View source for Martyrology of Usuard

{{Short description|9th-century martyrology}}
{{Italic title}}
[[Image:Martyrologium Usurardi Incipit.jpg|thumb|Beginning of the Martyrology]]
The '''''Martyrology of Usuard''''' is a work by [[Usuard]], a  monk of the [[Benedictine]] [[abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés]].<ref name=Thurston>[https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15235b.htm Thurston, Herbert. "Martyrology of Usuard." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 12 March 2021{{PD-notice}}</ref> The prologue is dedicated to [[Charles the Bald]] indicating that it was undertaken at that monarch's instigation. It was apparently written shortly before the author's death in 875.<ref name=Bonniwell>[http://catholocity.net/Martyrology/martyr00.htm Bonniwell O.P., W.R., "Introduction", ''The Martyrology of the Sacred Order of Friars Preachers'', The Newman Press, Westminster, Maryland, 1955]</ref> The martyrology enjoyed consistent success throughout the Middle Ages, as evidenced by numerous surviving manuscripts.<ref>[[Henri Quentin]] gives a partial list: cf. ''Martyrologes historiques'', 1908, pp. 675-677.</ref> This martyrology synthesizes elements of the old [[Martyrologium Hieronymianum]], the martyrology of [[Ado of Vienne]], and an enhanced version of that of [[Bede]], attributed to the [[archdeacon]] [[Florus of Lyon]]. It contains eleven hundred saints' lives. The martyrology is a compilation upon which the later ''[[Roman Martyrology]]'' depended closely until the twentieth century; it remained throughout the [[Middle Ages]] the most famous document of its kind. It is preserved to us in innumerable [[manuscript]]s, of which [[Henri Quentin]] gives a partial list (''Martyrologes historiques'', 1908, pp.&nbsp;675–7).

The full story of the relation of the texts was unravelled for the first time by Quentin, and the evolution of the early medieval martyrologia culminating in Usuard's work was told by Quentin in the book just cited. Usuard provided what was substantially an abridgement of [[Ado (archbishop)|Ado]]'s ''Martyrology'' in a form better adapted for practical liturgical use. In certain points, however, Usuard reverted to a Lyonese [[recension]] of [[Bede]]'s augmented ''Martyrology'', which was attributed to the [[archdeacon]] [[Florus of Lyon]].<ref name=Thurston/>

The text of Usuard's ''Martyrologium'' was edited by [[Jacques Bouillart]] (Paris, 1718) from manuscript Latini 13745 at Paris, which, if not the [[autograph]] of the author, dates at any rate from his time. A still more elaborate edition was brought out by the [[Bollandists|Bollandist]] Father [[Jean-Baptiste Du Sollier]].<ref name=Thurston/>

In the thirteenth century the Dominican Order adopted Usuard's as the basis for their own martyrology.<ref name=Bonniwell/>

==Usuard==
'''Usuard''' (died 23 January 875)<ref name=Bonniwell>[http://catholocity.net/Martyrology/martyr00.htm Bonniwell O.P., W.R., "Introduction", ''The Martyrology of the Sacred Order of Friars Preachers'', The Newman Press, Westminster, Maryland, 1955]</ref> was a [[Benedictine]] monk at the [[Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés]] and a [[Carolingian dynasty|Carolingian]] scholar.<ref>[https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15235b.htm Thurston, Herbert. "Martyrology of Usuard." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 12 March 2021{{PD-notice}}</ref>

His name appears in a list of monks of Saint-Germain-des-Prés written around 841/847 (a declaration of spiritual association with the monks of the [[Abbey of Saint-Remi]]). In 858, he went to Spain with his colleague Odilard monk to collect [[relics]]; they returned with those martyrs George, Aurelius and Nathalie, Christians executed in [[Córdoba, Andalusia]] on 27 July 852.<ref>[https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4016k4z6 Effros, B. (1990). "Usuard's Journey to Spain and Its Influence on the Dissemination of the Cult of the Cordovan Martyrs". ''Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies'', 21(1)]</ref> The account of this voyage, accompanied by miracles, was told by their colleague [[Aimoin of Saint-Germain-des-Prés|Aimoin]]

Usuard also composed an [[obituary]] of the abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the oldest of its kind (edited by Auguste Molinier, ''The French obituaries in the Middle Ages'', 1890).

==Notes==
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==Sources==
*[[s:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Martyrology of Usuard|''Martyrology of Usuard'']]
* [[Henri Quentin]], ''Les martyrologes historiques du Moyen Âge'', Paris, 1908.
* {{Cite journal| doi = 10.3406/rhef.1957.3214| issn = 0300-9505| volume = 43| issue = 140| pages = 35–48| last = Dubois| first = Jean| title =  Un témoin de la vie intellectuelle à Saint-Germain-des-Prés au IXe siècle: Le martyrologe d'Usuard | journal = Revue d'histoire de l'Église de France| access-date = 2016-11-02| date = 1957| url = https://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/rhef_0300-9505_1957_num_43_140_3214}}
* {{Cite journal| date = 1988–1989| volume = 48–49| pages = 85–101| last = Overgaauw| first = E.A.| title = Les deux recensions de la lettre-préface d'Usuard à Charles le Chauve et les trois recensions de son martyrologe| journal = ALMA, Bulletin du Cange| doi = 10.3406/alma.1988.1618| hdl = 2042/3414}}

==External links==
* [https://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/30_10_0810-0875-_Usuardus_Sangermanensis_Monachus.html Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina with analytical indexes]
*[https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.MS116 Guide to Usuard, Martirologium. Manuscript, 14--] at the [https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/scrc/ University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center]

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[[Category:Martyrologies]]