« MARTINAE CELEBRI PLAUDITE NOMINI ». — Hymn at Matins for the feast of s. Martina, composed by Urban VIII.
S. Martina, a young Roman patrician, suffered martyrdom under Alexander Severus and was buried at the foot of the Capitoline Hill. Her body was discovered in 1634 during the pontificate of Urban VIII, who included her feast in the Breviary and composed the hymns for II.
The ode earnestly invites the Romans to celebrate in a fitting manner this illustrious fellow citizen of theirs, who, scorning honors and riches, goes to meet atrocious suffering.
BIBL.: M. Barberini (Urbano VIII), Poemata, Rome 1642, p. 102; G. G. Belli, Gli inni del Breviario tradotti, there 1856, p. 226; C. Albin, La poésie du Bréviaire, Lyon n.d., p. 68; M. Mirra, Gli inni del Breviario romano, Naples 1947, p. 188.