Heortology: A history of the Christian festivals from their origin to the present day

About this book

Heortology presents itself as a scholarly survey of the Christian liturgical calendar, concentrating on the Roman Catholic feast days that have been publicly celebrated from antiquity to the early twentieth century. The author opens with a critique of earlier, unwieldy treatments of the subject and argues that recent discoveries, such as the Peregrinatio Silviæ, the Silos lectionaries, and the critical edition of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum, warrant a fresh, systematic compilation. Intended for theological students and younger clergy, the work promises a concise yet historically grounded account that balances reverence with critical inquiry, avoiding both naïve credulity and outright skepticism. Its structure follows a logical progression from general principles of festival classification, through detailed examinations of the Easter and Christmas cycles, to the lives of saints and the documentary foundations of the ecclesiastical year.

Written in the measured, academic prose of the late‑Victorian era, the text reflects the meticulous research habits of its time, drawing on a wide range of medieval and early‑modern sources. Readers who appreciate thorough documentary scholarship, particularly those interested in liturgical history, church‑year pedagogy, or the development of Catholic feast practices, will find the volume a valuable reference. Its dense organization and extensive footnotes suit a studious audience rather than casual readers seeking narrative storytelling.

Opening lines

In older works on liturgy, the festivals of the Church have been generally dealt with as forming part of a greater whole, while in more recent times various questions relating to them have been discussed in separate articles in encyclopædias and reviews. The time seems now to have come when the cycle of ecclesiastical festivals ought to be regarded as a definite department of study by itself. The older works, besides being difficult of access, do not come up to the standard of modern works on the same subject, and the independent investigations of recent date, although throwing much new light upon some points, have left others untouched, with the result that the reader is unable to gain a clear conception of the matter as a whole. …

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