Heortology

by K. A. Heinrich Kellner

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.

It has seemed to the author that the time for gathering together the ascertained results derived from these and similar books has come. It is chiefly for theological students and the younger clergy that the following book is intended. Such a work as would make it easy to deal with the subject in sermons and catechetical instructions, and, at the same time, would give clearly and briefly all the information necessary for dealing with the question from the historical standpoint, avoiding equally uncritical credulity and sceptical unbelief—such a work seems to the author demanded by the circumstances of the time.

Moreover, the Minister of Public Worship in Prussia has recently (12th Sept. 1898) required from candidates for the office of catholic teacher in higher grade schools, a considerable acquaintance with the ecclesiastical year among their other qualifications.

This is the reason why the author has confined his attention solely to the worship of the Roman Catholic Church, merely alluding occasionally to the usages of other religious bodies. For the same reason, in accordance with the meaning of the term “Heortology,” he has concerned himself with those festivals alone which are publicly celebrated, or were so celebrated formerly. The majority of these afford no features of historical interest, owing, as they do, their origin to the action of authority. In cases which do not here come under discussion, reference may be made to separate works and to the Bollandists in general. In a matter of such practical interest as this, it cannot fail that some points have been omitted; still, I think, the amount of material collected in the following pages is sufficient for the end I have had in view. In support of the views herein expressed, a somewhat detailed account is given in the third part of the documents which serve as the sources of our information. It has not seemed practical to print a selection from the large number of these documents by way of supplement, since to have done so would have interfered with the object of this book.

Bonn, All Saints’, 1900.

AUTHOR’S PREFACE OF THE SECOND
GERMAN EDITION

This second (revised and enlarged) edition—from which Dr A. Mercati, Professor in the Seminary of Reggio, Emilia, has made the Italian translation—is in substance the same as the first. The sections dealing with the dedication of churches and the feast of the patron saint, with the feast of the Immaculate Conception, with the feasts of St Mary Magdalen, St Cecilia, and St Catherine, and the two concluding sections have been added, and some appendices.

Bonn, May 1906.

TRANSLATOR’S NOTE

In this translation, the excursus on the German Protestant “Buss-und-Bettage” and on St Ursula have been omitted as being of less general interest, and a few notes have been added.

London, April 1908.

BOOKS QUOTED AND REFERRED TO

(A) MEDIÆVAL WORKS, WHICH IN SOME DEGREE ARE OF THE NATURE OF ORIGINAL SOURCES

Isidore of Seville († 658).—De Officiis Ecclesiasticis. Migne, Patr. Lat., lxxxiii.

Amalarius Symphosius (“chor-episcopus” at Metz, † between 850 and 853).—De Officiis Ecclesiasticis libri quattuor. Migne, Patr. Lat., cv.

Rabanus Maurus (Abbot of Fulda, later Archbishop of Mainz, † 856).—De Officiis Ecclesiasticis. Migne, Patr. Lat., cvii.

Ado (Bishop of Vienne, † 875).—Libellus de Festivitatibus SS. Apost. Migne, Patr. Lat., cxxiii.

Johannes Abrincensis (Bishop of Rouen, † 1079).—De Officiis Ecclesiasticis. Migne, Patr. Lat., cxlvii. Ordinarius Canonicorum Reg., ib. 188-191.

Pseudo-Alcuin (middle of the eleventh century).—De Officiis Ecclesiasticis. Incomplete in Migne, Patr. Lat., ci. 1175. According to Bäumer, Amalarius Fortunatus is really the author.

Berno of Reichenau († 1045).—De Officio Missæ, and two small tracts on Advent and the Embertides. Migne, Patr. Lat., cxlii.

Lanfranc († 1089).—Decreta pro Ord. S. Benedicti. Migne, Patr. Lat., cl.

Bernold of Constance († 1100). According to Bäumer, the author of the Micrologus. Migne, Patr. Lat., cli.

De Cærimoniis, Sacramentis, Officiis et Observantionibus Ecclesiæ libri tres, by Hugo (Canon of St Victor in Paris, † 1118), or by Robertus Pullus. Migne, Patr. Lat., clxxvii. 381.

Rupert of Deutz († 1135).—De Divinis Officiis. Migne, Patr. Lat., clxx.

Guigo I. de Castro (Prior of the Grande Chartreuse about 1137).—Consuetudines Carthusienses. Migne, Patr. Lat., clii. 631-759.

Honorius of Autun († circ. 1145).—Gemma Animæ. Migne, Patr. Lat., clxxii.

Johannes Beleth (Professor of Theology at Paris, † 1190).—Rationale Divinorum Officiorum. Migne, Patr. Lat., ccii.

