[Rank]
S. Martinae Virginis Martyris;;Semiduplex;;2;;vide C6b

[Rule]
vide C6b;
9 lectiones

[Oratio]
@Commune/C6::s/N\./Martina/

[Hymnus Matutinum]
v. With joyous songs, great Rome, Martina's fame extol,
Her glowing praises tell, and all her mighty deeds;
A Virgin pure and chaste, she leads a stainless life,
And for her Lord a martyr bleeds.
_
A happy home is hers, and all that makes this world
So sweet, and fresh, and fair, to those who love its wiles:
From noblest parents sprung, ‘mid wealth, and love, and joy,
Her life speeds on, ‘mid naught but smiles.
_
These pleasures soon she spurns her wealth she gladly gives
To Christ's own blessed poor herself, to God above;
No other wealth she seeks save her own spotless Spouse,
Forever blest in His pure love.
_
T' agonizing hooks, the rending scourge,
Shook not the dauntless spirit in her breast;
With torments racked, angels her fainting flesh
Recruit with heavenly feast.
_
In vain they cast her to the ravening beasts;
Calm at her feet the lion crouches down:
Till smitten by the sword at length she goes
To her immortal crown.
_
Now with the Saints Martina reigns in bliss,
And where idolatry sat throned of yore,
From her victorious altar praise and prayer
With odorous incense soar.
_
O Thou, the martyrs' strength, all cheating joys expel,
And fill us with thy bright and never-fading love;
show us the beam divine, which forms the crowning joy,
God, Three in One, of bliss above.
Amen.

[Lectio4]
Martina was a maiden of a most illustrious Roman family, daughter of a Consul. She lost her parents while still very young, and, being inflamed with Christian zeal, she distributed her wealth, whereof she had abundance, with great profusion among the poor. Under the Emperor Alexander, she was commanded to sacrifice to the imaginary gods, and refused with much boldness to commit this great wickedness. Upon this she was again and again scourged, and mangled with iron prongs and hooks, and pieces of broken pottery. Her limbs were cut off piece by piece with sharp swords, and boiling tallow poured upon the living trunk. Lastly she was sent to be eaten publicly by the wild beasts in the amphitheatre, but by the will of God they would not touch her, and she was then thrown upon a burning pile, but still remained alive.

[Lectio5]
Come of her tormentors were so moved by the spectacle, that they repented, and, by the grace of God confessing the faith of Christ, through which she remained constant, were themselves tortured and beheaded. Martina herself lay praying, with a brightness on her face, while a matter like milk oozed from her body along with the blood, emitting a soft, sweet smell. She was as it were unconscious of an earthquake and most violent thunderstorm which arose and was raging, and while the lightning struck temples, and melted statues, she seemed in spirit rather to be seated above on a queenly throne, praising God in heaven among the Blessed.

[Lectio6]
The judge being infuriated at what had taken place, and chiefly at her unbending firmness, ordered the head of the martyr to be cut off. At the moment this was done, a peal which shook the city was heard, like a voice calling her home, and so great was the consternation, that it was made the means of conversion to many idolaters. The holy body of Martina wherein she had suffered in the Pontificate of Urban I. was discovered in the time of Urban VIII., in the very old Church called after her, situated at the foot of the Capitoline Hill, near the Mamertine Prison, along with the bodies of the holy martyrs Concordius, Epiphanius, and others. The Church was then altered and restored and handsomely decorated, and then the body was replaced in it, amid public rejoicings, with a solemn ceremony and procession.

[Hymnus Laudes]
v. Be thou the guardian of thy native land,
And to all Christian nations grant repose
From din of arms, and every hostile band—
From all our borders drive away our foes.
_
Bid Christian princes marshal all their force
Beneath the sacred standard of the Rood,
To avenge sweet Salem's sacrilegious loss,
And crush the Paynim red with guiltless blood.
_
On thee our hopes are built, as on a tower;
Receive the homage we now humbly pay,
The vows which Rome accomplishes this hour,
With pious rites, and canticles' sweet lay.
_
Keep far from us all dangerous delight,
O God, who comfortest thy Martyrs' pain;
One God in Persons Three, bestow thy light
Wherewith Thou makest strong thy Martyrs slain.
Amen.

[Lectio94]
Martina, a Roman virgin of an illustrious family, lost her parents while she was still young and distributed her vast fortune lavishly to the poor. Under the emperor Alexander, she was commanded to sacrifice to the imaginary gods, and refused to commit this great crime. First she was subjected to many kinds of tortures and, finally condemned to the beasts in the amphitheater, was left unharmed by divine protection. Then she was thrown into a burning furnace, and again was preserved safe. Some of her tormentors moved by this unheard-of miracle embraced the faith of Christ and received the crown of martyrdom. At Martina's prayers, God worked many marvels. Angered by these and confounded by the Virgin's constancy, the judge ordered her beheaded. All this took place when St. Urban I was pope. Under Urban VIII, her body was found in the old church named after her at the Mamertine Prison together with the bodies of the holy Martyrs Concordius, Epiphanius and their companions. When the place had been renovated and decorated, her body was solemnly reburied, amid the rejoicing of the whole City.
&teDeum