«SALVETE FLORES MARTYRUM». — Hymn of Vespers and Lauds on the feast of the Holy Innocents. It consists of two stanzas taken from the Hymnus Epiphaniae of Prudentius’s Cathemerion, nos. 32 and 33.
It is a greeting to these flores martyrum who, having barely crossed the threshold of life, were killed for Christ.
The poet, recalling a scene from the Apocalypse (6:9), sees these innocent children playing with palms and crowns, rather than praying and shouting acclamations like the martyrs of the arenas.
BIBL.: G. G. Belli, Gli inni del Breviario tradotti, Roma 1856, p. 124; G. S. Pimont, Les hymnes du Bréviaire romain, II, Parigi 1880, pp. 71–77; A. Albin, La poésie du Brév., Lione s. a., pp. 132–134; A. Mirra, Gli inni del Brev. rom., Napoli 1947, p. 91.