[Rank]
Ss. Gervase and Protase martyrs;;Simplex;;1.1;;vide C3

[Rule]
vide C3;

[Oratio]
O God, who dost every year by the solemn memorial of beatorum~
Martyrum tuorum Gervasii and Protasi grant us grace, we beseech thee, not only to~
rejoice because of their worthy deeds, but also to tread in their footsteps.
$Per Dominum

[Lectio93]
!Commemoratio for the Holy Martyrs Gervase and Protase.
Gervase and Protase were the sons of Vitalis and Valeria, both of whom testified~
even unto death for the Lord Christ's sake, the father at Ravenna, and the~
mother at Milan. After the victory of their parents, Gervase and Protase gave~
all the inheritance to the poor, and set free their slaves. This act of theirs~
stirred up against them a savage hatred on the part of the heathen priests, and~
when the Count Astasius was about setting forth to war, they believed they had~
got a good occasion for the destruction of the two godly brethren. They~
persuaded Astasius that their gods had revealed to them that he had no chance of~
conquering in the war, unless he had first made Gervase and Protase to deny~
Christ and to offer sacrifice to the gods. Being commanded so to do, they flatly~
refused, and Astasius then ordered Gervase to be lashed until he died between~
the stripes, and Protase to be cudgelled and beheaded. A servant of Christ named~
Philip took away their dead bodies by stealth, and buried them in his own house,~
and, in after times, St Ambrose, being warned of God, found them, and bestowed~
them in an hallowed and honourable place. They suffered at Milan upon the 19th~
day of June.
&teDeum
