From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.

Among the martyrs annually commemorated on this day, the names of Marcellus and Apuleius carry back the mind to apostolic times. They had been disciples of Simon Magus, but were convinced of his lying deceit by the miracles of St. Peter, and shed their blood in testimony of their faith in the true God.

St. Sergius is regarded in the east as one of the most glorious witnesses to our Lord. He suffered in the tenth and last persecution, with his companion St. Bacchus, a soldier like himself of the Roman army in Syria. So illustrious became his sepulchre, that a city sprang up around it, which was called Sergiopolis, and became a metropolitan See. The west soon joined the east in honouring these holy martyrs, and a church was dedicated to them in Rome. Saint-Serge at Angers, founded by Clovis II, testifies to the veneration in which they were held by the Franks.

Prayer

Sanctorum martyrum tuorum nos, Domine, Sergii, Bacchi, Marcelli et Apuleii beata merita prosequantur: et tuo semper faciant amore ferventes. Per Dominum.

May the blessed merits of thy holy martyrs, Sergius, Bacchus, Marcellus, and Apuleius accompany us, O Lord, and make us ever fervent in thy love. Through our Lord.

From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.

On the same day, in the Roman martyrology, the commemoration of our Lady of Victory, established under the circumstances mentioned on the first Sunday of this month. Although the Virgin of virgins gave to the youthful martyr Justina a share in the triumph of Lepanto, nevertheless the chief honour of the day redounds to Mary herself. It behoves us, then, to renew our homage to the Queen of the holy rosary, on the exact anniversary of her deliverance of Christendom under that title. Let us do so by offering her the three hymns of her Office, which recall the joyful, sorrowful, and glorious mysteries of the rosary, and which are epitomized in that of second Vespers given on the feast.[2]

Hymn of First Vespers

Cœlestis aulæ nuntius,
Arcana pandens Numinis,
Plenam salutat gratia
Dei Parentem Virginem.

Virgo propinquam sanguine
Matrem Joannis visitat,
Qui clausus alvo gestiens
Adesse Christum nuntiat.

Verbum, quod ante sæcula
E mente Patris prodiit,
E Matris alvo Virginis
Mortalia infans nascitur.

Tempio puellus sistitur,
Legique paret Legifer,
Hic se Redemptor paupere
Pretio redemptus immolat.

Quem jam dolebat perditum,
Mox læta Mater invenit
Ignota doctis mentibus
Edisserentem Filium.

Jesu, tibi sit gloria
Qui natus es de Virgine,
Cum Patre et almo Spiritu
In sempiterna sæcula.

Amen.

The messenger of the heavenly court,
disclosing the hidden myateries of the Divinity,
hails as full of grace
the Virgin about to become Mother of God.

The Virgin visits her relative,
the mother of John, who,
though yet a captive in the womb,
leaps with joy announcing the presence of Christ.

The Word that before all ages
had proceeded from the Father’s Intellect,
is born a mortal Babe
of a Virgin Mother.

The little One is presented in the temple,
the Legislator obeys the Law,
the Redeemer offers himself in sacrifice,
and is redeemed at a pauper’s price.

And now the joyful Mother finds her Son,
whom she had mourned as lost;
finds him expounding to learned minds
things unknown to them.

Glory be to thee, O Jesus
born of the Virgin;
together with the Father and the holy Spirit,
through everlasting ages.

Amen.

Hymn of Matins

In monte Olivis consito
Redemptor orans, procidit,
Mœret, pavescit, deficit,
Sudore manans sanguinis.

A proditore traditus
Raptatur in pœnas Deus,
Durisque vinctus nexibus
Flagris cruentis cæditur.

Intexta acutis sentibus,
Corona contumeliæ,
Squallenti amictum purpura,
Regem coronat gloriæ.

Molis crucem ter arduæ,
Sudans, anhelans, concidens,
Ad montis usque verticem
Gustare vi compellitur.

Confixus atro stipite
Inter scelestos innocens,
Orando pro tortoribus,
Exsanguis efflat spiritum.

Jesu, tibi sit gloria,
Qui natus es de Virgine,
Cum Patre et almo Spiritu
In sempiterna sæcula.

Amen.

On the mount with olives planted,
prostrate the Redeemer prays;
he grieves, he fears, he well-nigh faints,
pouring forth a sweat of blood.

God, delivered up by a traitor,
is dragged away to punishment;
bound with tight bonds,
he bleeds beneath the cruel scourges.

A crown of ignominy,
woven of sharp thorns,
adorns the King of glory
clothed with purple tatters.

Labouring, breathless,
thrice falling beneath the heavy cross,
he is compelled by force
to bear it to the mountain-top.

Nailed to the awful gibbet,
the Innocent hangs between two criminals;
till, praying for his torturers,
he yields up his Spirit with the last drop of his Blood.

Glory be to thee, O Jesus
born of the Virgin;
together with the Father and the holy Spirit,
through everlasting ages.

Amen.

Hymn of Lauds

Jam morte victor obruta
Ab inferis Christus redit,
Fractisque culpæ vinculis,
Cœli recludit limina.

Visus satis mortalibus
Ascendit ad cœlestia,
Dextræque Patris assidet
Consors paternæ gloriæ.

Quem jam suis promiserat,
Sanctum daturus Spiritum,
Linguis amoris igneis
Mœstis alumnis impluit.

Soluta carnis pondere
Ad astra Virgo tollitur,
Excepta cœli jubilo,
Et angelorum canticis.

