Note 682 — Chapter II · THE SAINTS’ DAYS (continued 2)

Cf. my articles in the Tüb. Quartalschr., 1902, 237 seqq.; 1903, 321 seqq.; 1905, 258 seqq. Fr. Hippolyte Delahaye, in the Analecta Bollandiana (xxii. 1903, 86 seq.), when reviewing my articles, characterised my statements as “trop ingenieuses” and “fragiles,” without, however, being able to adduce any arguments on the other side. My first opponent, Dr Kirsch, was at least sufficiently fortunate as to ferret out a misprint. The sole attempt to overthrow my conclusions reduces itself to the remark that the “Depositio Martyrum” is not an exhaustive catalogue of all the Roman martyrs who had suffered previously to its compilation. I never said it was. But did it not contain all the martyres recogniti in Rome at the commencement of the fourth century (cf. below, page 350, for Mommsen’s remarks on this point), it would be a worthless piece of paper from which nothing could be gathered. Fr. Delahaye seems not to understand that, in dealing with material of this kind, it is of the utmost importance to start with what is actually known of the Roman officials and governments of the period. When he scornfully criticises my work as “trop ingenieux,” I must say that on my part I have found nothing in his obscure ex cathedra assertions to upset the date given above to the martyrdom of St Cecilia. [See Lightfoot, Apostolic Fathers, pt. ii. vol. i. 516-522, for a discussion on St Cecilia’s martyrdom.—Trans.]