The Roman Martyrology (Latin: Martyrologium Romanum) is the official martyrology of the Catholic Church. Its use is obligatory in matters regarding the Roman Rite liturgy, but dioceses, countries and religious institutes may add duly approved appendices to it. It provides an extensive but not exhaustive list of the saints recognized by the Church.

In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII decreed a revision of the Julian calendar, creating a new system, now called, after him, the Gregorian calendar. The Roman Martyrology was first published in 1583. A second edition was published in the same year. The third edition, in 1584, was made obligatory wherever the Roman Rite was in use.

The main source was the Martyrology of Usuard, completed by the Dialogues of Pope Gregory I and the works of some of the Fathers, and for the Greek saints by the catalogue known as the Menologion of Sirlet. Its origins can be traced back to the Martyrologium Hieronymianum, which was originally based on calendars of Roman, African and Syrian provenance, but to which were gradually added names of many saints from other areas, resulting in a number of duplications, fusions of different saints into one, and other mistakes.

Very soon, in 1586 and again in 1589, revised editions were published with corrections by Caesar Baronius along with indications of the sources on which he drew, and in 1630 Pope Urban VIII issued a new edition. 1748 saw the appearance of a revised edition by Pope Benedict XIV, who personally worked on the corrections: he suppressed some names, such as those of Clement of Alexandria and Sulpicius Severus, but kept others that had been objected to, such as that of Pope Siricius. Subsequent changes until the edition of 2001 were minor, involving some corrections, but mainly the addition of the names of newly canonized saints.

The Second Vatican Council decreed: "The accounts of martyrdom or the lives of the saints are to accord with the facts of history." The enterprise required years of study, after which a fully revised edition of the Roman Martyrology was issued in Latin (entitled Martyrologium Romanum) in 2001. This was followed in 2004 by a revision that corrected some typographical errors in the 2001 edition and added 117 people canonized or beatified between 2001 and 2004, as well as a considerable number of ancient saints not included in the previous edition. "The updated Martyrology contains 7,000 saints and blesseds currently venerated by the Church, and whose cult is officially recognized and proposed to the faithful as models worthy of imitation."

As an official list of recognised saints and beati, inclusion in the Roman Martyrology authorises the recognition of saints in the following ways:

Such commemorations in honour of a person who has only been beatified are only permitted in the diocese or religious order where the cult of that person is authorised, unless special permission is obtained from the Holy See.

The entry for each date in the Martyrology is to be read on the previous day. Reading in choir is recommended, but the reading may also be done otherwise: in seminaries and similar institutes, it has been traditional to read it after the main meal of the day.