🗓️Jan 30St. Martina, virgin and martyr

Saint Martina, a Roman virgin and martyr, distinguished the Church of the 3rd century with the heroic witness of her faith, surrendering her soul to God around the year 226, under the reign of Emperor Alexander Severus. Born into a noble and Christian family, and having been orphaned at an early age, the young woman generously distributed her vast fortune to the poor to dedicate herself entirely to Christ, rejecting proposals of marriage and worldly honors. Summoned to sacrifice to pagan idols, Martina refused with unshakable firmness, which earned her a series of cruel torments, including scourging, iron hooks, and exposure to wild beasts, which miraculously spared her, until she was finally beheaded, sealing with her blood her consecrated virginity. The state of virginity, which the Church has always considered a privilege of a life free from divisions and given entirely to God, found in her a perfect model, whose relics were discovered in 1634, rekindling her devotion as one of the patronesses of Rome.

📖 Introit (Ecclus 45:30 | Ps 131:1)

Loquébar de testimóniis tuis in conspéctu regum, et non confundébar: et meditábar in mandátis tuis, quæ diléxi nimis. Ps. Beáti immaculáti in via: qui ámbulant in lege Dómini.

I spoke of your testimonies before kings, and I was not ashamed; and I meditated on your commandments, which I loved exceedingly. Ps. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.

📜 Epistle (Ecclus 51:1-8, 12)

Confitébor tibi, Dómine, Rex, et collaudábo te Deum, Salvatórem meum. Confitébor nómini tuo: quóniam adjútor et protéctor factus es mihi, et liberásti corpus meum a perditióne, a láqueo línguæ iníquæ et a lábiis operántium mendácium, et in conspéctu astántium factus es mihi adjutor. Et liberasti me secúndum multitúdinem misericórdiæ nóminis tui a rugiéntibus, præparátis ad escam, de mánibus quæréntium ánimam meam, et de portis tribulatiónum, quæ circumdedérunt me: a pressúra flammæ, quæ circúmdedit me, et in médio ignis non sum æstuáta: de altitúdine ventris inferi, et a lingua coinquináta, et a verbo mendácii, a rege iníquo, et a lingua injústa: laudábit usque ad mortem ánima mea Dóminum: quóniam éruis sustinéntes te, et líberas eos de mánibus géntium, Dómine, Deus noster.

I will give glory to you, O Lord, my King, and I will praise you, O God, my Savior. I will celebrate your Name for you have been my helper and my protector, and you have delivered my body from perdition, from the snare of the unjust tongue, and from the lips of those who forge lies. In the sight of my adversaries you declared yourself my defender. You have delivered me, according to your great mercy, from those who roared, ready to devour me; from the hands of those who sought my life; from the power of the tribulations that surrounded me, from the violence of the flame that enveloped me, and in the midst of the fire I was not burned; from the depths of the abyss and from the unclean tongue, from the word of lie, from an unjust king and from an unjust tongue. My soul shall praise the Lord even to death, for you deliver from dangers those who hope in you, and save them from the hands of the gentiles, O Lord, our God.

✝️ Gospel (Mt 25:1-13)

In illo témpore: Dixit Jesus discípulis suis parábolam hanc: Simile erit regnum cœlórum decem virgínibus: quæ, accipiéntes lámpades suas, exiérunt óbviam sponso et sponsæ. Quinque autem ex eis erant fátuæ, et quinque prudéntes: sed quinque fátuæ, accéptis lampádibus, non sumpsérunt óleum secum: prudéntes vero accepérunt óleum in vasis suis cum lampádibus. Horam autem faciénte sponso, dormitavérunt omnes et dormiérunt. Média autem nocte clamor factus est: Ecce, sponsus venit, exíte óbviam ei. Tunc surrexérunt omnes vírgines illae, et ornavérunt lámpades suas. Fátuæ autem sapiéntibus dixérunt: Date nobis de óleo vestro: quia lámpades nostræ exstinguúntur. Respondérunt prudéntes, dicéntes: Ne forte non suffíciat nobis et vobis, ite pótius ad vendéntes, et émite vobis. Dum autem irent émere, venit sponsus: et quæ parátæ erant, intravérunt cum eo ad núptias, et clausa est jánua. Novíssime vero véniunt et réliquæ vírgines, dicéntes: Dómine, Dómine, áperi nobis. At ille respóndens, ait: Amen, dico vobis, néscio vos. Vigiláte ítaque, quia nescítis diem neque horam.

At that time, Jesus spoke this parable to his disciples: The kingdom of heaven shall be like to ten virgins, who taking their lamps went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride. And five of them were foolish, and five wise. But the five foolish, having taken their lamps, did not take oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with the lamps. And the bridegroom tarrying, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made: Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye forth to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise: Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. The wise answered, saying: Lest perhaps there be not enough for us and for you, go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. Now whilst they went to buy, the bridegroom came: and they that were ready, went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. But at last came also the other virgins, saying: Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answering said: Amen I say to you, I know you not. Watch ye therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour.

💡 The Wisdom of Watchful Virginity

Today's liturgy presents us with the parable of the wise and foolish virgins to illustrate the spiritual magnitude of Saint Martina, whose life and martyrdom embody perfect Christian vigilance. Saint Augustine, commenting on this Gospel, warns that it is not enough to possess the lamp of virginity, that is, the integrity of the flesh; it must be fed by the oil of charity and a good inner conscience, for "lamps without oil only produce smoke, they do not illuminate" (Saint Augustine, Sermon 93). The foolish virgins carried the external form of holiness, but they lacked the essential content of the love of God, which would have sustained them in the Bridegroom's delay. Saint Martina, on the contrary, proved to possess vessels full of this sacred oil: when confronted by the "unjust king" and the roaring beasts - as the day's Epistle prophetically describes -, her faith did not waver, for it was founded on the charity that endures all things. The refusal to worship idols was not an act of stubbornness, but the manifestation of a soul that, watchful, guarded her purity not for herself, but for Christ. The wedding door was closed to those who sought oil too late, teaching us that the grace of martyrdom and final perseverance is prepared throughout life, in the silent practice of the virtues. Thus, the Church today celebrates not only the death of a martyr, but the triumph of supernatural prudence which, uniting the purity of the body with the fervor of the spirit, enters triumphantly into the eternal nuptials, fulfilling what the Catechism teaches about virginity for the sake of the Kingdom: an eschatological sign of the future life, where the soul belongs indivisibly to God.

See English version of the critical articles here.