COLLEGIUM CULTORUM MARTYRUM. — Founded on 6 January 1879 by Mariano Armellini (v.), Adolfo Hytrek, Marucchi (v.), STEVENSON, JOSEPH (v.), all disciples of G. B. De Rossi (v.). Its purpose is to revive the veneration 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 S. Cecilia in 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 the following 2 February, welcomed by Msgr. A. De Waal (v.) at the hospice of S. Maria in Campo Santo, which became the Schola collegii, the lex collegii formulated by E. Stevenson on the basis of the ancient lex of the funerary college of Lanuvium, together with its regulations, was approved.
The collegial calendar was established, its year beginning with the celebration of the Nativity of S. Cecilia in Callistus. The major solemnities were distinguished by a liturgical celebration in the morning, followed by an archaeological conference, a fraternal agape, and a liturgical commemoration in the afternoon with an archaeological conference and a procession through the cemetery ambulacra; on other days, meanwhile, the commemoration is limited either to the morning or to the afternoon. This calendar has undergone several modifications, always in agreement with the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology (v. COMMISSIONI PONTIFICE), to which the former XI, by his motu proprio of 11 December 1925, entrusted all matters relating to the veneration of the ancient Christian cemeteries. The c. is composed of an indeterminate number of sodales and associates; women are also admitted to the latter category.
The sodales and associates need not reside in Rome. Only the sodales take part in the meetings with deliberative vote. All those enrolled in the college pay a modest annual fee to cover the expenses of the liturgical celebrations and administration. The college is governed by a governing council composed of five sodales coratores perpetui, who must ensure observance of the lex. The presidency of the college is elected annually by the sodales and consists of a Magister (president), a Sacerdos (director of the liturgical celebrations), an ab epistolis (secretary), an arcarius (treasurer), and a trichiura (for the agapae).
The college’s headquarters are at the Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology (1, via Napoleone III). A great impetus to the liturgical celebrations was given to the college by its late Magister (1931–47), Msgr. Carlo Respighi, who wished the college to promote in Rome the revival of the S. Stazioni Quadragesimali. The college has also promoted liturgical celebrations at the shrines of martyrs outside Rome, to such an extent that, following the example of and in affiliation with the c. C.M. of Rome, sections of the same college have been established at Chiusi and Palestrina. Enrico Josi