The Lives of the Saints, Volume 1 (of 16)

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Baring-Gould Sabine. The Lives of the Saints, Volume 1 (of 16)

January 1. The Feast of the Circumcision of our Lord Jesus Christ

January 2. The Octave of S. Stephen, the First Martyr

January 3. The Octave of S. John, the Evangelist

January 4. Octave of the Holy Innocents

January 5. The Vigil of the Epiphany

January 6. The Epiphany

January 7

January 8

January 9

January 10

January 11

January 12

January 13. The Octave of the Epiphany

January 14

January 15

January 16

January 17

January 18

January 19

January 20

January 21

January 22

January 23

January 24

January 25

January 26

January 27

January 28

January 29

January 30

January 31

ADDENDA

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Amartyrology means, properly, a list of witnesses. The martyrologies are catalogues in which are to be found the names of the Saints, with the days and places of their deaths, and generally with the distinctive character of their sanctity, and with an historic summary of their lives. The name is incorrect if we use the word "martyr" in its restricted sense as a witness unto death. "Hagiology" would be more suitable, as a martyrology includes the names of many Saints who were not martyrs. But the term "Martyrology" was given to this catalogue at an early age, when it was customary to commemorate only those who were properly martyrs, having suffered death in testimony to their faith; but it is not unsuitable if we regard as martyrs all those who by their lives have testified to the truth, as indeed we are justified in doing.

In the primitive Church it was customary for the Holy Eucharist to be celebrated on the anniversary of the death of a martyr – if possible, on his tomb. Where in one diocese there were several martyrs, as, for instance, in that of Cæsarea, there were many days in the year on which these commemorations were made, and the Church – say that of Cæsarea – drew up a calendar with the days marked on which these festivals occurred.

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Next in importance to the Martyrology of Jerome and the little Roman Martyrology, comes that of the Venerable Bede. In the catalogue of his own works that he drew up, he says, "I wrote a Martyrology of the natal days of the holy martyrs, in which I took care to set down all I could find, not only on their several days, but I also gave the sort of conflict they underwent, and under what judge they conquered the world."

If we compare this Martyrology with the Acts of the Martyrs, we see at once that Bede took his account from them verbatim, merely condensing the narrative.

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