[Rank]
Ss. Cypriani and Justinae Martyri;;Simplex;;1.1;;vide C3

[Rule]
vide C3;

[Oratio]
Lord, let the succour of thy blessed martyrs Cyprian and Justina never fail us,~
since Thou never ceasest to look in mercy upon any unto whom Thou dost grant the~
stay of such helpers.
$Per Dominum.

[Lectio93]
Cyprian was firstly a warlock and lastly a Martyr. A certain young man having a~
violent lust after a Christian maiden named Justina, employed him to excite her~
to join in this lewdness, by dint of incantations and philters. Cyprian~
thereupon asked counsel of the devil, how he might best gain that end. But the~
devil answered him that these arts are only thrown away upon true worshippers of~
Christ. This answer troubled Cyprian, and he began to repent heartily of the~
course of life he had hitherto led. And then he forsook his arts magic, and gave~
himself wholly up to the faith of the Lord Christ. For this cause, he and the~
Virgin Justina were arrested together, beaten with blows and scourging, and cast~
into prison, if haply they might change their mind. Being brought out of the~
prison, but still standing fast in their Christian religion, they were dipped in a~
vessel full of hot pitch, fat, and wax, and in the end beheaded, at Nicomedia,~
(on the 26th day of September, in the year of our Lord 304.) Their bodies were~
thrown out, and lay unburied for the space of six days, at the end of which time~
some sailors took them secretly by night on board a ship and carried them to~
Rome. They were first buried on the farm of the noble Lady Rufina, but~
afterwards brought into the city, where they lie hard by the Baptistery in the~
Church of (the Saviour, built by) Constantine.
&teDeum
