USUARDUS: French Benedictine; flourished in the ninth century; d. at St. Germain-des-Pros, Paris, Jan. 13, probably 875. In 858 he was one of two monks deputed by his order and by Charles the Bald to. bring from Valencia the relics of St. Vincent, but on their way they learned that these relics had meanwhile been obtained by the bishop of Saragossa, and they accordingly changed their route to Cordova, where they were enabled to secure the bodies of Saints George and Aurelius, as well as the head of St. Natalia. In Oct., 858, Usuardus and his companion were again on French soil, only to find that, during their absence, a Norman inroad had driven the monks from St. Germain-desPres to Emant, in the diocese of Sens, whence they were unable to return until 863. The success of Usuardus in obtaining relics of the saints, together

I. Among the Hebrews.

Biblical Enactments (§ 1).

Talmudic and Later Usage (§ 2).

with his knowledge of church history, led Charles to commission him to draw up a martyrology, and it is to this work, which is based, with considerable personal control and investigation of his sources, on the martyrologies of Ado, Bede (as revised by Florus), and the pseudo-Jerome, that his lasting fame is due. Usuardus' martyrology, which was completed about 875, quickly secured great popularity, and was followed in the majority of the churches and monasteries of France, Italy, England, and Spain, naturally with the addition of various saints specially honored in each specific district. Still greater tribute was shown it when, in 1580, Gregory XIII. directed that this martyrology be revised and improved, the result being the issue, in 1583, of the Martyrologium Romanum, the foundation of the present Roman martyrology. The first edition of the martyrology of Usuardus appeared at Lubeck in 1475, and was repeatedly republished until superseded by the critical edition of J. B. Sollier (Antwerp, 1714; often reprinted, and also accessible in ASB, June, vi.-vii., and in MPL, exxiii.-cxxiv.).

Bibliography: J. C. F. Bhbr, Geschichte der römischen Litteratur im karol%ngischen Zeitalter, p. 501, Carlsruhe, 1840; A. Ebert, Allgemeine Geschichte der LiEeratur des Mittelalters, 1355, 386, Leipsic, 1880; A. Longnon, in Notices et documents publika pour le Société de I'hist. de Prance, pp. 19 sqq., Paris, 1884; HisEore.ach-politische BIZttter, exvi (1895), 489 sqq., egvii (1896), 177 sqq.; Ceillier, Avleura sacrés, xii. 611-812; KL, sii. 512-513.