MARTYROLOGY, a catalogue or list of martyrs or, more exactly, of saints, arranged in the order of their anniversaries. This is the now accepted meaning in the Latin Church. In the Eastern Church the nearest equivalent to the martyrology is the Greek Synaxarium. As regards form, we should distinguish be tween simple martyrologies, which consist merely of an enumera tion of names, and historical martyrologies, which also include stories or biographical details. As regards documents, the most important distinction is between local and general martyrologies. The former give a list of the festivals of some particular Church; the latter are the result of a combination of several local mar tyrologies. The most important ancient martyrology preserved to the present day is in the form (mainly) of an enumeration of names, and was falsely attributed to St. Jerome. In its present form it goes back to the end of the 6th century. It is the result of the combination of a general martyrology of the Eastern Churches, a local martyrology of the Church of Rome, some general martyrologies of Italy and Africa, and a series of local martyrologies of Gaul. The task of critics is to distinguish be
tween its various constituent elements. Unfortunately, this docu ment has reached us in a lamentable condition. Of the best known historical martyrologies the most famous is that of Usuard (c. 875), on which the Roman martyrology was based. The first edition of the Roman martyrology appeared at Rome in 1583. The third edition, which appeared in 1584, was approved by Gregory XIII., who imposed this martyrology upon the whole Church.