COLLEGIUM CULTORUM MARTYRUM. — Founded on 6 Jan. 1879 by Mariano Armellini (v.), Adolfo Hytrek, Orazio Marucchi (v.) STEVENSON, JOSEPH (v.), all disciples of G. B. De Rossi (v.). Its purpose is to revive the cult of the martyrs, especially at their tombs in the ancient Christian cemeteries. On that day, after the celebration of Holy Mass in the crypt of St Cecilia in the Catacomb of Callistus and the visit to the image of the Epiphany in the same cemetery, the foundations of the institution were laid and its name was established. On 2 Feb. following, welcomed by Msgr A. De Waal (v.) in the hospice of St Mary in the Campo Santo, which became the Schola collegii, the lex collegii formulated by E. Stevenson on the ancient lex of the funeral collegium of Lanuvium and its regulations were approved.
1965 COLLEGIUM CULTORUM MARTYRIUM — COLLETTARIO 1966
The collegial calendar was established, beginning the year with the celebration of the Nativity of St Cecilia in the Catacomb of Callistus; major solemnities were distinguished with a morning liturgical celebration, followed by an archaeological lecture, a fraternal agape, an afternoon liturgical commemoration with an archaeological lecture and a procession in the cemetery ambulacra; on other days the commemoration is limited to the morning or afternoon. This calendar has undergone several modifications, always in agreement with the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology (v. COMMISSIONI PONTIFICE), to which Pius XI by his motu proprio of 11 Dec. 1925 entrusted matters relating to the cult of the ancient Christian cemeteries. The collegium is composed of an indeterminate number of sodales and associates; women are admitted to the latter category. The sodales and associates need not reside in Rome. Only the sodales participate in meetings with a deliberative vote. All members of the collegium pay a small annual fee to cover the expenses of liturgical celebrations and administration. The collegium is governed by a directing council composed of five sodales chosen by lot, who must ensure observance of the lex; the presidency of the collegium is elected annually by the sodales and consists of a Magister (president), a Sacerdos (director of liturgical celebrations), an ab epistolis (secretary), an acarius (treasurer) and a tricliniarus (in charge of the agapi).
The seat of the collegium is at the Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology (via Napoleone III, no. 1). The liturgical celebrations of the collegium were greatly enhanced by its late Magister (1931–47), Msgr Carlo Respighi, who wished the collegium to promote in Rome the reform of the Lenten Stations. The collegium has also promoted liturgical celebrations at the shrines of the martyrs outside Rome, so that, in imitation and in connection with the Roman C.M. collegium, sections of the same collegium have been established at Chiusi and Palestrina.