Consuetudines Farfenses, ed. B. Albers. Stuttgart, 1900. Older editions in Migne, Patr. Lat., c. 4, and (Hergott) Vetus Disciplina Monast. Paris, 1776.

Sicardus (Bishop of Cremona, † 1215).—Mitrale. Migne, Patr. Lat., ccxiii.

Innocent III. (Pope, † 1216).—De S. Altaris Mysterio libri sex. Migne, Patr. Lat., ccxvii.

Odericus (Canon of Siena, 1213).—Ordo Officiorum Eccl. Senensis. Ed. Trombelli. Bononiæ, 1766.

Codinus.—Curopalates s. de Officialibus Palatii Constantinopolitani et de Officiis Magnæ Ecclesiæ. Rec. Imm. Bekker. Bonn, 1839.

(B) MORE RECENT WORKS EMPLOYED OR REFERRED TO

(a) By Catholic Authors

Allatius, Leo.—De Dominicis et Hebdomadibus Græcorum Recentiorum. Col., 1648.

Arens, Franz.—Der Liber Ordinarius der Essener Stiftskirche, Essen, 1901.

Assemani, Jos. Sim.—Kalendaria Ecclesiæ Univ. Romæ, 1730. Six vols.

Baillet, Adrien († 1706).—Les Vies des Saints. Paris, 1703; second ed. 1739, in ten vols. 4to. Vol. ix. contains a history of the movable feasts.

Bäumer, Suitb.—Geschichte des Breviers, etc. Freiburg, 1895.

Benedict XIV. (Prosper Lambertini).—De Festis D.N. Jesu Christi et B. Mariæ Virginis libri duo. Patavii, 1756.

⸺ Commentarius de Festis B. Virg. Mariæ, etc. Dillingen, 1754.

Binterim, Anton. Jos.—Denkwürdigkeiten der Kathol. Kirche. Mainz, 1829, especially vol. v. part i: “Die kirchichle Heortologie und Chronologie.”

⸺ Pragmatische Geschichte der deutschen Konzilien. Mainz, 1836.

Chevalier, Ul.—Bibliothèque Liturgique. Ordinaires de l’Eglise cath. de Laon. Paris, 1897.—Sacramentaire et Martyrologe de S. Remy et de Reims. Paris, 1900. Ib. of Bayeux. Paris, 1903.

Combefis, Fr., O.S.D. († 1679).—Bibliotheca Patrum Concionatoria. Paris, 1662. Eight vols. A collection of sermons of the Fathers and older scholastics up to St Thomas Aquinas for the whole ecclesiastical year and the principal saints’ days.

Duchesne, L.—Origines du Culte Chrétien. Third ed. Paris. [Engl. transl. by M. L. Maclure, London, 1903.]

Gavantus, Barth. (Mediol.).—Thesaurus Sacrorum Rituum. Romæ, 1628. Amstelod., 1634.

⸺ Id. op., with Novæ observationes et additiones, etc., by C. M. Merati. Romæ, 1735. Aug. Vind., 1740.

Gretser, Jac., S. J.—De Festis Christianorum libri duo. (Ingolstadii, 1612), with Auctarium.

Guéranger, Prosp.—L’Année Liturgique. Translated anonymously into German, with a Preface by J. B. Heinrich. Mainz, 1888-1894. Thirteen vols.

Guyet, Car.—Heortologia. Venetiis, 1729. Almost entirely occupied with the rubrics.

Hoeynck, F. A.—Gesch. der kirchl. Liturgie des Bistums Augsburg. Augsburg, 1889.

Holweck, F. G.—Fasti Mariani. Frib. Brisg., 1892.

Mabillon, Joh.—De Liturgia Gallicana libri tres. Paris, 1685, and in Migne, Patr. Lat., lxxii.

Martène, Edmund.—De Antiquis Ecclesiæ Disciplinis. Antwerp, 1737.

Marzohl, J., and J. Schneller.—Liturgia Sacra oder Gebräuche und Altertümer der Kathol. Kirche. Five vols. Lucerne, 1841. Vol. iii. pp. 55-172 deals with the ecclesiastical year and festivals.

Migne, Abbé.—Diction. des Cérémonies et des Rites Sacrés. German transl. by E. Schinke and Jos. Kühn. Breslau, 1850.

Morcelli, Seph. A.—Μηνολόγιον τῶν Ἐυαγγελίων Ἑορταστικῶν, sive Kalendarium Eccl. Constantinopolitanæ Mille Annorum Insigne. Romæ, 1788.

