[Rank]
St. Paul of the Cross, Confessor;;Duplex;;3;;vide C5

[Oratio]
Lord Jesus Christ, Who didst gift thine holy servant Paul with great love that he might preach the mystery of thy cross, and hast been pleased that through him a new family should grow up in thy Church, grant unto us at his prayers that upon earth we may so call thy sufferings to mind as worthily to gain the fruit thereof in heaven.
$Qui vivis

[Commemoratio] (rubrica divino aut rubrica tridentina aut rubrica Reduced)
!Commemoratio S. Vitalis Mart.
@Commune/C2:Oratio proper
$Oremus
Grant we beseech the almighty God, that we who celebrate the martyrdom of blessed Vitalis, through his intercession be strengtened in your love
$Per Dominum

[Lectio4]
Paul of the Cross was sprung of a noble family of the Danei, at Castellazzo, hard by Alessandria, in the Province of Acqui, in the territory of the then Republic of Genoa, but was born at Ovada, in the same province. The holiness with which he was afterwards to shine was foreshown by a strange light which filled his mother's chamber while she was in labour, and by the remarkable help which was bestowed upon him by the great Queen of Heaven, who delivered him unhurt from certain destruction when he was fallen into a river as a lad. From the first use of reason he burnt with love for Jesus crucified, and began to spend long times in contemplating Him. He chastised his innocent flesh with watching, scourging, fasting, and all severe hardships, and on Friday he drank vinegar mingled with gall. He was seized with a desire for martyrdom, and enlisted in the army which was being raised at Venice to fight against the Turks but in consequence of the Will of God, made known to him while he was in prayer, he left the army in order to serve in a more exalted regiment whose duty it should be to defend the Church and to toil for the eternal salvation of men. When he returned home he refused a very honourable marriage, and also the inheritance which was bequeathed to him by his father's brother, and would fain enter upon a straiter way of the cross and be clad by his own Bishop with a rough tunic. By command of the Bishop, on account of his eminent holiness of life and knowledge of the things of God, he began, even before he became a clerk, to toil in the Lord's field with great profit of souls by preaching the Word.

[Lectio5]
He betook himself to Rome, and when he had there studied a regular course of theology he was ordained Priest in obedience to the command of the Supreme Pontiff Benedict XIII., who also gave him permission to gather comrades around him. He withdrew to the solitude of Mount Argentaro, whither he had been already called by the Blessed Virgin, at which same time she also showed him in vision a black habit marked with the emblems of the sufferings of her Son. At Mount Argentaro, he laid the foundations of his new Congregation, which under the blessing of God grew quickly, through the labors of Paul, and attracted to it eminent men. It received the confirmation of the Apostolic See more than once, with the rules which Paul himself had received from God in prayer and the addition of a fourth vow, that, namely, to promote the blessed remembrance of the sufferings of the Lord. He founded a congregation of holy virgins also, who should dwell constantly upon the overflowing love of the Divine Bridegroom. Amid all these works his untiring love for souls caused him never to weary in the preaching of the Gospel, and he led into the path of salvation men almost countless, among whom were some of the most lost, or those who had fallen into heresy. The greatest and most wonderful power of his preaching was how he told of the sufferings of Christ, so that he himself and his hearers would alike burst into tears, and hardened hearts were cloven by repentance.

[Lectio6]
The fire of the love of God burnt so in his heart that the part of his under-garment which was next thereto often presented the appearance of having been scorched, and two of his ribs seemed to be raised. He could not withhold his tears, more especially when he was saying Mass, and when he was in a state of trance, as oftentimes befell, his body was sometimes seen to be raised into the air, and his face to shine as with light from heaven. Sometimes when he was preaching a heavenly voice was heard prompting him, or his words became audible at the distance of several miles. He was eminent for the gifts of prophecy, of speaking with tongues, of reading the heart, and of power over evil spirits, over diseases, and over the inanimate elements of nature. The Supreme Pontiffs themselves regarded him as dear and venerable, but he held himself to be but an unprofitable servant, and a sinful wretch upon whom devils might well trample. He held to the bitter hardships of his life, even unto a great age, and passed to heaven from Rome, (upon the 18th day of October,) being the day which he had himself foretold, in the year 1775, after he had addressed to his disciples noble exhortations which are as the heritage of his spirit, and had been comforted by the sacraments of the Church, and by an heavenly vision. The Supreme Pontiff Pius IX. numbered his name among those of the blessed, and then, after renewed signs and wonders, among those of the Saints.

[Lectio94]
Paul of the Cross was born at Ovada in Liguria and, as soon as he came to the use of reason, burned with love for Jesus Christ crucified. Fired with the desire for martyrdom, he joined the army which was being assembled in Venice to fight against the Turks. But when the will of God was made known to him, and he had refused a most honourable marriage and an inheritance left to him by his uncle, he received a coarse tunic as a habit from his bishop and, although not yet a cleric, cultivated the field of the Lord by preaching the word of God. In Rome, out of obedience to Pope Benedict XIII, he was raised to the priesthood. Then he retired into the solitude of Monte Argentario, where the Blessed Virgin had already invited him to go, at the same time shewing unto him a black habit adorned with the insignia of her Son's Passion. There he laid the foundations of a new congregation, whose members bind themselves by vow to promote the memory of the Lord's Passion, and he also established one for nuns to meditate continually upon this mystery. Renowned for his preaching, virtues, and divine charisms, he fell asleep in the Lord at Rome, in the year 1775. Pope Pius IX enrolled him among the Blessed and then among the Saints.
&teDeum

[Lectio93]
!Commemoration of St. Vitalis, Martyr.
Vitalis was a soldier, and the father of the holy Martyrs Gervase and Protase. He went to Ravenna with Paulinus the judge, and there saw the physician Ursicinus led out to die, because he owned to being a believer in Christ. As the torments went on, Ursicinus seemed to waver a little, and Vitalis cried out to him, Ursicinus! as a physician thou hast been used to heal other men's bodies, take heed lest thou let thine own soul die eternally. These words encouraged Ursicinus, and he endured bravely in his testimony even unto the end but Paulinus was filled with fury, and caused Vitalis to be seized, tormented on the rack, and finally thrown into a pit and buried under an heap of stones. When it was over, a certain priest of Apollo, who had urged on Paulinus against Vitalis, was seized by the devil, and began to cry out, Vitalis, Vitalis, thou art Christ's Martyr, but thou makest me to burn, thou makest me to burn! Until in that frenzy, he threw himself into the river.
&teDeum