Note 52 — Chapter I · THE KING OF THE WOOD

Johanni Apostoli de transitu Beatae Mariae Virginis Liber: ex recensione et cum interpretatione Maximiliani Engeri (Elberfeldae, 1854), pp. 101, 103. This and the preceding passage are both cited by the late Prof. E. Lucius in his book Die Anfänge des Heiligenkultes in der christlichen Kirche (Tübingen, 1904), pp. 488 sq., 521. From them and from the entries in the Syrian calendars (see the next note), Lucius rightly inferred that the Assumption of the Virgin Mary had been assigned by the Church to the 15th of August with reference to the ripening of the grapes and other fruits, and that the Christian festival replaced an old heathen festival of first-fruits, which must have been held about the same time. But he appears to have overlooked the occurrence of Diana’s festival on the 13th of August.