Martyrs

Simple

Antiphons and Psalms at all the Hours and at the one Nocturn, the Nocturn Versicle, from the weekday, as in the Psalter.  The rest (omitting of course all Commemorations of Occurrences and Concurrences peculiar to the Christmas Octave) is as on the Feast, except the Lessons.

The Lessons of the Epistle to the Romans are always read with their Responds, in any Office of nine Lessons which may occur, unless it have Lessons from the Common or Proper, according to the Rubrics.

1st Vespers

Matins

Lauds

Prime

Terce

Sext

None

COLLECT OF THE DAY

CLOSING VERSICLES AND THAT WHICH FOLLOWETH

First Vespers

Capitulum           Apoc. 14. 1.
Vidi supra montem Sion Agnum stantem, et cum eo centum quadragínta quátuor míllia habéntes nomen ejus, et nomen Patris ejus scriptum in fróntibus suis.
R.  Deo grátias.

The Little Chapter          Apoc. 14. 1.
I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Sion, and with him an hundred and forty and four thousand, having his Father's Name written in their foreheads.
R.  Thanks be to God.

Salvéte, flores Mártyrum,
Quos lucis ipso in límine
Christi insecútor sústulit,
Ceu turbo nascéntes rosas.

Vos prima Christi víctima,
Grex immolatórum tener,
Aram sub ipsam símplices
Palma et corónis lúditis.

Jesu, tibi sit glória,
Qui natus es de Vírgine,
Cum Patre et almo Spíritu,
In sempitérna sæcula.  Amen.

All hail! ye infant martyr flowers,
Cut off in life's first dawning hours:
As rosebuds snapt in tempest strife
When Herod sought your Saviour's life.

You, tender flock of Christ, we sing,
First victims slain for Christ your King:
Beneath the Altar's heavenly ray
With Martyr-palms and crowns ye play.

Doxology
All honour, laud, and glory be,
O Jesu, Virgin-Born, to thee;
Whom with the Father we adore,
And Holy Ghost, for evermore.  Amen.

V.  Herod was exceeding wroth, and slew many children.
R.  In Bethlehem Judah, the city of David.

Ad Magnif. Ant:  Hi sunt, * qui cum muliéribus non sunt coinquináti : vírgines enim sunt, et sequúntur Agnum quocúmque íerit.

Ant. on Magnif:  These are they * which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins; and they follow the Lamb, whithersoever he goeth.

MAGNIFICAT

THE MAGNIFICAT

Oremus.
Deus, cujus hodiérna die præcónium Innocéntes Mártyres non loquéndo, sed moriéndo conféssi sunt : ómnia in nobis vitiórum mala mortífica ; ut fidem tuam, quam lingua nostra lóquitur, étiam móribus vita fateátur.  Per Dóminum.

Let us pray.
O God, whose praise the martyred Innocents did this day proclaim, not be speaking but by dying, do to death in us all the malice of sinfulness, that our lives may also proclaim thy faith, which our tongues profess.  Through.

COMMEMORATIONS, if there be any

CLOSING VERSICLES AND THAT WHICH FOLLOWETH

Matins

The first part of Matins is in the Ordinary

Invitatory and Hymn

The Nocturn

The Nocturn

De Epístola ad Romános

The Lesson is taken from the Epistle to the Romans

An ignorátis, fratres, (sciéntibus enim legem loquor) quia lex in hómine dominátur, quanto témpore vivit?  Nam quæ sub viro est múlier, vivénte viro, alligáta est legi : si autem mórtuus fúerit vir ejus, solúta est a lege viri.  Igitur, vivénte viro, vocábitur adúltera si fúerit cum alio viro : si autem mórtuus fúerit vir ejus, liberáta est a lege viri, ut non sit adúltera si fúerit cum álio viro.

Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?  For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.  So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

V.  Tu autem, Dómine, miserére nobis.
R.  Deo grátias.

V.  But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
R.  Thanks be to God.

R.  Sancta et immaculáta virgínitas, quibus te láudibus éfferam, néscio : * Quia quem cæli cápere non póterant, tuo grémio contulísti.
V.  Benedícta tu in muliéribus, et benedíctus fructus ventris tui.
R.  Quia quem cæli cápere non póterant, tuo grémio contulísti.

