The Complete Roman Martyrology for Daily Reflection

(Martyrologium Romanum)

The Complete Martyrology in English

for Daily Reflection

The following is the complete text of the Roman Martyrology circa 1900 A.D. Many more Saints and Martyrs have since been entered into this calendar commemorating the heroic faith, the holy deeds, the exemplary lives, and in many cases the glorious deaths of these Milites Christi, or Soldiers of Christ, who gave every fiber of their being to God for His glory, for the sanctification of His Holy Catholic Church, for the conversion of sinners both at home and in partibus infidelium ¹, for the salvation of souls, and for the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, even as He had last commanded His holy Apostles:

“Euntes ergo docete omnes gentes: baptizantes eos in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Docentes eos servare omnia quæcumque mandavi vobis.”

“Going therefore, teach all nations: baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” (St. Matthew 28.19-20)

While the the Martyrology presented is complete, it nevertheless does not present us with great detail concerning the lives of those whose names are forever indited within it, still less the complete circumstances surrounding and leading up to their martyrdom. For greater detail of their lives, the sources now available on the Internet are extensive and we encourage you to explore them.² As it stands, the Martyrology is eminently suited to a brief daily reflection that will inspire us to greater fervor, even to imitate these conspicuously holy men and women in whatever measure our own state in life affords us through the grace and providence of Almighty God. What more salutary and beneficial way to begin ones day, every day, than by the reading of, and asking intercession from, “the Martyrs whose blood is the seed of the Church”^?³

Beginning January 1st 2012 - Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God — we began presenting the Daily Martyrology on our home page. We hope that you will make new and holy acquaintances — and be inspired by their example to lead lives of heroic sanctity too ... the vocation to which all of us are called by our Holy Mother the Church, the Bride of Christ.

Omnes sancti Mártyres, oráte pro nobis. (“All ye Holy Martyrs, pray for us”, from the Litaniae Sanctorum, the Litany of the Saints)

Editor
Boston Catholic Journal

Roman Martyrology by Month

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

INTRODUCTION TO THE ROMAN MARTYROLOGY

by J. Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop Baltimore

THE ROMAN MARTYROLOGY is an official and accredited record, on the pages of which are set forth in simple and brief, but impressive words, the glorious deeds of the Soldiers of Christ in all ages of the Church; of the illustrious Heroes and Heroines of the Cross, whom her solemn verdict has beatified or canonized. In making up this long roll of honor, the Church has been actuated by that instinctive wisdom with which the Spirit of God, who abides in her and teaches her all truth, has endowed her, and which permeates through and guides all her actions. She is the Spouse of Christ, without spot or wrinkle or blemish, wholly glorious and undefiled, whom He loved, for whom He died, and to whom He promised the Spirit of Truth, to comfort her in her dreary pilgrimage through this valley of tears, and to abide with her forever. She is one with Him in Spirit and in love, she is subject to Him in all things; she loves what He loves, she teaches and practices what He commands.

If the world has its “Legions of Honor”, why should not also the Church of the Living God, the pillar and the ground of the truth? If men who have been stained with blood, and women who have been tainted with vice, have had their memory consecrated in prose and in verse, and monuments erected to their memory, because they exhibited extraordinary talents, achieved great success, or were, to a greater or less extent, benefactors of their race in the temporal order, which passeth away, why should not the true Heroes and Heroines of Jesus, who, imitating His example, have overcome themselves, risen superior to and trampled upon the world, have aspired, in all their thoughts, words, and actions, to a heavenly crown, and have moreover labored with disinterested zeal and self-forgetting love for the good of their fellow-men, have their memories likewise consecrated and embalmed in the minds and hearts of the people of God? If time have its heroes, why should not eternity; if man, why should not God? “Thy friends, O Lord, are exceedingly honored; their principality is exceedingly exalted.” Whom His Father so dearly loved, the world crucified; whom the world neglects, despises, and crucifies, God, through His Church, exceedingly honors and exalts. Their praises are sung forth, with jubilation of heart, in the Church of God for ages on ages.

