I've been traveling for a while, so I am somewhat late in responding to
this question, but some of the issues it raises don't seem to have been
covered yet.
There is no need to find a martyrdom (of whatever color) to justify
Kentigern's presence in a martyrology. Many of the saints included in
those lists were honored as confessors rather than martyrs, so Kentigern
would be no anomaly.
With regard to Usuard's martyrology, the date of 875 used to be
generally accepted, but the most recent scholarship that I know of sees
the author as having produced three recensions dating between the late
850s and mid-870s. (For a summary of the evidence, see E. A. Overgaauw,
Martyrologes manuscrits des anciens dioceses d'Utrecht et de Liege:
Etude sur le developpement et la diffusion du Martyrologe d'Usuard, vol.
1, pp. 30-34.) The best edition (of the autyhor's two later recensions)
is Dubois'.
Kentigern does not appear in text compiled by Usuard, but martyrologies
were expanded and adapted nearly every time they were copied so the
number of saints constantly increased. Two editions of Usuard's work
include a number of these expanded mss. One is Overgaauw's study of
martyrologies from the dioceses of Utrecht and Liege, but as far as I
can see Kentigern does not appear in any of those.
The other is J.-B. Du Sollier (Sollerius), Martyrologium Usuardi monachi
... (Antwerp 1714) and in Acta sanctorum, Iun. 6-7 [the second half of
each vol.] (Antwerp 1715-1717); in the more widely available 3rd edn of
AASS, this text appears in one vol., Iun. 6 (Paris 1866); it is also
reproduced in Migne, PL, vol. 123-124. (The quotations below are from
Migne's version.) Du Sollier consulted a large number of mss and early
printed editions, and for each day he published a collection of
"auctaria," i.e. additions to what he considered to be the pure
Usuardian text.
On 13 January, he cites references to Kentigern in two texts. The ms he
identifies as the "Codex Altempsianus" contains the following: "In
Scotia, civitate Glasguensi, sancti Kintengerni sive Mungunti episcopi
et confessoris." This ms is now Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana,
Ottobon. lat. 163 (14th cent). According to N. J. Morgan, "Notes on the
Post-Conquest Calendar, Litany and Martyrology of the Cathedral Priory
of Winchester ...," The Vanishing Past: Studies ... presented to
Christopher Hohler, edd. A. Borg and A. Martindale (Oxford, 1981), pp.
162f, the text is based on a Winchester martyrology but complied at
Norwich.
Also, the sixteenth-century edition of Usuard that Du Sollier attributed
to Herman Greven notes, "In Scotia, sancti Kenthegerni episcopi
Glascoensis, et confessoris." On this text, see B. de Gaiffier, "Le
martyrologe et le legendier d'Herman Greven," Analecta Bollandiana 54
(1936), 316-58. De Gaiffier says it is the work of an anonymous editor
who used an earlier compilation by Greven.
Either of those commemorations could be the basis of Collingwood's
statement, or he could have found Kentigern inserted into yet another
Usuard ms.
Best wishes,
John McCulloh
On Fri, 6 Aug 1999 [log in to unmask] wrote:
> In his article "The Early Church in Dumfriesshire and its Monuments"
> (TDGNHAS, iii, XII, 1926), W.G. Collingwood makes reference to the
> Martyrologium Usuardi where St. Kentigern appears as "bishop of Glasgow and
> confessor".
> The MU is supposed to have been compiled in the ninth century (Collingwood
> gives a very precise "875"); but can the entry for Kentigern really be of
> this antiquity or is it a later addition?
> The latest edition of the MU seems to be Dubois "Le Martyrologe d'Usuard",
> Brussels 1965, but are there any more recent authorities?
> Finally, I am a bit perplexed as to why Kentigern should appear in a
> martyrology, anyway. The only martyrdom involved in his Vita seems to have
> been his being kicked around a little by the wicked Morken. Was being
> appointed to a see in Scotland considered a fate worse than death?
> I look forward to the usual erudite comments from fellow list-members.
>
> Henry Gough-Cooper@Dumfriesshire, Scotland.
>
John M. McCulloh [log in to unmask]
History Department 785-532-0373
Eisenhower Hall (Note new area code!)
Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS 66506
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