[Rank]
S. Vitalis martyr;;Simplex;;1.1;;vide C2

[Rule]
vide C2;

[Oratio]
Grant we beseech the almighty God, that we who celebrate the martyrdom of blessed Vitalis, through his intercession be strengtened in your love
$Per Dominum

[Lectio93]
Vitalis was a soldier, and the father of the holy Martyrs Gervase and Protase. He went to Ravenna with Paulinus the judge, and there saw the physician Ursicinus led out to die, because he owned to being a believer in Christ. As the torments went on, Ursicinus seemed to waver a little, and Vitalis cried out to him, Ursicinus! as a physician thou hast been used to heal other men's bodies, take heed lest thou let thine own soul die eternally. These words encouraged Ursicinus, and he endured bravely in his testimony even unto the end but Paulinus was filled with fury, and caused Vitalis to be seized, tormented on the rack, and finally thrown into a pit and buried under an heap of stones. When it was over, a certain priest of Apollo, who had urged on Paulinus against Vitalis, was seized by the devil, and began to cry out, Vitalis Vitalis thou art Christ's Martyr, but thou makest me to burn thou makest me to burn until in that phrenzy he threw himself into the river.
&teDeum