R.  O blessed Maiden, so holy and spotless in thy virginity, I know not how to praise thy greatness ; * For thou hast borne in thy breast him whom the heavens cannot contain.
V.  Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
R.  For thou hast borne in thy breast him whom the heavens cannot contain.

Itaque, fratres mei, et vos mortificáti estis legi per corpus Christi : ut sitis altérius, qui ex mórtuis resurréxit, ut fructificémus Deo.  Cum enim essémus in carne, passiónes peccatórum, quæ per legem erant, operabántur in membris nostris, ut fructificárent morti.  Nunc autem solúti sumus a lege mortis, in qua detinebámur, ita ut serviámus in novitáte spíritus, et non in vetustáte lítteræ.

Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.  For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.  But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

V.  Tu autem, Dómine, miserére nobis.
R.  Deo grátias.

V.  But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
R.  Thanks be to God.

R.  Nésciens Mater Virgo virum, péperit sine dolóre : * Salvatórem sæculórum, ipsum Regem Angelórum, sola Virgo lactábat úbere de cælo pleno.
V.  Domus pudíci péctoris templum repénte fit Dei : intácta nésciens virum, verbo concépit Fílium.
R.  Salvatórem sæculórum, ipsum Regem Angelórum, sola Virgo lactábat úbere de cælo pleno.

(V.  Glória Patri, et Fílio, et Spirítui Sancto.
R.  Salvatórem sæculórum, ipsum Regem Angelórum, sola Virgo lactábat úbere de cælo pleno.)

R.  The Virgin Mother, knowing no man, brought forth, without travail, the world's Redeemer ; * And he, the King of the Angels, received nourishment from a heaven-filled virginal bosom.
V.  The mansion of the modest breast becometh a shrine where God shall rest : the pure and undefiled one within her womb conceived the Son.
R.  And he, the King of the Angels, received nourishment from a heaven-filled virginal bosom.

(V.  Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
R.  And he, the King of the Angels, received nourishment from a heaven-filled virginal bosom.)

Nascénte Dómino, luctus cœpit, non cælo, sed mundo : indícitur mátribus lamentátio, Angelis exsultátio, infántibus transmigrátio.  Deus est, qui natus est : Innocéntes illi debéntur víctima, qui venit damnáre mundi malítiam.  Agnélli debent immolári, quia Agnus futúrus est crucifígi, qui tollit peccáta mundi.  Sed oves úlulant matres, quia agnos perdunt sine voce balántes.  Grande martyrium, crudéle spectáculum!  Exímitur machǽra, et nulla intérvenit causa : sola stridet invídia, cum qui natus est, nulli fáciat violéntiam.  Sed oves cérnimus matres : quæ super agnos lugent : Vox in Rama audíta est, plorátus et ululátus magnus.  Pígnora sunt, non crédita, sed creáta ; non depósita, sed expósita.

Once the Lord was born, mourning beginneth ; not indeed in heaven, but on earth : lamentation amongst mothers ; joy amongst angels ; migration amongst infants.  It is God who is born.  For him, Innocents be a fit sacrifice, in that he cometh to condemn the wickedness of the world.  Fitly are little lambs offered, in that there shall one day be crucified the Lamb that taketh away the sins of the world.  But the ewes do complain at the loss of their lambs, dumbly bleating, unable to speak.  O mighty martyrdom!  O cruel sight!  The sword is drawn, yet there is no cause for the same.  It is envy alone that demandeth this blood, seeing that he who is born doth violence to no one.  Nonetheless we do see mothers, like ewes, mourning over their lambs.  In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning.  But these lambs be pledges, not entrusted to man, rather created only for God ; not come to remain in the sight of mankind, but only to be shewn forth a brief space in their sight.

V.  Tu autem, Dómine, miserére nobis.
R.  Deo grátias.

V.  But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
R.  Thanks be to God.

But in an Office of nine Lessons, Glória Patri is omitted in the second Respond, and the following Lesson is read :

Benedíctio 3: Spíritus Sancti grátia illúminet sensus et corda nostra.
R.  Amen.

Benediction 3: May the grace of the Holy Spirit all our heart and mind enlighten.
R.  Amen.