Muratori, L. A.—Liturgia Rom. Vetus, tria Sacramentaria complectens Leon., Gel., et Antiquum Gregor. Accedunt Missale Francorum, Gothicum et Galicana duo, etc. Venetiis, 1748. The Preface and the Gelasianum are printed in Migne, Patr. Lat., lxxiv.

Nickel, Marc. Ad.—Die heiligen Zeiten und Feste nach ihrer Geschichte und Feier. Six vols. Mainz, 1825-1838.

Nilles, Nic. S. J.—Kalendarium Manuale utriusque Ecclesiæ Orient. et Occid. Ed. Altera. Two vols. Œniponte, 1896.

Pilgram.—Kalendarium Chronol. medii potissimum ævi monumentis accomodatum. Vienna, 1781.

Probst, Ferd.—Die ältesten Römischen Sakramentarien und Ordines erläutert. Paderborn, 1892.

Schmid, Frz. X.—Liturgik der christkathol. Religion. Three vols. Passau, 1831. Vol. iii. pp. 441-610 deals with the festivals.

Schulting, Corn.—Bibliotheca Ecclesiastica. Col. Agr., 1599. Tom. i. c. 9-17 and tom. ii.

Thomassin, Louis (Cong. Orat. Presb.)—Traité des Festes de l’Eglise. The second vol. contains “Traités Historiques et Dogmatiques sur divers Points de la Discipline de l’Eglise et de la Morale Chrétienne.” Paris, 1683.

Tomasi, Gius. Maria (Cardinal, † 1731).—Opera. Ed. Vezzosi. Rome, 1748, etc.

Veith, P. Ildefous.—On the Latin Martyrologies in the Hist.-pol. Blätter, 1895 and 1896. On the Greek Martyrologies in Studien und Mitteilungen aus dem Benediktinerorden, 1896 and 1897. See the Katholik, 1894, ii. 314 et seqq.

(b) By Non-Catholic Authors

Achelis, Hans.—Die Martyrologien, ihre Geschichte und ihr Wert. Berlin, 1900.

Alt, Heinrich (Preacher of La Charité).—Das Kirchenjahr. Berlin, 1860.

Augusti, J. Chr. Wilh.—Denkwürdigkeiten. Leipzig, 1817, etc. Vols. i.-iii.: “Die Feste der alten Christen für Religionslehrer und gebildete Laien aller Konfessionen.” (The author gives one or two sermons from the Fathers for each feast as an appendix.)

Daniel, Henr. Adalf.—Codex liturgicus ecclesiæ universæ. Four vols. Lipsiæ, 1847.

Dresser, Matth.—De festis et præcipius anni partibus. Lipsiæ, 1584.

Erbes.—Das Syrische Martyrologium und der Weihnachtsfestkreis in Brieger’s “Zeitschr. für Kirchengesch,” 1905, iv., and 1906, i.

Haltaus, Chr. Gottlob.—Jahrzeitbuch der Deutschen des Mittelalters. Translated by G. A. Scheffer. Erlangen, 1797.

Hospinianus (Wirth), Rud.—De Festis Christianorum. Genevæ, 1574. Turici, 1593.

Maltzew, A. von.—Fasten- und Blumen-Triodion, etc. Berlin, 1899. The Introduction deals with the ecclesiastical year of the Orthodox, Armenian, and Roman Catholic Churches.

Ranke, E.—Das Kirchl. Perikopensystem aus den ältesten Urkunden der römischen Liturgie dargelegt und erläutert. Berlin, 1847.

Strauss, Friedr.—Das evangelische Kirchenjahr in seinem Zusammenhange dargestellt. Berlin, 1850.

