Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
Prot. N. 551/00/L
Decree
From ancient times the Church has celebrated the paschal victory of Christ in his Saints of both Testaments, joyfully professing the fellowship of the faithful in the communion of the mystical body of the same Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. In the course of the centuries she has taken care to preserve in manifold ways the memory of the names and deeds of the Saints. Hence the Roman Martyrology too, whose first edition appeared in 1584 by order of Pope Gregory XIII, restored to accord with the new arrangement of the Calendar and with the truth of ecclesiastical history, was by the mandate of other Roman Pontiffs revised several times, corrected, and enlarged, down to the year 1960.
Nevertheless it flowed from the most ancient Latin Martyrology, called the Hieronymian, which was compiled from the confluence of various Calendars, namely the Roman, the African, and the Syriac, and afterward gradually enlarged with the names of many Saints from other regions, yet here and there obscured by duplications, confusions, and other errors. In accordance with the Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council on the Sacred Liturgy, so that “the accounts of the martyrdom or the lives of the Saints be made to accord with historical truth” (art. 92 c), it is necessary to submit to the judgment of historical scholarship the names of the Saints inscribed in the Martyrology and their elogia, and to treat them more carefully than before.
Moreover, it was fitting to inscribe the Saints and Blessed who enjoy public veneration approved by the Church, whether by immemorial cult, even local, or by solemn declaration made since the year 1960. This vast and laborious work, carried on over a long span of time, has now been so completed that, at the dawn of the third millennium, it can come to light and daily set before the faithful the names and examples of the Saints.
Accordingly, the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II has approved this edition of the Roman Martyrology by his apostolic authority, and the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments now promulgates it and declares it to be typical. This edition, drawn up in the Latin language, will begin to have force as soon as it has appeared. Anything whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding.
From the offices of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, on the 29th day of the month of June in the year 2001, on the solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles.
Jorge A. Cardinal Medina Estévez
Prefect
✠ Francesco Pio Tamburrino
Archbishop Secretary
Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
Prot. N. 1140/04/L
Decree
From generation to generation the mercy of God the Father almighty, who makes the word of the truth of the Gospel bear fruit throughout the whole world, so that the great plan of salvation may come to its full completion in Christ, has granted to Christ’s faithful to venerate the merits of all the Saints, in order that, with intercessors multiplied, he might bestow upon mankind the longed-for abundance of the Lord’s propitiation. These wonders of the love of the Most Holy Trinity—adoring God himself, wonderful and the one Holy One in all his saints—the Church unwearyingly honors and proclaims in the cult of the Saints, upon whom the Lord has conferred diverse distributions of graces on earth and one glorious reward in heaven.
An outstanding sign of this devotion of the people of God toward the Saints is the Roman Martyrology, very recently revised by decree of the Sacred Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, whose typical edition was promulgated on 29 June 2001. After only a short interval, therefore, attentive now to the practice that arises from the liturgical restoration, and having received the particular counsels of those who devoted themselves to the study of so great and laborious a work, it seemed good to introduce certain emendations, by which the text might become richer and clearer.
Not a few servants of God, therefore, raised by the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II to the dignity of the Blessed or of the Saints, have been inserted into this edition, so that they may at once be honored with suitable elogia on their heavenly birthday. Some variations have been introduced, which for the most part concern Saints whose mention had been lacking in the preceding edition or had presented certain doubts on historical grounds; minor changes, moreover, refine the Latin language and the orthography.
Accordingly, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, by virtue of the special faculties granted to it by the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II, now promulgates this second edition of the Roman Martyrology and declares it to be “typical.” It will be the responsibility of the Conferences of Bishops to translate into the vernacular languages the text found in this edition and to send it to this Dicastery for review. Anything whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding.
From the offices of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, on the 29th day of the month of June in the year 2004, on the solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles.
Francis Cardinal Arinze
Prefect
✠ Domenico Sorrentino
Archbishop Secretary