St Luke (Oct. 18); and on the same day generally in the East. The day perhaps marks a translation of relics in the East, as is stated in the so-called Hieronymian Martyrology. St Luke does not appear in the older Sacramentaries; but in some manuscripts of the Gregorian we find a proper preface for St Luke on v Kal. Nov. (Oct. 28).
St Mark (April 25): on the same day in the East. The day is of late appearance, not perhaps before the ninth century. The great processional litanies on April 25 appear at Rome long before St Mark’s name was attached to the day. In their origin these litanies were distinctively Roman.
St Philip and St James (May 1). This was the day of the dedication of a church at Rome in their honour in the second half of the sixth century. The word natale is applied at a later time to the day; which may have been in error, or, as can be proved by many examples, the word natale came to be used loosely as equivalent to festival or commemoration. In the Greek Church St James, ‘the brother of God,’ is commemorated on Oct. 23, and St Philip, ‘one of the twelve,’ on Nov. 14. The Greeks celebrate Philip, the deacon, on Oct. 11, and he appears in Usuard’s Martyrology at June 6.
Why Philip and James should be associated we know not. The deposition of relics of both at the time of the dedication of the church at Rome may perhaps account for the conjunction of the names.
St Simon and St Jude (Oct. 28). Legend associates these two Apostles as having together laboured for thirteen years in Persia, and as there dying martyrs’ deaths. In the Sacramentaries they do not appear till they are found in a late form of the Gregorian. In the East the commemoration of these Apostles is divided and a day assigned to each. In the Greek Church Simon Zelotes appears at May 10, and Judas (Thaddaeus) at June 19.
St Thomas, Apostle and Martyr (Dec. 21); his Translation is marked at July 3 in the West. In the Greek Church St Thomas is commemorated on Oct. 6, a day also observed by the Syrians, who add a translation on July 3. In the fourth century there was a magnificent basilica of St Thomas at Edessa, and to this church the remains of the Apostle were translated (from India according to the legend) before the close of the century. St Thomas (at Dec. 21) is not found in the Leonine, and only in some texts of the Gregorian Sacramentary. He appears, however, in the Gelasian.
St Bartholomew (Aug. 24); and at Rome on Aug. 25. The Latin churches generally, including that of mediaeval England, observed Aug. 24. The Greek Church commemorates Bartholomew together with Barnabas on June 11, and a translation of the relics of Bartholomew on Aug. 25. In the West the introduction of the feast was late. There is no trace of it in the early forms of the great Sacramentaries[97].
St John the Baptist, the Nativity (June 24); so too in the Greek Church. The date was doubtless assigned on the strength of the inference drawn from the Gospels, that the birth of the baptist preceded that of the Saviour by six months. It appeared early, and was a recognised day in the time of St Augustine[98]. It has its masses in the Sacramentaries from the Leonine downwards.
The Decollation of St John the Baptist (generally Aug. 29). This festival is also early, but, so far as evidence goes, not so early as the Nativity[99]. It was known in Gaul before it was adopted at Rome. The Greek churches celebrate the day on Aug. 29[100].