The wisdom of the Church of God in honoring her Saints is equaled only by the great utility of the practice thus consecrated. The Saints are not merely heroes; they are models. Christ lived in them, and Christ yet speaks through them. They were the living temples of the Holy Ghost, in whose mortal bodies dwelt all the riches of His wisdom and grace. They were in life consecrated human exemplars of divine excellence and perfection. Their example still appeals to our minds and to our hearts, more eloquently even than did their words to the men of their own generation, while they were in the tabernacle of the flesh. Though dead, they still speak. Their relics are instinct with sanctity, and through them they continue to breathe forth the sweet odor of Christ. The immortality into which they have entered still lingers in their bones, and seems to breathe in their mortal remains. As many an ardent, spirit has been induced to rush to the cannon's mouth by reading the exploits of earthly heroes, so many a generous Christian soul has been fired with heavenly ardor, and been impelled to rush to the crown of martyrdom, by reading the lives and heroic achievements of the Saints and Martyrs of Christ. Example, in its silent appeal, is more potent in its influence on the human heart and conduct than are words in their most eloquent utterances.

The Church knows and feels all this, in the Spirit of God with whom she is replenished ; and hence she sets forth, with holy joy and exultant hope, her bright and ever-increasing Calendar of Sanctity of just men and women made perfect and rendered glorious, under her unearthly and sublime teachings. In reading this roll of consecrated holiness, our instinctive conclusion is, precisely that which the great soul of St. Augustine reached at the very crisis of his life, the moment of his conversion "If other men like me have attained to such sanctity, why not I? Shall the poor, the afflicted, the despised of the World, bear away the palm of victory, the crown of immortality, while I lie buried in my sloth and dead in my sins, and thus lose the brilliant and glorious mansion already prepared for me in heaven? Shall all the gifts, which God has lavished upon me, be ingloriously spent and foolishly wasted, in the petty contest for this world's evanescent honors and riches, while the poor and contemned lay up treasures in heaven, and secure the prize of immortal glory? Shall others be the friends of God, whom He delights to honor, while I alone remain His enemy, and an alien from His blessed Kingdom?”

It is a consoling evidence of progress in the spiritual life in this country to find the Martyrology here published, for the first time, in English, and thereby made accessible, in its rich treasures of Sanctity, to all classes of our population. It will prove highly edifying and useful, not only to the members of our numerous religious Communities of both sexes, but also to the laity generally. Every day has here its record of Sanctity; and there is scarcely a Christian, no matter how lowly or how much occupied, who may not be able to daily peruse, with faith and with great profit, the brief page of each day's models of Holiness. These belong to all classes and callings of life; from the throne to the hovel, from the Pontiff to the lowest cleric, from the philosopher to the peasant, from the busy walks of life to the dreary wastes of the desert.

Let all, then, procure and read daily the appropriate portions of this Martyrology. Its daily and pious perusal will console us in affliction, will animate us in despondency, will make our souls glow with the love of God in coldness, and will lift up our minds and hearts from this dull and ever-changing earth to the bright and everlasting mansions prepared for us in Heaven!

Imprimatur, J. Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop Baltimore, Maryland 1916

Printable PDF Version

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¹ “in the lands of the unbelievers”

² http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_martyr
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Catholic_martyrs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Catholic_martyrs_of_the_English_Reformation

³ Tertullian (160-240 A.D.) Apologeticus, Chapter 50

ROMAN MARTYROLOGY

JANUARY 1st

The First Day of January

The Circumcision of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Octave of His Nativity.

At Rome, St. Almachius, martyr, who, by the command of Alipius, governor of the city, was killed by the gladiators for saying, "Today is the Octave of our Lord's birth; put an end to theworship of idols, and abstain from unclean sacrifices."

In the same city, on the Appian way, the crowning with martyrdom of thirty holy soldiers, under the emperor Diocletian.

Also at Rome, under the emperor Alexander, St. Martina, virgin, who endured various kinds of torments, and being beheaded, received the palm of martyrdom. Her feast is kept on the 30th of this month.

At Spoleto, in the time of the emperor Antoninus, St. Concordius, priest and martyr, who was beaten with
clubs, and then put to the torture. After a long confinement in prison, where he was visited by an angel, he lost his life by the sword.

The same day, St. Magnus, martyr.

At Caesarea, in Cappadocia, the demise of St. Basil, bishop, whose festival is kept on the 14th of June, the date of his consecration as bishop.

In Africa, St. Fulgentius, bishop of Buspoe, who suffered much from the Arians during the persecution of the Vandals, for holding the Catholic faith and teaching its excellent doctrine. After being banished to Sardinia, he was permitted to return to his diocese, where he ended his life by a holy death, leaving a reputation for sanctity and eloquence.

At Chieti, in Abruzzo, the birthday* of St. Justin, bishop of that city, illustrious for holiness of life and miracles.

In the diocese of Lyons, in the monastery of St. Claude, St. Eugendus, abbot, whose life was eminent for virtues and miracles.

