CHD Litanie Omnium Sanctorum

The Hierarchy of the Saints
Some statistics on the Litanie Omnium Sanctorum

The following statistics were made in 1994 when I had entered 443 litanies on my database (in 6 are the virgins missing, which explains the total of 437 below). The sources comprise a large number of early printed liturgical books (1480-1520) from all over Europe, recorded in the notes of Dom Beyssac, which makes it more representative than it would be, if I only follow my own notes from books of hours of high artistical value, where a concentration on Northern France and Flanders in the 15th century is inevitable. Today has the database grown to 700 litanies, but there is no reason to update the statistics, because all new recordings are confirming the same basic tendencies as they were found in 1994.
The tables show the number of occurrences for each saint on the positions from first to 11th. A number of saints that were very popular are not represented here, for the simple reason that they have their statistical peak at the end of the litanies, between position 10 and 20, f.ex. the group of martyrs with associated saints, like Mauricius who just has sneaked in here. Likewise are the almost compulsory virtual virgins "Fides, Spes and Caritas" not represented, because they usually mark the end of the virgins in a classical litany (this will be explained later).

Martiresm1m2m3m4m5m6m7m8m9m10m11
Alexander 0 1 16 13 13 8 7 6 1 0 0
Blasi 0 2 1 2 4 1 10 10 17 8 7
Calixte 0 1 1 3 3 8 2 2 5 2 0
Clemens 1 85 37 204 29 20 8 2 4 1 0
Clete 0 7 196 28 15 9 1 3 1 0 0
Corneli 0 0 15 17 37 113 38 20 11 5 9
Cypriane 0 0 1 12 11 30 103 35 18 11 5
Damiane 0 0 0 0 1 2 7 7 13 14 17
Dyonisi 0 0 2 5 7 6 10 13 14 22 27
Fabiane 0 0 8 17 19 12 16 13 22 32 28
Georgi 0 1 2 3 5 6 11 17 15 22 26
Gervasi 0 1 0 1 0 1 7 18 7 13 10
Johannes 0 0 0 0 9 8 6 5 4 17 12
Laurenti 0 53 25 19 50 34 32 96 38 28 12
Leodegari 0 0 1 4 1 2 3 4 4 2 4
Line 0 208 24 17 8 1 3 1 0 1 0
Marcelle 0 0 0 8 5 8 2 2 6 2 1
Maurici 0 0 1 1 2 1 8 10 10 19 14
Prothasi 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 13 14 9 9
Sebastiane 0 0 1 8 19 20 12 21 20 28 34
Sixte 1 7 23 10 139 26 31 12 11 5 5
Stephane 429 9 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Thoma 0 0 4 1 3 1 5 2 3 11 2
Vincenti 0 5 50 22 16 50 32 29 85 37 23
Xpofore 1 1 0 2 4 3 11 11 9 9 11
Ypolite 0 0 0 0 5 2 4 6 5 13 10
Confessoresc1c2c3c4c5c6c7c8c9c10c11
Ambrosi 0 7 46 79 75 56 32 27 13 17 8
Anthoni 0 3 1 1 3 3 6 6 8 8 13
Augustine 3 8 24 86 87 55 51 31 25 14 9
Benedicte 3 5 6 2 5 5 10 25 28 27 29
Bernarde 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 6 4 10 9
Brici 0 0 3 5 6 4 5 6 9 11 4
Dominice 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 3 3 6
Egidi 0 0 0 1 3 3 1 6 10 15 11
Eligi 0 0 0 1 3 1 4 2 12 5 9
Germane 0 1 2 3 5 9 14 9 10 14 19
Gregori 8 102 99 29 33 49 30 21 17 8 6
Hylari 4 51 54 29 23 14 29 17 17 14 8
Ieronime 0 1 11 25 58 75 34 32 34 20 16
Iuliane 6 1 2 2 1 6 3 3 5 2 10
Leo 4 123 32 10 6 7 7 10 5 4 2
Marcialis 5 10 4 8 5 0 3 4 2 3 3
Martine 34 42 79 76 35 46 29 32 20 9 10
Nicholae 4 17 22 30 27 31 71 48 30 29 26
Remigi 1 2 2 3 6 16 19 25 18 13 15
Romane 0 1 0 0 4 0 2 0 5 1 1
Silvester 326 35 13 6 9 7 3 0 0 3 0
Vedaste 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 4 4 5 3
Others 45 33 42 46 47 51 79 121 153 191 209
Total 443 443 443 443 441 439 438 437 432 426 420

The virgins are here arranged in reversed order, after their increasing occurrence among the first 11:
Virginesv1v2v3v4v5v6v7v8v9v10v11Sum
Ursula 0 1 2 0 0 1 2 2 2 3 821
Apollonia 0 0 0 0 4 1 4 2 3 7 324
Xpristina 0 0 0 1 1 2 1 4 5 6 727
Elizabeth 1 5 5 8 0 3 0 1 2 9 640
Genovefa 4 3 1 1 3 4 7 6 18 10 663
Petronilla 0 0 3 5 8 9 9 7 8 14 1174
Martha 0 24 45 13 5 5 5 2 4 0 2105
Barbara 0 2 5 4 8 12 17 15 16 16 13108
Scolastica 0 1 0 3 3 3 3 22 25 27 25112
Anastasia 0 0 2 2 1 7 13 21 38 22 29135
Maria egyptiaca 0 120 29 9 2 0 0 1 0 2 1164
Anna 84 36 41 8 6 7 3 1 4 3 5198
Margareta 0 3 5 9 21 15 17 27 35 30 36198
Katherina 2 10 15 24 21 30 33 18 31 38 36258
Perpetua 1 33 67 92 58 30 6 7 2 2 1299
Felicitas 34 71 97 60 26 6 8 1 3 1 3310
Lucia 1 1 13 30 42 73 62 60 46 29 4361
Cecilia 1 1 5 14 41 49 79 75 52 23 v11363
Agnes 1 11 24 39 61 72 72 50 17 16 9372
Maria magdalena 278 75 8 3 0 0 3 2 1 1 3374
Agatha 1 13 41 71 102 74 43 25 16 7 4397
Others 29 27 29 41 24 34 48 80 98 150 165
Total 437 437 437 437 437 437 435 429 426 416 400

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© Erik Drigsdahl 1997 - Last update: 14/12/1997