Usener, Herm.—Religionsgeschichte Untersuchungen. Das Weihnachtsfest. Bonn, 1889.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SECT.			PAGE
[PART I] THE CHURCH’S FESTIVALS IN GENERAL
1.	Introduction		[1]
2.	Sunday and its Observance as a Day of Rest		[6]
3.	The Classification of Festivals		[13]
4.	The Gradual Increase of Festivals. Their Decrease in the Last Three Centuries. The Present Position		[16]
[PART II]
[CHAPTER I.—THE CHURCH’S YEAR]
A. Easter, and the Sacred Seasons connected with Easter
1.	Easter, its Name and History		[37]
2.	The Connection of the Christian Festival with the Jewish		[41]
3.	The Circumstances which led to Easter being a Movable Feast		[46]
4.	The Final Settlement of the Date of Easter, and the Attempts made to commemorate the Day of the Month on which Christ died		[52]
5.	The Liturgical Celebration of Holy Week and Easter		[59]
		Palm Sunday	[66]
		Maundy Thursday	[69]
		Good Friday	[73]
		Holy Saturday	[79]
		Easter and the Easter Octave	[84]
6.	The Preparation for Easter—Quadragesima and the Fast		[88]
7.	The Season of Preparation as an Integral Part of the Church’s Year		[100]
8.	The Transfiguration		[105]
9.	The Ascension		[106]
10.	Whitsunday		[109]
11.	Trinity Sunday		[116]
12.	Corpus Christi. The Forty Hours’ Prayer. The Festival of the Sacred Heart		[119]
B. Christmas and the Christmas Season
1.	Christmas		[127]
2.	Advent and the Sundays until Septuagesima		[158]
3.	The Octave of Christmas. The Circumcision. The New Year		[163]
4.	The Epiphany		[166]
5.	The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Candlemas)		[173]
6.	The Sundays of the Church’s Year as forming Connecting Links between the Principal Feasts		[176]
C. Other Incidents in the Church’s Year
1.	The Embertides		[183]
2.	Litanies or Rogations		[189]
3.	The Dedication of a Church and the Festival of the Patron Saint		[194]
[CHAPTER II.—THE SAINTS’ DAYS]
1.	The Origins of the Cultus of the Saints and the Grounds on which it rests		[203]
2.	The Festivals of St John the Baptist and St Stephen the Proto-Martyr		[217]
3.	Festivals of Our Blessed Lady in General		[225]
4.	The Three Ancient Festivals of our Blessed Lady—the Nativity, the Annunciation, the Assumption		[230]
5.	Institution and Spread of the Festival of the Immaculate Conception		[239]
6.	The Lesser Feasts of Our Lady—
	i.	The Name of Mary	[264]
	ii.	The Presentation of Our Lady in the Temple	[265]
	iii.	The Visitation	[266]
	iv.	The Feast of the Holy Rosary	[268]
7.	The Feast of St Joseph. The Cultus of SS. Joachim and Anne		[272]
8.	The Festivals of the Apostles in General		[277]
9.	The Festivals of the Apostles and Evangelists in Particular		[282]
	i.	St Peter and St Paul	[282]
	ii.	The Feast of St Peter’s Chains	[287]
	iii.	The Conversion of St Paul	[288]
	iv.	St Andrew and St Luke the Evangelist	[289]
	v.	St James the Great	[291]
	vi.	St Philip and St James the Less	[293]
	vii.	St John	[296]
	viii.	St Simon and St Jude (Thaddeus)	[298]
	ix.	St Mark the Evangelist	[300]
	x.	The Feast of St Peter’s Chair	[301]
10.	The Festivals of St Mary Magdalen, St Cecilia, and St Catherine—
	i.	St Mary Magdalen	[309]
	ii.	St Cecilia	[315]
	iii.	St Catherine	[321]
11.	The Festival of All Saints		[323]
12.	The Commemoration of All Souls		[326]
13.	The Festivals of the Angels		[328]
14.	The Two Festivals in Honour of the Holy Cross		[333]
[PART III] THE MATERIAL UPON WHICH THE HISTORY OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR IS BASED
1.	The Documentary Sources in General		[342]
2.	The Earliest Christian Calendars		[347]
3.	The Arian Calendar of the Fourth Century		[352]
4.	The So-called Martyrologium Hieronymianum		[363]
5.	The Lectionary and Martyrology of Silos		[378]
6.	Egyptian (Coptic) Calendars and Synaxaria		[381]
7.	The Menology of Constantinople		[387]
8.	The Menology of the Emperor Basil II., and the Syrian Lectionary of the Eleventh Century		[390]
9.	The Kalendarium Marmoreum of Naples		[394]
10.	Western Authorities from the Sixth to the Eighth Centuries		[396]
11.	The Martyrologies of Bede, Florus, Wandelbert, and Œngus		[401]
12.	The Martyrologies of Ado, Usuardus, Rabanus Maurus, and Notker Balbulus		[405]
13.	Important Calendars from the Eighth to the Eleventh Centuries		[410]
	Conclusion		[419]
[APPENDIX]
I.	Classification of Feasts in the Roman Calendar		[421]
II.	On some Lists of Festivals		[421]
III.	The Festivals of Obligation as observed in Different Countries		[423]
IV.	Liturgical Vestments		[428]
V.	The Word Mass as a Name for the Sacrifice of the Altar		[430]
VI.	On the Date for Christmas in Hippolytus		[437]
VII.	Christmas in England during the Commonwealth		[439]
VIII.	Excursus on the Three Holy Kings		[441]
IX.	The Greek Ecclesiastical Year		[442]
X.	English Writers and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception		[445]
XI.	Excursus on the so-called Typica		[447]
	Chronological Table		[449]
	Index		[457]