Quid ergo dicémus? lex peccátum est?  Absit. Sed peccátum non cognóvi, nisi per legem : nam concupiscéntiam nesciébam, nisi lex díceret : Non concupísces.  Occasióne autem accépta, peccátum per mandátum operátum est in me omnem concupiscéntiam.  Sine lege enim peccátum mórtuum erat.  Ego autem vivébam sine lege aliquándo.  Sed cum venísset mandátum, peccátum revíxit.

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.  But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.  For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

V.  Tu autem, Dómine, miserére nobis.
R.  Deo grátias.

V.  But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
R.  Thanks be to God.

R.  Benedíctus qui venit in nómine Dómini, Deus Dóminus, et illúxit nobis : * Allelúja, allelúja.
V.  Hæc dies quam fecit Dóminus, exsultémus et lætémur in ea.
R.  Allelúja, allelúja.
V.  Glória Patri, et Fílio, et Spirítui Sancto.
R.  Allelúja, allelúja.

R.  Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord ; God is the Lord, who hath shewed us light : * Alleluia, alleluia.
V.  This is the day which the Lord hath made : we will rejoice and be glad in it.
R.  Alleluia, alleluia.
V.  Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
R.  Alleluia, alleluia.

In an Office of nine Lessons, after the conclusion of the First Nocturn, the Second Nocturn is begun according to the current weekday, as given in the table below.

Lauds

The first part of Lauds is in the Ordinary

Capitulum           Apoc. 14. 1.
Vidi supra montem Sion Agnum stantem, et cum eo centum quadragínta quátuor míllia habéntes nomen ejus, et nomen Patris ejus scriptum in fróntibus suis.
R.  Deo grátias.

The Little Chapter          Apoc. 14. 1.
I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Sion, and with him an hundred and forty and four thousand, having his Father's Name written in their foreheads.
R.  Thanks be to God.

Salvéte, flores Mártyrum,
Quos lucis ipso in límine
Christi insecútor sústulit,
Ceu turbo nascéntes rosas.

Vos prima Christi víctima,
Grex immolatórum tener,
Aram sub ipsam símplices
Palma et corónis lúditis.

Jesu, tibi sit glória,
Qui natus es de Vírgine,
Cum Patre et almo Spíritu,
In sempitérna sæcula.  Amen.

All hail! ye infant martyr flowers,
Cut off in life's first dawning hours:
As rosebuds snapt in tempest strife
When Herod sought your Saviour's life.

You, tender flock of Christ, we sing,
First victims slain for Christ your King:
Beneath the Altar's heavenly ray
With Martyr-palms and crowns ye play.

Doxology
All honour, laud, and glory be,
O Jesu, Virgin-Born, to thee;
Whom with the Father we adore,
And Holy Ghost, for evermore.  Amen.

V.  Herod was exceeding wroth, and slew many children.
R.  In Bethlehem Judah, the city of David.

Ad Bened. Ant:  Hi sunt, * qui cum muliéribus non sunt coinquináti : vírgines enim sunt, et sequúntur Agnum quocúmque íerit.

Ant. on Bened:  These are they * which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins; and they follow the Lamb, whithersoever he goeth.

BENEDICTUS

THE BENEDICTUS

Oremus.
Deus, cujus hodiérna die præcónium Innocéntes Mártyres non loquéndo, sed moriéndo conféssi sunt : ómnia in nobis vitiórum mala mortífica ; ut fidem tuam, quam lingua nostra lóquitur, étiam móribus vita fateátur.  Per Dóminum.

Let us pray.
O God, whose praise the martyred Innocents did this day proclaim, not be speaking but by dying, do to death in us all the malice of sinfulness, that our lives may also proclaim thy faith, which our tongues profess.  Through.

COMMEMORATIONS, if there be any

CLOSING VERSICLES AND THAT WHICH FOLLOWETH

Prime

Lectio Brevis   Apoc. 14. 4.
Hi empti sunt ex homínibus primítiæ Deo et Agno, et in ore ipsórum non est invéntum mendácium : sine mácula enim sunt ante thronum Dei.  Tu autem, Dómine, miserére nobis.
R.  Deo grátias.

Brief Lesson    Apoc. 14. 4.
These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.  And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.  But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
R.  Thanks be to God.

