[Rank]
Ss. Septem Fratrum Martyrum, ac Rufinae and Secundae Virginis  Martyris;;Semiduplex;;2;;vide C3

[Rule]
vide C3;
9 lectiones

[Oratio]
Grant, we beseech thee, O Almighty God, that we who know thy glorious martyrs to~
have been in their testimony leal to thee-ward, may feel the same in their~
prayers pitiful to us-ward.
$Per Dominum

[Lectio4]
In the persecution at Rome under Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, there were seven~
brethren, sons of the holy woman Felicity, whom the Prefect Publius first~
essayed to cajole by kindness, and then to shake by fear, to deny Christ and~
worship the gods but, by their own bravery and the exhortation of their mother,~
they remained firm in their confession, and were all put to death in divers~
ways. Januarius was lashed to death with whips loaded with lead Felix and~
Philip were beaten to death with cudgels Silvanus was thrown over a precipice~
Alexander, Vitalis, and Martial were beheaded. Their mother gained the same palm~
of martyrdom four months afterwards. The seven Brethren gave up their souls to~
God upon the 10th day of July.

[Lectio5]
The virgin sisters, Rufina and Secunda, were Romans. Their parents had betrothed~
them to Armentarius and Verinus, but they both consecrated their virginity by~
vow to Christ, and refused marriage. They were arrested in the reign of the~
Emperors Valerian and Gallienus. The Praefect Junius failed to change their~
minds either by promises or threats, and then ordered Rufina to be scourged.~
While the lashing was going on, Secunda said to the Judge Why dost thou judge~
my sister to honour and me to dishonour Be pleased to whip us both together,~
for we both together declare that Christ is God. The Judge was angered at these~
words, and ordered them both to a dark and stinking dungeon but it was~
presently filled with a bright light and a sweet savour. They were then shut up~
in a hot flue of a bath, but they came forth from it unharmed. Stones were next~
tied to their necks and they were cast into the river Tiber, but an Angel~
delivered them therefrom. In the end they were beheaded on the Aurelian Way, at~
the tenth mile-stone from the city. The Lady Plautilla buried their bodies upon~
her own farm, but they were afterwards brought into the city, and laid in the~
Cathedral Church of the Most Holy Saviour, hard by the Baptistery.

[Lectio6]
The Lesson is taken from the Sermons of St Austin, Bishop (of Hippo.) 
!11 oth on various subjects. 
Wonderful is the sight, my brethren, which is set before~
the eyes of our faith. We have heard with our ears, and we see in our thoughts, a~
mother, with superhuman love, watching her sons leaving this life before her.~
All men would fain depart hence before their children, but she was ready to die~
last. Departing from her, they were not lost, but gone before. And she looked,~
not to the life they were ending, but to the life they were beginning. They laid~
aside a life which must needs end in death, and began that life wherein they are~
alive for ever. The least of her work was that she was an on-looker more~
amazing is it, when we remember that she was their exhortress. Her courage was~
more fruitful than her womb, and when she saw them contending and conquering,~
her heart contended and conquered in each.

[Lectio7]
From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew
!Matt 12:46-50
At that time while Jesus yet talked to the people, behold, His mother and His~
brethren stood without, desiring to speak with Him. And so on.
_
Homily by Pope St Gregory the Great.
!3rd on the Gospels.
Dearly beloved brethren The gospel which is read this day is but very short,~
but it is heavy with great mysteries. Here Jesus, our Maker and Redeemer,~
feigneth Himself as though He knew not His Own Mother, and telleth who they be~
who are His mother and brethren, not by fleshly kinship, but by kinship of mind.~
Who is My Mother And who are My brethren Whosoever shall do the will of My~
Father, Which is in heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother. By~
the which words, what are we to understand, save that He gathereth together from~
out of Heathendom many that are willing to obey His commandments, and that He~
knoweth not Jewry, whereof, according to the flesh, He is a son.

[Lectio8]
Seeing that both men and women are called to the faith, we marvel not that He~
saith that whosoever shall do the will of His Father, the same is His brother,~
and sister. But it is startling to hear that the same is also His mother. His~
faithful disciples He is pleased to call His brethren, where He saith Go,~
tell My brethren, (Matth. xxviii. 10.) If then it is by joining His religion~
that one can become the brother of the Lord, let us see how one can become His~
mother.

[Lectio9]
But we must know that even as one becometh His brother or His sister by~
believing in Him, so one becometh His mother by preaching Him. Such an one, as~
it were, giveth birth to the Lord by causing Him to be in the hearer's heart,~
and by words giving His love existence in their neighbour's mind. For an example~
in point, behold blessed Felicity, whose Birth-day we keep today. She was one~
whose faith made her Christ's hand-maiden, and whose preaching made her Christ's~
mother. We read in the corrected edition of her Acts that she dreaded as much to~
leave her seven sons behind her alive in the flesh, as do worldly mothers to~
send theirs dead before them.
&teDeum

[Lectio94]
At Rome, in the persecution of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, seven brothers, the sons of St. Felicity, were tempted in vain by the Prefect Publius to venerate idols. On the 10th of July, encouraged by their brave mother, they were put to death in various ways : Januarius was scourged with leaded whips ; Felix and Philip were beaten with clubs ; Silvanus was thrown headlong from a high place ; Alexander, Vitalis, and Martialis were beheaded. Finally, four months afterwards, their mother gained the same palm of martyrdom. The Roman virgins Rufina and Secunda were sisters, and since they refused to marry Armentarius and Verinus because they had vowed their virginity to Christ, they were arrested during the reigns of the emperors Valerian and Gallienus. Junius the Prefect was unsuccessful in winning them from their determination by promises and threats, and so they were afflicted with various tortures. Protected by Angels, they persevered in their holy resolution, and they were finally beheaded at the tenth milestone on the Aurelian Way. Their bodies were buried by the matron Plautilla on her estate outside the City and later laid in the Basilica of Constantine near the baptistery.
&teDeum
