E05840: The Calendar of Willibrord, in its earliest version, records the feasts of various saints in January. Written in Latin at Echternach, Frisia (north-east Gaul), 703/710.

https://doi.org/10.25446/oxford.13875443

online resource

posted on 2018-06-20, 00:00 authored by bsavill

The Calendar of Willibrord records in January the feasts of the following saints: *Genovefa (ascetic of Paris, ob. 502/512, <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13732237">S01156</a>) *Timothy (the disciple of Paul the Apostle, <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13730377">S00466</a>) *Felicitas (unspecified: presumably either the martyr of Rome, <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13730527">S00525</a>, or the companion of Perpetua, <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13729138">S00009</a>) *Hilarius (bishop of Poitiers, ob. 367, <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13729618">S00183</a>) *Felix (priest and confessor of Nola, <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13729117">S00000</a>) *Antony (the Great, monk of Egypt, ob.356, <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13729378">S00098</a>) *Peter (the Apostle, <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13729195">S00036</a>) *Mary (mother of Christ, <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13729186">S00033</a>) *Sebastianus (martyr of Rome, <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13730224">S00400</a>) *Agnes (virgin and martyr of Rome, <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13729375">S00097</a>) *Babylas (bishop and martyr of Antioch, <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13729270">S00061</a>) *Paul (the Apostle, <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13729135">S00008</a>) *Sulpicius (probably the bishop of Bourges, ob. 591, <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13735093">S02151</a>) *Valerius (bishop of Trier, 3rd/4th c., <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13735096">S02152</a>) *Lucia ('virgin': perhaps a saint of Trier, <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13735099">S02153</a>, or the martyr of Syracuse, <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13731301">S00846</a>) *Wilgis (anchorite and abbot of Northumbria, <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13735102">S02154</a>) Paris, Bibliothéque nationale de France, Lat. 10837, f. 34v Kalendas ianuari Circumcisio domini iiii nonas iii in parisi natale genifeuae uirginis ii nonas viii idus epifania domini vii vi natale timothei v iiii iii natale felicitatis ii idus natale hilari episcopi xviiii kalendas februari felicis confessoris in nola xviii xvii xvi natale antoni monachi xv cathedra petri in roma et adsumptio sanctae mariae xiiii xiii sebastiani martyris xii agnae uirginis xi x viiii babilae episcopi et martyris viii conuersio pauli in damasco vii vi natale sulpici episcopi v iiii treueris natale ualeri episcopi et luciae uirginis iii uilgisli abbatis ii '1 January - Circumcision of the Lord 2 3 - In Paris, the feast of Genovefa, virgin 4 5 6 - Epiphany of the Lord 7 8 - Feast of Timothy 9 10 11 - Saint Felicity 12 13 - Feast of Hilarius, bishop 14 - Felix, confessor in Nola 15 16 17 - Feast of Antony, monk 18 - Chair of Peter in Rome, and the Assumption of Saint Mary 19 20 - Sebastian, martyr 21 - Agnes, virgin 22 23 24 - Babylas, bishop and martyr 25 - Conversion of Paul in Damascus 26 27 - Feast of Sulpicius, bishop 28 29 - Feast of Valerius, bishop of Trier, and Lucia, virgin 30 - Wilgis, abbot 31' Text: Wilson 1918, 3 (adapted: Wilson's 'first hand' in roman type, 'second hand' in italics, later annotations omitted). Translation: B. Savill.

History

Evidence ID

E05840

Saint Name

Sulpicius, bishop of Bourges, ob. 591 : S02151 Valerius, bishop (and martyr?) of Trier : S02152 Lucia, virgin, perhaps of Trier (north-east Gaul) : S02153 Wilgis, anchorite and abbot of Northumbria (northern Britain), seventh century : S02154 Gen

Saint Name in Source

Sulpicus Valerus Lucia Uilgislus Genifeua Timotheus Felicitas Felicitas Hilarus Felix Antonus Petrus Maria Sebastianus Agna Babila Paulus Lucia

Related Saint Records

Image Caption 1

Paris, BnF, Lat. 10837, f. 34v (source: gallica.bnf.fr)

Type of Evidence

Liturgical texts - Calendars and martyrologies Late antique original manuscripts - Parchment codex

Language

Latin

Evidence not before

703

Evidence not after

710

Activity not before

703

Activity not after

710

Place of Evidence - Region

Gaul and Frankish kingdoms

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Echternach

Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)

Echternach Tours Tours Toronica urbs Prisciniacensim vicus Pressigny Turonorum civitas Ceratensis vicus Céré