At Souvigny, St. Odilo, abbot of Cluny, who was the first to prescribe that the commemoration of all the
faithful departed should be made in his monasteries the day after the feast of All Saints. This practice was afterwards received and approved by the universal Church.

In Tuscany, on Mount Senario blessed Bonfilius, confessor, one of the seven founders of the Order of the Servites of the blessed Virgin Mary, who, herself, suddenly called her devout servant to heaven.

At Alexandria, the departure from this world of St. Euphrosyna, virgin, who was renowned in her monastery for the virtue of abstinence, and the gift of miracles. And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and virgins.

Omnes sancti Mártyres, oráte pro nobis. ("All ye Holy Martyrs, pray for us", from the Litaniae Sanctorum, the Litany of the Saints)

Answer. Thanks be to God.

N. B. The reading of the Martyrology is always terminated in this manner.

Saints removed from the Roman Martyrology after Vatican II

131 Saints have been deleted from the Roman Martyrology by Pope Paul VI's motu proprio Mysterii Paschalis on 14 February 1969. The document states:

“It cannot be denied, however, that in the course of centuries the feasts of the saints have become more and more numerous. The Sacred Synod has therefore decreed: “Lest the feasts of the saints take precedence over the feasts which commemorate the very mysteries of salvation, many of them should be left to be celebrated by a particular Church or nation or religious community; only those should be extended to the universal Church which commemorate saints who are truly of universal significance.” (14) “ ... In order to execute this decision of the Ecumenical Council, the names of some saints have been removed from the universal Calendar, and the faculty has been given of re-establishing in regions concerned, if it is desired, the commemorations and cult of other saints. The suppression of reference to a certain number of saints who are not universally known has permitted the insertion, within the Roman Calendar, of names of some martyrs of regions where the proclaiming of the Gospel arrived at a later date. Thus, as representatives of their countries, those who have won renown by the shedding of their blood for Christ or by their outstanding virtues enjoy the same dignity in this same catalogue.

For these reasons we think that the new universal Calendar, prepared for the Latin rite, is more in harmony with the piety and the needs of our times, and that it better reflects the universality of the Church, in the sense that it proposes the names of the most important saints, who present to all the People of God a shining example of sanctity in a variety of ways. It is superfluous to say that this will contribute to the spiritual well-being of the entire Christian world. ... We establish that they will go into effect on January 1, 1970.”

January
Telephorus, 5 January, added in 1602 removed.
Hyginus, 11 January, added in the 12th century removed.
Paul, first hermit, 15 January, added in the 12th century, removed.
Maur, 15 January, added in the 12th century, removed.
Marcellus, 16 January, removed.
Prisca, 18 January, removed.
Maris, Martha, Abachum and Audifax, 19 January, removed.
Canute, 19 January, removed.
Anastasius, 22 January, added in the 12th century, removed.
Emerentiana, 23 January, added in the 9th century, removed.
Peter Nolasco, 28 January, added in 1664, removed.
2nd Feast of Agnes, 28 January, removed.
Martina, 30 January, added in 1635, removed.

February
Andrew Corsini, 4 February, added in 1666, removed.
Dorothy, 6 February, added in the 13th century, removed.
John of Matha, 8 February, added in 1679, removed.
Apollonia, 9 February, added in the 13th century, removed.
Valentine, 14 February, removed.
Faustinus and Jovita, 15 February, added in the 13th century, removed.
Simeon, 18 February, added in the 12th century, removed.
Gabriel of the Sorrowful Virgin, 27 February, added in 1932, removed.

March
Lucius I, 4 March, added in 1602, removed.
Forty Martyrs, 10 March, added in the 12th century, removed.

April
Hermenegild, 13 April, added in 1632, removed.
Tiburtius, Valerian, and Maximus, 14 April, removed.
Anicetus, 17 April, added in the 12th century, removed.
Soter and Caius, 22 April, added in the 13th century, removed.
The Greater Litany, 25 April, removed.
Cletus and Marcellinus, 26 April, added in the 13th century, removed..
Peter of Verona, 29 April, added in 1586, removed.

May
Alexander, Eventius & Theodolus, Juvenal, 3 May removed.
Antoninus; Gordian and Epimachus, 10 May, removed.
Boniface (Martyr), 14 May, removed.
Ubald, 16 May, removed.
Paschal Baylon, 17 May, removed.
Venantius, 18 May, removed.
Peter Celestine; Pudentiana, 19 May, removed.
Urban I, 25 May, removed.
Eleuterius, 26 May, removed.
Felix I, 30 May, removed.
Petronilla, 31 May, removed.