Bis sena cingunt sidera
Almæ parentis verticem:
Throno propinqua Filii
Cunctis creatis imperat.

Jesu tibi sit gloria,
Qui natus es de Virgine,
Cum Patre et almo Spiritu
In sempiterna sæcula.

Amen.

Death overthrown,
Christ rises victorious from limbo,
and breaking the bonds of sin,
throws open heaven’s gate.

Having appeared long enough to men,
he ascends to the heavenly dwellings,
and is enthroned at his Father’s right hand,
a partner in his glory.

The holy Spirit,
whom he had promised to give them,
he sends down upon his sorrowing disciples
in fiery tongues of love.

With her body set free from earthly weight,
the Virgin is raised above the stars;
she is welcomed with heaven’s jubilant delight,
and with the songs of angels.

Twelve stars now crown
the lovely Mother’s brow;
and from her throne beside her Son,
she reigns over all creation.

Glory be to thee, O Jesus
born of the Virgin;
together with the Father and the holy Spirit,
through everlasting ages.

Amen.

[1] De Rossi. Inscript. Christ. ii. 108.
[2] The four hymns arc of the eighteenth century. Though now slightly modified, the three here given were composed by Thomas Ricchini, Master of the sacred Palace, and that of second Vespers by the Dominican Eustace Sirena.

From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.

St. Hilarion was one of the first confessors, if not the very first, to be honoured in the east with a public cultus like the martyrs. In the west, the whiterobed army led by Ursula adds to the glory of the holy monk who has the first honours of this day.

On October 21, 451, Cologne was made equal to the most illustrious cities by a spiritual glory. Criticism, and there is no lack of it, may dispute the circumstances which brought together the legion of virgins; but the fact itself, that eleven thousand chosen souls were martyred by the Huns in recompense for their fidelity, is now acknowledged by true science. From the earth where so many noble victims lay concealed, they have more than once been brought to light by multitudes, bearing about them evidence of the veneration of those who had buried them; for instance, by a happy inspiration, the arrow that had set free the blessed soul, would be left, as a token of victory, fixed in the breast or forehead of the martyr.

St. Angela of Merici confided to the patronage of the glorious phalanx her spiritual daughters, and the numberless children whom they will continue till the end of time to educate in the fear of the Lord. The grave Sorbonne dedicated its church to the holy virgins as well as to the Mother of God; and here, as in the universities of Coimbra and Vienna, an annual panegyric was pronounced in praise of them. Portugal, enriched with some of their precious relics, carried their cultus into the Indies. And pious confraternities have been formed among the faithful for obtaining their assistance at the hour of death. Let us address to them these verses from a beautiful Office composed in their honour by the blessed Herman, their most devout client.

AD COMPLETORIUM

O præclaræ vos puellæ,
Nunc implete meum velle,
Et dum mortis venit hora,
Subvenite sine mora:

In tam gravi tempestate
Me præsentes defendate
A dæmonum instantia.

Nulla vestrum ibi desit,
Virgo Mater prima præsit,
Si quæ mihi fæx inhæsit,
Quæ me sua labe læsit,
Vestra prece procul fiat,
Vos præsentes hostis sciat,
Et se confusum doleat.

O ye glorious virgins,
fulfil now my desire,
and when the hour of death arrives,
hasten to my assistance:

be present at that terrible moment,
and defend me
from the assault of the demons.

Let not one of you be then absent;
come with the Virgin Mother at your head.
If any remnant of sin still cling to me
and soil me with its stain,
remove it by your prayer.
Let the foe be aware of your presence,
and bewail his own confusion.

Let us conclude with the Church's own prayer.

Prayer

Da nobis, quæsumus Domine Deus noster: sanctarum virginum et martyrum tuarum Ursulæ et sociarum ejus palmas incessabili devotione venerari; ut quas digna mente non possumus celebrare, humilibus saltem frequentemus obsequiis. Per Dominum.

Grant us, we beseech thee, O Lord our God, to venerate with continual devotion the triumphs of thy holy virgins and martyrs, Ursula and her companions; that what we cannot celebrate with worthy minds, we may at least attend with humble service. Through our Lord &c.

From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.

‘Memor ero tui, Justina virgo. I will ever bear thee in mind, O virgin Justina.’ This inscription Venice engraved on the coin of its republic, after the victory of Lepanto. On that day of triumph, the martyr, who had won her palm on October 7 fifteen centuries before, had united the power of her prayers with the strength of St. Mark’s lion; and the dukedom proclaimed Justina its second patron. But Lepanto is not her only claim upon the world’s gratitude. In her native city, the sons of St Benedict had gathered round the tomb where lay her precious relics. The great movement initiated by the Venetian, Luigi Barbo (1408), began at St. Justina’s monastery in Padua: the Order was rescued from the disastrous consequences of having secular abbots in commendam; and thus Monte Cassino itself was restored to some part of its ancient splendour.

Honour, then, to this day of salvation! And glory to her, through whose intercession the heavens have rained down their dew of consolation upon the earth!

Prayer

Deus, qui nos annua beatæ Justinæ virginis et martyris tuæsolemnitate lætificas: da, ut quam veneramur officio, etiam piæconversationis sequamur exemplo. Per Dominum.

O God, who givest us joy by the annual solemnity of blessed Justina thy virgin and martyr; grant that we may follow the example of her pious life, whom we venerate by this Office. Through our Lord.