The comparison of the Arian martyrology with that of St Jerome has further led to a curious discovery,[761] i.e. that the entries from the 6th (or more correctly from the 8th) to the 30th June are indeed included in the martyrology of St Jerome, but have been bodily transferred to the corresponding dates in July.[762] This latter month has only three entries, and it has been thought that the mistake is due to the Arian compiler or his transcribers, but it is just as likely that the change of date was made by the author of the Hieronymianum. How this fact is to be explained must be left to conjecture. Another important point bearing upon the connection between the two documents is the fact that the one mentions Bishop Eusebius of Cæsarea on the 30th May, but the other in more detail on the 21st June, as follows: In Cæsarea Palæstinæ Dep. Eusebi Epi. Historiographi. Which is correct? Certainly the Syrian document, which also gives correctly the day of Arius’ death. The entry on the 6th June clearly exhibits the Arian character of the document: “In Alexandria, Arius Presbyter.” The fact that he is merely commemorated, proves that it is incorrect to suppose, as many do, that another Arius, a reputed, but otherwise unknown, martyr of Alexandria is intended. The martyrs in this document are treated to more than a mere commemoration (dukrana). Accordingly he did not regard this particular Arius as a martyr.
From the description which we have given of this highly important document, one is led to expect that it will throw fresh light on certain historical questions, and so, as a matter of fact, it does. For instance, we can fix the death of Arius by its assistance on the 6th June 336. Arius died on a Saturday shortly before sunset. On the following day he was to have been solemnly received into the Church.[763] The only year which can be taken into consideration is 336, for in it the 6th June fell on a Saturday.[764]
The historian Eusebius died about the time when Athanasius returned to Alexandria from his first exile. This was shortly after Constantine’s death († 22nd May 337). Since Eusebius died soon after he had finished the life of Constantine, whom he did not long survive, his death is to be placed on the 30th May 338. This takes for granted that the Bishop of Palestine mentioned on the 30th May is identical with the historian, which can scarcely be called in doubt. Cæsarea was the ecclesiastical metropolis of Palestine, and this accounts for his title, Bishop of Palestine.[765] His successor and heir and biographer was the energetic Acacius.
A more important fact is that the martyrdom of Bishop Babylas of Antioch can now be definitely established. We have in this document reliable evidence that he suffered on the 24th January, which corresponds with the evidence of Chrysostom, who stated that the Festival of SS. Juventinus and Maximin, which was kept on the 4th February, followed closely on that of St Babylas.[766] Moreover, St Babylas was generally commemorated on the 24th January. According to Eusebius,[767] Babylas died in prison under Decius, and, according to Jerome, in the first year of his reign. Decius reigned from October, or, according to other authorities, from August 249 to 27th July 251, and one of his first acts was to inaugurate the persecution against the Christians. Accordingly the death of Babylas must have happened on the 24th January 250. Since all authorities agree in stating that he had been bishop for thirteen years, we are now able to fix the year of the death of Zebinas, his predecessor, i.e. 237, and the day of the month is given as 13th January in the Arian martyrology. This document must be regarded as a thoroughly reliable source for the dates of the death of the Antiochene bishops in particular, and we can, therefore, place the death of Maximin, the seventh in the list of bishops, on the 4th February 191, and the death of Serapion on the 14th May 215.
It is scarcely necessary to observe that this calendar, although it is an Arian document, contains not merely the names of Arian worthies, but many which belong to Catholic antiquity. It is chiefly to this that it owes its importance for the history of the Church, and it is also due to this that it was capable of being combined with the catalogue of Persian saints, which is an essentially Catholic document. On the other hand, it is by no means a complete martyrology, and is in itself a liturgical, and not a historical, document intended by its unskilful compiler to serve party ends.
The Goths in Italy had also a menology of their own, of which a fragment was discovered by A. Mai. Unfortunately, it contains only the month of November. It is noteworthy that it mentions the Apostle Andrew, whose name does not occur in the similar martyrology of which we have just been speaking. The fragment, with this exception, contains Gothic names alone. St Clement and St Cecilia do not appear, which proves its freedom from Roman influence, and shows that it was essentially a national production.[768]
4. The so-called Martyrologium Hieronymianum
(Second Half of the Seventh Century)
Already in the time of St Gregory the Great there existed in Rome a complete and universal list containing merely the names of the martyrs and the place where they suffered, arranged according to the days of the year. Eulogius, the contemporary bishop of Alexandria, besought the pope to send him the complete collection of the acts of the martyrs drawn up by Eusebius in the time of Constantine. He believed these were to be found in Rome. He had doubtless in view the “Collection of Martyrs” (συλλογὴ τῶν μαρτυρίων) just mentioned. St Gregory replied that they had in Rome a collection of the names of all the martyrs in one volume, but no complete collection of their acts.[769]
The work of Eusebius here referred to was not forthcoming in Alexandria either, and was already regarded as lost, but the fact that such a work had once existed was not forgotten. A work of the same kind was also attributed to St Jerome, which is also no longer in existence. The senator Cassiodorus exhorts his monks to read diligently the histories of the martyrs (passiones martyrum) who have lived throughout the whole world, in order to stir themselves up to the practice of virtue. These they will find in the letter written by St Jerome to Chromatius and Heliodorus. These last words are somewhat obscure, for it would be impossible to deal with the acts of all the martyrs in one letter.[770] However, so much is plain that Cassiodorus ascribed to St Jerome a work of this kind. Finally, it must be borne in mind that St Jerome had translated some of the historical writings of Eusebius. This may have given rise to the idea that he had also translated his collection of the martyrdoms. It is not impossible that he may have done so, although we have no evidence of the fact. Bede also speaks of a martyrology of St Jerome, but with some uncertainty, for he had never seen it himself, and thought St Jerome may have been only the translator and not the author of the work.[771] In Bede’s day the so-called Hieronymianum was already in existence, as the researches of De Rossi and Duchesne have recently shown. That it was also known to Gregory the Great and Cassiodorus cannot be maintained, especially as the words of the latter are so obscure. It is, however, certain from his words that Cassiodorus believed Jerome to have been the author of a work of this kind. Further evidence for this is, unfortunately, lacking, though the thing is not impossible in itself. Abbot Hilduin, a writer of the ninth century, referred also to this point, and was of opinion that Constantine had collected all the acts of the martyrs from all parts of the empire, and had sent them to Eusebius at Cæsarea.[772] This statement, however, is not of much importance, since it represents a view originating in the interpolated letter of St Jerome already referred to.