June
Erasmus, 2 June, removed.
Francis Caracciolo, 4 June, removed.
Primus and Felician, 9 June, removed.
John of San Facundo; Basilides, Cyrinus, Nabor and Nazarius, 12 June, removed.
Vitus, Modestus and Crescentia, 15 June, removed.
Gregory Barbarigo, 17 June, removed.
Mark and Marcellianus, 18 June, removed.
Juliana Falconieri; Gervase and Protase, 19 June, removed.
Silverius, 20 June, removed.
Vigil of the Nativity of John the Baptist, 23 June, removed.
William, 25 June, removed.
John and Paul, 26 June, removed.
Vigil of Peter and Paul, 28 June, removed.
Commemoration of Paul, 30 June, removed.

July
Processus and Martinian, 2 July, removed.
Seven Holy Brothers; Rufina and Secunda, 10 July, removed.
Pius I, 11 July, removed.
John Gualbert; Nabor and Felix, 12 July, removed.
Alexius, 17 July, removed.
Symphorosa and her seven Sons, 18 July, removed.
Margaret of Antioch, 20 July, removed.
Praxedes, 21 July, removed.
Apollinaris, 23 July, removed.
Liborius, 23 July, removed.
Christina 24 July, removed.
Christopher, 25 July, removed.
Pantaleon, 27 July, removed.
Nazarius and Celsus, Victor I, Innocent I, 28 July, removed.
Felix, Simplicius, Faustinus and Beatrice, 29 July, removed.
Abdon and Sennen, 30 July, removed.

August
Holy Machabees, 1 August, removed.
Stephen I, 2 August, removed.
Donatus, 7 August, removed.
Cyriacus, Largus and Smaragdus, 8 August, removed.
Romanus; Vigil of Laurence, 9 August, removed.
Tiburtius and Susanna, 11 August, removed.
Eusebius; Vigil of Assumption, 14 August, removed.
Hyacinth of Poland, 17 August, removed.
Agapitus, 18 August, removed.
Timothy and Companions, 22 August, removed.
Philip Benizi, 23 August, removed.
Zephyrinus, 26 August, removed.
Hermes, 28 August, removed.
Sabina, 29 August, removed.
Felix and Adauctus, 30 August, removed.
Raymond Nonnatus, 31 August, removed.

September
Giles; Twelve Holy Brothers, 1 September, removed.
Laurence Justinian, 5 September, removed.
Hadrian, 8 September, removed.
Gorgonius, 9 September, removed.
Nicholas of Tolentino, 10 September, removed.
Protus and Hyacinth, 11 September, removed.
Name of Mary, 12 September, duplicates Birth of Mary, removed.
Nicomedes, 15 September, removed.
Euphemia; Lucy and Geminianus, 16 September, removed.
Stigmata of Francis, 17 September, duplicates 4 October, removed.
Joseph of Cupertino, 18 September, removed.
Eustace and Companions, 20 September, removed.
Thomas of Villanova; Maurice and Companions, 22 September, removed.
Linus, Thecla; 23 September, removed.
Our Lady of Ransom, 24 September, removed.
Cyprian and Justina, 26 September, removed.

October
Remigius, 1 October, removed.
Placid and Companions, 5 October, removed.
Mark (Pope), 7 October, removed.
Sergius, Bacchus, Marcellus, Apulleius, 8 October, removed.
Francis Borgia, 10 October, removed.
Edward, 13 October, removed.
Peter of Alcantara, 19 October, removed.
Hilarion; Ursula and Companions, 21 October, removed.
Chrysanthus and Daria, 25 October, removed.
Evaristus, 26 October, removed.

November
Vitalis and Agricola, 4 November, removed.
Holy Four Crowned Martyrs, 8 November, removed.
Theodore, 9 November, removed.
Andrew Avellino; Tryphon, Respicius and Nympha, 10 November, removed.
Mennas, 11 November, removed.
Didacus of Alcala, 13 November, removed.
Gregory Thaumaturgus, 17 November, removed.
Felix of Valois, 20 November, removed.
Felicitas, 23 November, removed.
Chrysogonus, 24 November, removed.
Catherine, 25 November, removed.
Saturninus, 29 November, removed.

December
Viviana, 2 December, removed.
Barbara, 4 December, removed.
Sabbas, 5 December, removed.
Melchiades, 10 December, removed.
Anastasia, 25 December, removed.