Return to the Office of Prime

Terce

After completing the Antiphon following the Psalms, the Choir stands and then is said the Little Chapter and Brief Respond as follows:

STAND

Capitulum           Apoc. 14. 1.
Vidi supra montem Sion Agnum stantem, et cum eo centum quadragínta quátuor míllia habéntes nomen ejus, et nomen Patris ejus scriptum in fróntibus suis.
R.  Deo grátias.

The Little Chapter          Apoc. 14. 1.
I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Sion, and with him an hundred and forty and four thousand, having his Father's Name written in their foreheads.
R.  Thanks be to God.

V.  Lætámini in Dómino * Et exsultáte, justi.
R.  Lætámini in Dómino * Et exsultáte, justi.
V.  Et gloriámini, omnes recti corde.
R.  Et exsultáte, justi.
V.  Glória Patri, et Fílio, et Spirítui Sancto.
R.  Lætámini in Dómino * Et exsultáte, justi.

V.  Exsúltent justi in conspéctu Dei.
R.  Et delecténtur in lætítia.

V.  Dóminus vobíscum.
R.  Et cum spíritu tuo.

V.  Be glad, O ye righteous, * And rejoice in the Lord.
R.  Be glad, O ye righteous, * And rejoice in the Lord.
V.  And be joyful, all ye that are true of heart.
R.  And rejoice in the Lord.
V.  Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
R.  Be glad, O ye righteous, * And rejoice in the Lord.

V.  Let the righteous be glad, and rejoice before God.
R.  Let them also be merry and joyful.

V.  The Lord be with you.
R.  And with thy spirit.

Sext

After completing the Antiphon following the Psalms, the Choir stands and then is said the Little Chapter and Brief Respond as follows:

STAND

Capitulum                      Apoc. 14. 4.
Hi sunt, qui cum muliéribus non sunt coinquináti : vírgines enim sunt.  Hi sequúntur Agnum quocúmque íerit.
R.  Deo grátias.

The Little Chapter          Apoc. 14. 4.
These are they which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins.  These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.
R.  Thanks be to God.

V.  Exsúltent justi  * In conspéctu Dei.
R.  Exsúltent justi  * In conspéctu Dei.
V.  Et delecténtur in lætítia.
R.  In conspéctu Dei.
V.  Glória Patri, et Fílio, et Spirítui Sancto.
R.  Exsúltent justi  * In conspéctu Dei.

V.  Justi autem in perpétuum vivent.
R.  Et apud Dóminum est merces eórum. 

V.  Dóminus vobíscum.
R.  Et cum spíritu tuo.

V.  Let the righteous be glad, * and rejoice before God.
R.  Let the righteous be glad, * and rejoice before God.
V.  Let them also be merry and joyful.
R.  And rejoice before God.
V.  Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
R.  Let the righteous be glad, * and rejoice before God.

V.  The righteous live for evermore.
R.  Their reward also is with the Lord. 

V.  The Lord be with you.
R.  And with thy spirit.

None

STAND

Lectio Brevis   Apoc. 14. 4.
Hi empti sunt ex homínibus primítiæ Deo et Agno, et in ore ipsórum non est invéntum mendácium : sine mácula enim sunt ante thronum Dei.
R.  Deo grátias.

Brief Lesson    Apoc. 14. 4.
These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.  And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
R.  Thanks be to God.

V.  Justi autem * In perpétuum vivent.
R.  Justi autem * In perpétuum vivent.
V.  Et apud Dóminum est merces eórum. 
R.  In perpétuum vivent.
V.  Glória Patri, et Fílio, et Spirítui Sancto.
R.  Justi autem * In perpétuum vivent.

V.  Exsultábunt Sancti in glória.
R.  Lætabúntur in cubílibus suis.

V.  Dóminus vobíscum.
R.  Et cum spíritu tuo.

V.  The righteous live * For evermore.
R.  The righteous live * For evermore.
V.  Their reward also is with the Lord. 
R.  For evermore.
V.  Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
R.  The righteous live * For evermore.

V.  Let the Saints be joyful with glory.
R.  Let them rejoice in their beds. 

V.  The Lord be with you.
R.  And with thy spirit.