked feature of the earlier records which illustrate the subject. Now and then the name of some martyr of pre-eminent distinction in other lands finds its way into the lists; but it remains generally true that in each place the martyrs and saints of that place and its neighbourhood form the great body of those commemorated. And in addition to the natural feeling that prompted the remembrance of those more particularly associated with a particular place, the fact that the commemorations were originally observed by religious services in cemeteries, at the tombs or burial places of the martyrs, tended at first to discountenance the commemoration of the martyrs of other places whose story was known only by report, whether written or oral. The day of a martyr’s death was by an exercise of the triumphant faith of the Church known as his birthday (_natale_, or _dies natalis_, or _natalitia_). It was regarded as the day of his entrance into a new and better world. The expression occurs in its Greek form as early as the letter of the Church of Smyrna concerning the martyrdom of Polycarp (_c._ 18). There can be no doubt that at an early date records were kept of the day of the death of martyrs. Cyprian required that even the death-days of those who died in prison for the faith should be communicated to him with a view to his offering an oblation on that day (_Ep._ xii. (xxxvii.) 2). It is in this way probably that the earliest Kalendars of the Church originated. [Illustration: Ancient Syriac Martyrology, written A D. 412 (Brit. Mus. Or. Add. 12150, _fol._ 252 _v_, _ll._ 1-20, _col._ 1.) The plate shows the entries from St Stephen’s Day to Epiphany.]