The Nicene Age · AD 313–400
The Hieronymian compilers
original compilation c. AD 431–450, northern Italy; surviving text from a Gallican recension of c. 592 (held at the timeline’s ceiling) · Anonymous compilers of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum · Aquileia, northern Italy → Auxerre, Gaul
The Nicene Age
Who The Hieronymian compilers was
The archive’s fourth most-cited authority at forty-nine mentions, and nobody knows who they were. The Hieronymian Martyrology is the ancestor of every later Western martyrology, and it is pseudonymous: it opens with a forged exchange in which bishops Chromatius of Aquileia and Heliodorus of Altinum ask Jerome for a list of feasts, and Jerome replies. Duchesne identified three sources fused in the text — the Chronograph of 354 for the Roman entries, an eastern Syriac martyrology, and a fourth-century African calendar. The text that survives is not the original but a Gallican recension made at Auxerre around 592, so entries carry two dates and the later layer needs flagging. Held at the archive’s AD 400 ceiling, as Augustine, Jerome and Chrysostom are.
One attestation only — the work is self-attesting: the author names himself, his office or his circumstances inside his own text, and no independent ancient source describes him.
Also listed in martyrs.
Common questions
When did The Hieronymian compilers live?
The Hieronymian compilers is dated original compilation c. AD 431–450, northern Italy; surviving text from a Gallican recension of c. 592 (held at the timeline’s ceiling) in the archive, which places The Hieronymian compilers in the Nicene Age (AD 313–400). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.
What did The Hieronymian compilers write?
The Hieronymian compilers has 1 catalogued writing in the archive: Martyrologium Hieronymianum.
Which early sources mention The Hieronymian compilers?
The Hieronymian compilers is named in 1 primary-source passage catalogued here, drawn from Pseudo-Jerome. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was The Hieronymian compilers from?
The archive associates The Hieronymian compilers with Aquileia, northern Italy, Auxerre, Gaul. The sources record more than one location, so the places are listed in the order the record moves through them.
Writings (1)
Martyrologium Hieronymianum
compiled c. AD 431–450; surviving recension c. 592[The four earliest manuscripts are all eighth-century: Bern 289, Wolfenbüttel Weissenburg 81, Paris BnF lat. 10837, and the Echternach fragment.]Read the interlinear source text →
Primary-source mentions (1)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
The forged prefatory correspondence, in which the compilers present the work as Jerome’s
c. AD 450[Chromatius and Heliodorus write to ‘Jerome’ asking for the feasts of the martyrs from the Feriale of Eusebius, and receive a reply in his name. Both letters are forgeries, and they are the compilers’ only self-presentation.]Pseudo-Jerome · Martyrologium Hieronymianum, praefatio · source text
Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- AD 339 · The persecution of Shapur II, AD 339
- AD 343 · The Council of Serdica, AD 343
- AD 361 · Julian’s pagan restoration, AD 361
- AD 366 · Damasus and the catacomb epigrams, AD 366
- AD 367 · Athanasius lists the 27 NT books, AD 367
- AD 372 · The martyrdom of Sabbas the Goth, AD 372
- AD 378 · Queen Mavia’s revolt, AD 378
- AD 380 · The Edict of Thessalonica, AD 380
- AD 381 · The Council of Constantinople, AD 381
- AD 381 · The Council of Aquileia, AD 381
- AD 384 · The Altar of Victory petition, AD 384
- AD 390 · Thessalonica and the penance of Theodosius, AD 390
- AD 397 · Carthage confirms the canon, AD 397
Place
Places served
The 2 places the sources put The Hieronymian compilers, in the order the record moves through them. This is what the sources attest, not a reconstructed route.