HEORTOLOGY
A HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN FESTIVALS FROM
THEIR ORIGIN TO THE PRESENT DAY
BY
Dr K. A. HEINRICH KELLNER
PROFESSOR OF CATHOLIC THEOLOGY IN
THE UNIVERSITY OF BONN
TRANSLATED WITH THE AUTHOR’S PERMISSION FROM
THE SECOND GERMAN EDITION
BY
A PRIEST OF THE DIOCESE OF WESTMINSTER
LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER & CO., LIMITED
DRYDEN HOUSE, GERRARD STREET, W.
1908
NIHIL OBSTAT
FR. OSMUND, O.F.M.,
Censor deputatus.
IMPRIMATUR
✠ GULIELMUS,
Episcopus Arindelensis, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii,
die 24 Feb., 1908.
IMPRIMATUR TO THE SECOND GERMAN EDITION
✠ THOMAS,
Archiepp̄s.
Friburgi Brisgoviæ,
die 8 Maii, 1906.
In older works on liturgy, the festivals of the Churchhave been generally dealt with as forming part of agreater whole, while in more recent times variousquestions relating to them have been discussed inseparate articles in encyclopædias and reviews. Thetime seems now to have come when the cycle ofecclesiastical festivals ought to be regarded as a definitedepartment of study by itself. The older works, besidesbeing difficult of access, do not come up to the standardof modern works on the same subject, and the independentinvestigations of recent date, although throwingmuch new light upon some points, have left others untouched,with the result that the reader is unable to gaina clear conception of the matter as a whole.
The solid results gained by investigations into thisbranch of study in earlier and later times must now becollected, and systematised, and brought up to thelevel demanded by modern science. Much remainsto be done in this department owing to the fresh lightthat has been thrown upon it by the publication ofdocuments hitherto inaccessible, among which we maymention the so-called Peregrinatio Silviæ discoveredby Gamurrini, the Lectionaries of Silos, and the criticaledition of the so-called Martyrologium Hieronymianumof de Rossi and Duchesne. The last-named documenthas so far been more of a hindrance than a help in thisbranch of study, some attributing too much importanceto it, and others none at all.
It has seemed to the author that the time for gatheringtogether the ascertained results derived from theseand similar books has come. It is chiefly for theologicalstudents and the younger clergy that the followingbook is intended. Such a work as would make it easyto deal with the subject in sermons and catecheticalinstructions, and, at the same time, would give clearlyand briefly all the information necessary for dealingwith the question from the historical standpoint, avoidingequally uncritical credulity and sceptical unbelief—sucha work seems to the author demanded by thecircumstances of the time.
Moreover, the Minister of Public Worship in Prussiahas recently (12th S