§ 85. FESTIVALS OF THE SAIN'.'S. 443
the early clmrcli, and bear a universal character, are the fol lowing :
1. The feast of the two chief apostles Peter an.i Paul,' oii the twenty-ninth of June, the day of their martyrdom. It is with the Latins and the Greeks the most important of the feasts of the apostles, and, as the homilies for the day by Gregory I^azianzen, Chrysostom, Ambrose, Augustine, and Leo the Great show, was generally introduced as early as the fourth century.
2. Besides this, the Roman church has observed since the fifth century a special feast in honor of the prince of the apostles and for the glorification of the papal ofiice : the feast of THE See of Peter '' on the twenty-second of February, the day on whicli, according to tradition, he took possession of the Roman bishopric. With this there was also an Antiochian St. Peter's day on the eighteenth of January, in memory of the supposed episcopal reign of this apostle in Antioch. The Catholic liturgists dispute which of the two feasts is the older. After Leo the Great, the bishops used to keep their Natalea, Subsequently the feast of the Chains of Peter' was introduced in memory of the chains which Peter wore, according to Acts xii. 6, under Herod at Jerusalem, and, according to the Roman legend, in the prison at Rome under Nero.
3. The feast of John, the apostle and evangelist, on the twenty-seventh of December, has already been mentioned in connection with the Christmas cycle."
4. Likewise the feast of the protomartyr Stephen, on the twenty- sixth of December, after the fourth century."*
5. The feast of John the Baptist, the last representative
' Natalis apostolorum Petri el Pauli.
^ Festum cathedrae Petri.
' Festum catenarum Petri, commonly Petri ad vincula, on the first of August According to the legend, the Herodian Peter's-chain, which the empress Eudoxia, wife of Theodosius II., discovered on a pilgrimage in Jerusalem, and sent as a precious relic to Rome, miraculously united with the Neronian Peter's-chain at Rome on the first contact, so that the two have since formed only one holy and inseparable chain 1
« Comp. § 77, p. 398.
' Ibid.
444 TiiiKi) I'EitioD. A.i). 311-590,
of the saints before Christ. This was, contrary to the genera i-nle, a feast of bis birtb, not liis martyrdom, and, with reference t.(; the birth festival of the Lord on the twenty-fifth of December, was celebrated six months earlier, on the twenty-fourth of June, the summer solstice. This Avas intended to signify at once his relation to Christ and his well-known word : " He must increase, but I must decrease." He represented the decreasing sun of the ancient covenant ; Christ, the rising sun of tlie new.' In order to celebrate more especially the martyrdom of the Baptist, a feast of the behicading of John,' on the twenty-ninth of August, was afterward introduced; but this never became so important and popular as the feast of his birth.
G. To be just to all the heroes of the faith, the Greek church, after the fourth century, celebrated a feast of All Saints on the Sunday after Pentecost (the Latin festival of the Trinity).' The Latin church, after 610, kept a similar feast, the Festum Omnium Sanctoklm, on the first of JSToveniber; but this did not come into general use till after the ninth century.
7. The feast of tlie Akcuangel Michael,* the leader of the hosts of angels, and the representative of the church triumphant,* on the twenty-ninth of September. This owes its origin to some miraculous appearances of Michael in the Catholic legends.* The worship of the angels developed itself sim-
' Comp. John iii. SO. This interpretation is given by Augustine, Serm. 12 in Nat. Dom. : " In nativitate Christi dies creacit ; in Johannis nativitate decrcscU, Profectum plane facit dies, quum mundi Salvator oritur ; defectum patitur, quum ultimus prophetarum generatur."
' Festum decoUaiionis S. Johannis B.
' This Sunday is therefore called by the Greeks the Martyrs^ and Saints' Sun. lay, 7) KvpiUKT] tS>v kyiuv irivTWV^OV tSiu ayiaiv Kal fiaprvpuv. We have a homily of Chrysostom on it : '^yKd/j-tov fU rovi aylovs irdvrat rou^ iv 3a^ r^ Koaixw fxapTupvaravrei, or De raartyribus totius orbis. Horn. Ixxiv. Opera, torn. ii. 711 sqq.
* Festum S. Michaelis, archangeli. ' Rev. xii. 7-9 ; comp. Judo, vs. 9.
• Comp. Augusti, Archaeologie, i. p. 586. Michael, c. g., m a pestilence in Rome la the seventh century, is said to have appeared as a deliverer on the Tomb of Hadrian (Moles Iladriani, or Mausolco di Adriano), so that the place received the name of Angel's Castle (Castello di S. Angelo). It lies, as la well known, a. tae gre*; bridge of the Tiber, and is used as a fortress.