Martyrological fulfilment: the process of reform in the publication of late sixteenth-century printed Italian martyrologies, c. 1568 - 1583

Throughout the first half of the sixteenth century, Catholic martyrologies were printed in Italy based on the martyrology of Usuard. These martyrologies directly transcribed the majority of the entries in his martyrology, added their own eulogia and changed the title to identify it with the Romana Curia. This was done in an attempt to universalise the liturgy through the creation of a universal martyrology for the Catholic Church. This is what we term “martyrological fulfilment”. This effort began in the last two decades of the fifteenth century and continued into the sixteenth century with the numerous editions of Bellino de Padua. Not only did his editions remain almost identical in their content, but they all held a title that associated itself with the Romana Curia. It was Bellino’s martyrology that was the leading and most widely used martyrology in the first half of the sixteenth century. However, after the conclusion of the Council of Trent, there appeared a distinct effort at reforming what multiple martyrological authors believed to be erroneous in the martyrology, mainly on a historical basis. This effort was first seen in Francisco Maurolico’s martyrology, who was then followed by Pietro Galesinio, Stephani Salmántico’s, and Pope Gregory XIII and the Martyrologium Romanum 1583. The primary goal of this martyrological reform was the same as it was with Bellino: to universalise the liturgy through the creation of a universal martyrology for the Catholic Church. This thesis analyses the post-Trent martyrologies, between 1568 and 1583, to trace and demonstrate the presence of the desire for martyrological fulfilment through the efforts of martyrological reform. We have demonstrated that through the continuing process of reform in these martyrologies, being primarily influenced by the Council of Trent, martyrological fulfilment was first achieved by the Martyrologium Romanum 1583, making it the first “ecclesial martyrology” of the Catholic Church.