«SALVETE FLORES MARTYRUM». — Hymn for Vespers and Lauds on the feast of the Holy Innocents. It consists of two strophes taken from the *Hymnis Epiphaniae* of Prudentius’ *Calthenerion*, nos. 32 and 33.
It is a greeting to these *flores martyrum* who, having barely crossed the threshold of life, were slain for Christ.
Recalling a scene from the Apocalypse (6:9), the poet sees these infant martyrs playing with palms and crowns, not praying or singing hosannas like the martyrs of the arenas.
Bibl.: G. G. Bell, Gli inni del Breviario tradotti, Rome 1856, p. 124; G. S. Pimont, Les hymnes du Bréviaire romain, II, Paris 1880, pp. 71–77; A. Albin, La poésie du Brévi., Lyons n.d., pp. 132–134; A. Mirra, Gli inni del Brévi. rom., Naples 1947, p. 91. Silvério Mattei