The same thing happened more or less everywhere; the names of the martyrs belonging to the community were entered in the Calendars of the Church, and their memory was celebrated annually on the anniversary of their death. These were the so-called martyres recogniti, i.e. those who were recognised as martyrs by the community. Each large community, especially the patriarchal Churches, thus possessed their calendar of saints, which became more and more full of names in process of time. Authentic fragments of such calendars are contained in the Roman Depositio Martyrum, which, along with the Depositio Episcoporum, was compiled not later than the episcopate of Liberius (352-354). Fuller, because less ancient, is the Calendar of Carthage, dating from the end of the fifth century or from the beginning of the sixth, printed by Mabillon in his Analecta Vetera,[455] and of which he treats in iii. 398, of this work.
In the third century, Gregory Thaumaturgus, Bishop of Neocæsarea in Pontus, was no less zealous than St Cyprian in collecting information concerning the martyrs. He travelled throughout the whole district, inspiring the people everywhere with zeal for the celebration of the memory of those who had suffered for the faith.[456] And thus in all the greater cities, catalogues of the local martyrs were compiled, as Sozomen testifies for two neighbouring towns, Gaza and Constantia. Each of these two towns, he says, had their own bishop and clergy, and also their own festivals of martyrs and catalogues of the priests who had presided over them.[457]
At a much later date, Maximus of Turin gives us some interesting evidence concerning these attempts of the different communities: “As we must celebrate the general commemoration of all the holy martyrs, so, my brethren, ought we to celebrate with special devotion the feasts of those who shed their blood in our own locality. For while all the saints, wherever they may be, assist us all, yet those who suffered for us intercede for us in a special manner. For the martyr suffers not for himself alone, but also for his fellow-citizens. By his sufferings, he obtains for himself a reward in heaven, and gives a good example to his fellow-citizens. He gains rest for himself and salvation for them.”[458]
The official cultus of the saints was at first confined to the martyrs. The earliest example of the public worship of saints, not martyrs, dates from the time of Pope Symmachus, under whom, about A.D. 500, a church was built and dedicated to Pope Silvester and Martin of Tours, in Rome, the basilica Silvestri et Martini.[459]
Our information concerning the martyrs is derived from three sources[460]:—
1. The Acta, i.e. the report of the trial taken down by the notary of the proconsul or procurator (notarius, commentariensis, and exceptor), containing the accusation, the examination, the depositions of the witnesses, the description of the tortures employed and the judgment given. Even in the time of Cicero the evidence of the witnesses was taken down in writing, and during the Empire full reports of both civil and criminal actions were taken and preserved. A proclamation of the Emperor Severus in 194, enjoins that these acta be preserved, and be produced when required for ascertaining the truth. Copies were given for payment to people interested or concerned in the trial. Some of these reports of the trials of the martyrs have come down to us in their original form, and afford the most valuable materials which we possess for the history of early Christian times. The best known are the Acta Proconsularia S. Cypriani, along with the acts of Pionius, Maximilian, and Marcellus, etc.
2. Passiones, i.e. an account of the imprisonment, trial, and execution of the martyrs drawn up by Christian eye-witnesses at the time or immediately afterwards. They are worthy of all credit, for among the Romans legal proceedings took place as a rule in public. It was only under the later emperors that this publicity was so far curtailed that the proceedings were conducted in the basilicas or buildings set apart for that purpose. The earliest and best-known examples of these Passions are the letter of the church of Lyons to the churches of Asia Minor, the Passio S. Perpetuæ et Felicitatis, the Martyrium Polycarpi, etc.
3. Legends, i.e. narratives based upon documents of the nature described above, and worked up by later writers, either for the purpose of edification or from the point of view of a historian. This class of writings is very large, beginning with the account of the martyrdom of St Ignatius. The writings, however, differ endlessly as to their value, according to the knowledge and authority possessed by the writers, and according to their nearness to the date of the events described. There were many martyrs whose sufferings were recorded in no acta or passiones, but were imprinted upon the memory of men, and became part of the traditions handed down in the community, until they were finally committed to writing. The later this took place, the worse for the authenticity. For it was then that anachronisms, alterations in titles, changes in the persons, and other similar historical errors could more easily creep into the narrative, as we know, in fact, they have done in many instances. The historical sense was unfortunately lacking to the Franks and Byzantines, as well as all idea of sound criticism.
A false kind of patriotism and national pride often goes along with credulity, so that we find here and there in literature of this kind even downright fabrications. After the introduction of printing, by which literature became more widely diffused and comparative criticism was rendered possible, it at once became evident among Catholics that error was mixed with truth, and that a sifting of the one from the other was necessary, and, in many cases, quite possible. In this province of criticism, those who have most distinguished themselves for judgment and insight are Launoi, Henschen, the Bollandists, Tillemont, Baillet, Ruinart, and in more modern times, Franchi di Cavalieri and others who have avoided extremes in either direction.
The matter from these writings incorporated in the service books possesses the same historical value as the source from which it is drawn. For, as Bäumer justly remarks, “it was not the intention of the Church, or of the compilers and authors of the service books, to claim historical authority for their statements. And so the Popes themselves have directed many emendations to be made in the legends in the Breviary, although many others still remain to be effected.”[461] The legends, by their incorporation into the Breviary, gain no higher degree of credibility than that which the person who incorporated them is able to confer upon them from a purely natural standpoint. This must be emphasised and maintained, for since the time of Bishop Aurelian of Arles,[462] the reading of the histories of the martyrs made its way more and more into the psalmody in the West, and became an essential part of the Breviary.