Major author/Major anonymous work

The Calendar of Willibrord

Cult activities - Festivals

Saint’s feast

Source

A liturgical calendar directly associated with Willibrord (archbishop of the Frisians, 695-739; abbot of Echternach, 697/8-739) survives as a contemporary manuscript in Paris, BnF, Lat. 10837, ff. 34v-40, where it immediately follows a version of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum of approximately the same date and provenance. Although it exceeds our database’s cut-off point of AD 700 by some three to ten years, the Calendar of Willibrord is included here since it almost certainly provides a key witness to cultic and liturgical practices in Britain and Ireland at the close of the 7th century – something not afforded by the relatively meagre contemporary Insular evidence. Willibrord was born in Deira, Northumbria (northern Britain) in 657/8, and given as an oblate to the monastery of Ripon in 664. He left Britain for Ireland in 678, possibly under compulsion after the sudden fall from power that same year of his abbot and mentor, Bishop Wilfrid. He lived at the Irish monastery of Rath Melsigi until 690, before travelling to north-east Francia and embarking on his missionary career as 'apostle of the Frisians'. Pope Sergius I ordained Willibrord as archbishop in Rome in 695, and although he appears to have based his see at Utrecht, most sources suggest that his new monastic foundation at Echternach (near the modern-day Germany-Luxembourg border) served as his main ecclesiastical centre. Echternach’s early scriptorium almost certainly produced the Calendar. A lunar cycle for the years 703-21 appended to the text indicates the widest possible time frame for its original composition, and moreover suggests a date within that cycle’s first few years. Meanwhile, the absence of any entry for Willbrord’s mentor Bishop Wilfrid (ob. 24 April, 710), whom we know was cultivated as a saint almost immediately after his death, strongly suggests against any date later than 710. The Calendar includes no identifiable saints later than Pope Sergius I (ob. 701) and Lambert, bishop of Maastricht and patron saint of Liège (ob. c. 701/5). On palaeographical grounds, we can date the so-called 'first' and 'second' Insular uncial hands of the Calendar, plus two entries in Frankish uncial, to the early 8th century, and we have treated these here as comprising the effectively 'original' form of the Calendar. The manuscript does, however, also include numerous later interpolations and annotations (including an autobiographical entry by Willibrord himself, from 728), which belong to various hands from across the 8th and 9th centuries, and cannot always be dated precisely (Hen 1995). We have, therefore, not included these later entries in our database.

Discussion

Hilarius (Jan. 13): 'of Poitiers' (pictauiensis) is added by a later hand. Valerius of Trier and Lucia (of Trier?) (Jan. 29): the latter is otherwise unknown, but her appearance alongside Valerius in this entry suggests she may have been thought of as having some sort of connection to the bishop. Note that Trier is only about 15 miles (24 km) east of Echternach, and so this entry may have had a local significance. Lucia was possibly a local saint, otherwise unknown, or the famous Lucia of Syracuse is here referred to – it should be noted, however, that there is no evidence elsewhere that Lucia of Syracuse was associated with 29 January. Wilgis (Jan. 30): Willibrord's own father, described in Alcuin's Life of Willibrord (c. 796) as a hermit and, later, abbot of a monastic community dedicated to St Andrew between the river Humber and North Sea (north-east Britain). A later, 12th century Echternach martyrology (Paris, BnF, Lat. 10158) gives notice on Jan. 30 of 'the feast in Britain of the laying to rest of Saint Wilgis, abbot, father of our patron, Saint Willibrord' (Item in Britannia depositio sancti Wilgisli abbatis patris sancti patroni nostri Willibrordi). See Wilson, 1918, 17-20, for a full commentary.

Bibliography

Edition: The Calendar of St. Willibrord from Paris Lat. 10837: A Facsimile, with Transcription, Introduction and Notes, ed. H.A. Wilson (London, 1918). Further reading: Costambeys, M., "Willibrord [St Willibrord] (657/8-739)," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004), https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/29576 Hen, Y., Culture and Religion in Merovingian Gaul, AD 481-751 (Leiden, 1995), 102-6. McKitterick, R., "Frankish Uncial: A New Context for the Work of the Echternach Scriptorium," in: A. Weiler and P. Bange (eds.), Willibrord zijn wereld en zijn werk (Nijmegen, 1990), 374-88; repr. in R. McKitterick, Books, Scribes and Learning in the Frankish Kingdoms, 6th-9th Centuries (Aldershot, 1994), part V. Netzer, N., "The Early Scriptorium at Echternach: The State of the Question," in: G. Kiesel and J. Schroeder (eds.), Willibrord. Apostel der Niederande, Gründer der Abtei Echternach (Luxembourg, 1990), 127-34.

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Keywords

S02151 S02152 S02153 S02154 S01156 S00466 S00525 S00009 S00183 S00000 S00098 S00036 S00033 S00400 S00097 S00061 S00008 S00846 History

Licence

CC0