The Acta Saxctoeum of the BoUandists, thus far 58 vols. fol. (1643-1858, com- ing down to the 22d of October). Theod. Eudsaet: Acta primorum martyrum sincera et selecta. Par. 1689 (confined to the first four cen- turies). Laderchio : S. patriarcharum et prophetarum, confessorum, cultus perpetuus, etc. Eom. 1730. (2) On the Pt'otestant side: J. Dall^cs : Adversus Latinorum de cultus religiosi objecto traditionem. Genev. 1664. Isaac Taylor: Ancient Christianity. 4th ed. Lond. 1844, vol. ii. p. 173 ff. (" Christianized demonolatry in the fourth century.") The system of saint-worship, including both Hagiology and Hagiolatry, developed itself at the same time with the worship of Mary ; for the latter is only the culmination of the former. The New Testament is equally ignorant of both. The ex- pression ajLoi, sancti, saints, is used by the apostles not of a particular class, a spiritual aristocracy of the church, but of all baptized and converted Christians without distinction ; because they are separated from the world, consecrated to the service * Festum immaculatM conceptionis B. M. V. § 84. THE WOESniP OF MAETTES AND SAINTS. 429 of God, waslied from the guilt of sin by the blood of Christ, and, notwithstanding all their remaining imperfections and sins, called to perfect holiness. The apostles address their epistles to "the saints," i. e., the Christian believers, "at Eome, Corinth, Ephesus," &c.' After the entrance of the heathen masses into the church the title came to be restricted to bishops and councils and to departed heroes of the Christian faith, especially the martyrs of the first three centuries. "When, on the cessation of perse- cution, the martyr's crown, at least within the limits of the Roman empire, was no longer attainable, extraordinary ascetic piety, great service to the church, and subsequently also the power of miracles, were required as indispensable conditions of reception into the Catholic calendar of saints. The anchorets esj)ecially, who, though not persecuted from without, volun- tarily crucified their flesh and overcame evil spirits, seemed to stand equal to the martyrs in holiness and in claims to venera- tion. A tribunal of canonization did not yet exist. The pop- ular voice commonly decided the matter, and passed for the voice of God. Some saints were venerated only in the regions where they Kved and died ; others enjoyed a national homage ; others, a universal. The veneration of the saints increased with the decrease of martyrdom, and with the remoteness of the objects of reverence. " Distance lends enchantment to the view ; " but "familiarity" is apt "to breed contempt." The sins and faults of the heroes of faith were lost in the bright haze of the past, while their virtues shone the more, and famished to a pious and superstitious fancy the richest material for legend- ary poesy. Almost all the catholic saints belong to the higher degrees of the clergy or to the monastic life. And the monks were the chief promoters of the worship of saints. At the