E05253: Latin Orationale of the Old Hispanic Liturgy of the 7th c. (Orationale Visigothicum), with prayers used on the feasts of saints in January and February: *Iulianus/Ioulianos and Basilissa (martyrs of Egypt, S01341), *Innocents (children killed on the orders of Herod, S00268), *Fructuosus, Auguris and Eulogius (bishop and his two deacons, martyrs of Tarragona, S00496), *Vincent (deacon and martyr of Saragossa and Valentia, S00290), the Chair of *Peter the Apostle (S00036).

Orationale Visigothicum

Summary:

The Orationale Visigothicum contains prayers for use in the divine office on every day of year. The prayers are ordered according to the liturgical seasons. Generally the prayers are divided into benedictiones (blessings) and completuriae (closing prayers), and aliae (other), and sometimes it is specified whether they should be applied during the matutinal or vespertine office. The number of prayers given for a day varies. In our database we are providing summaries only of the entries that relate to the feasts of saints.

7 January: the feast of Julianus and Basilissa. The completuria and benedictio (nos. 420–421) to be used both at Matins and Vespers. The prayers praise the martyrs as a chaste, celestial marriage and Christian models for both men and women. The benedectio also mentions one of their companions, Celsius, a boy 'who could not suffer to be separated from the side of the martyr [Julian]' (a latere martiris non passus est dividi, cf. Martyrdom of Julianus and Basilissa 46: Celsius, qui numquam a latere sancti Iuliani fuit disiunctus).

[8 January:] the feast of Innocents (Allisio Infantum). The date is not explicitly given, the prayers are placed between those for the feast of Julianus and Basilissa and those for the feast of Fructuosus, Auguris and Eulogius on 21 January. Later Mozarabic calendars note that the feast of Innocents was celebrated in Spain on 8 January. The prayers (nos. 422-445), both for the Vespers and the Matins, explore the subject of innocence. The intercession of the martyrs is expected to give the people in prayer the purity and blamelessness necessary to enter heaven. The Church is compared to the mother who is weeping for her children.

21 January: the feast of Fructuosus, Auguris, and Eulogius. 23 prayers for both Vespers and Matins (nos. 446–468). The prayers praise the saints, not only as martyrs, but also as exemplary clerics (they are all described as sacerdotes, though only Fructuosus was a bishop, Auguris and Eulogius were his deacons – in prayers they are also described as diaconi or levitae). Their death by burning is explicitly mentioned in several prayers, and the three martyrs are compared to the Three Youths in the Furnace (especially nos. 449–454; cf. Martyrdom of Fructuosus, Augurius and Eulogius 5, $E###) and the prayers are accompanied by the antiphons taken from the Book of Daniel. Additionally, in prayer 523, one of the prayers for the last Sunday before Lent (carnes tollendas), the rubric says: Item completuria post explicitas laudes quas psallendo vadunt usque ad sancta Iherusalem que in sancto Fructuoso dicenda est ('Moreover, a closing prayer said on the day of saint Fructuosus after the lauds which they chant in procession to the holy Jerusalem').

22 January: the feast of Vincent. 27 prayers for both Vespers and Matins (nos. 469–495); they mention that the martyr was imprisoned in a dark place (cf. Martyrdom of Vincent 15), tortured by fire (in 493 he is compared to the Three Youths; cf. Martyrdom of Vincent 17) and later thrown into the sea (cf. Martyrdom of Vincent 24–25).

22 February: the feast of the Chair of Peter. 11 prayers for both Vespers and Matins (nos. 496-506). The feast is presented as the commemoration of the day on which Peter was ordained a bishop (prayer no. 496). Peter is praised as the one who leads the Church and as the rock (petra) on which it is build, he has the power of forgiving and retaining sins and keeps the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Summary by M. Szada.