diff --git a/src/hours/matins.ts b/src/hours/matins.ts
index ba0160a..2b21e4b 100644
--- a/src/hours/matins.ts
+++ b/src/hours/matins.ts
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ import {
   substituteName,
 } from './resolve-common';
 import { getSaintRecord } from '../calendar/feasts';
+import { getTemporalFeastRecord } from '../calendar/temporal-feasts';
 import { getBiblePlanReadings } from '../propers/bible-plan';
 import { getNocturnReadings, type NocturnReading } from '../propers/nocturn-readings';
 import { getOctaveReading } from '../propers/octave-readings';
@@ -675,11 +676,27 @@ function nocturnReadingIds(day: LiturgicalDay, temporalId: string, date: string,
   return [...ids];
 }
 
-function nocturnReadingPart(r: NocturnReading): ResolvedPart {
+/** Fallback label for a hagiographic/vita reading that carries no authored
+ * `source` attribution (unlike a patristic homily, a saint's vita rarely
+ * has one in the reference engine) — "On St. Pius X, Pope and Confessor",
+ * from the same saint/temporal-feast record that supplies the day's own
+ * display name. Same plain-string, non-bilingual convention as an authored
+ * `source` (see NocturnReading.source's own doc comment): displayed as-is
+ * in both language columns rather than split into {la, en}, since neither
+ * the record's `name` nor `nameLa` reliably declines into the "on ___"
+ * phrasing this needs. Undefined when `id` matches neither record (e.g. a
+ * plain temporal id with no TemporalFeastRecord of its own). */
+function fallbackHagiographicLabel(id: string): string | undefined {
+  const name = getSaintRecord(id)?.name ?? getTemporalFeastRecord(id)?.name;
+  if (!name) return undefined;
+  return name.startsWith('The ') ? `On the ${name.slice(4)}` : `On ${name}`;
+}
+
+function nocturnReadingPart(r: NocturnReading, id: string): ResolvedPart {
   return {
     kind: 'lesson',
     text: { text: r.text, status: r.status, citation: r.citation },
-    label: r.source,
+    label: r.source ?? fallbackHagiographicLabel(id),
     responsory: r.responsory ? { text: r.responsory, status: { la: 'verified', en: 'verified' } } : undefined,
   };
 }
@@ -771,7 +788,7 @@ function buildReadingPool(day: LiturgicalDay, temporalId: string, date: string,
         bucket.push(gospelReadingPart(reading, homily));
         if (homily) i++;
       } else {
-        bucket.push(nocturnReadingPart(reading));
+        bucket.push(nocturnReadingPart(reading, id));
       }
       byNocturn.set(reading.nocturn, bucket);
     }
diff --git a/tests/hours/matins.test.ts b/tests/hours/matins.test.ts
index 0923a40..34e1d88 100644
--- a/tests/hours/matins.test.ts
+++ b/tests/hours/matins.test.ts
@@ -73,25 +73,27 @@ describe('resolveOrdo("matins", ...) ferial (1-nocturn) branch', () => {
   });
 
   it("resolves the user's own bible-plan readings for the day, not the historical lectionary", () => {
-    // Filtered to the user's own bible-plan lessons only: since the
-    // temporal-cycle nocturn-readings sweep authored advent-1.yml
-    // (2026-08), this same date's Nocturn 2/3 pool also gains two labeled
-    // (patristic) lesson entries alongside the user's own bible-plan
-    // readings — a real, separate content source this test isn't about.
-    // Bible-plan lessons carry a generated bilingual incipit `label`
-    // object (bible-book-incipits.ts); patristic ones carry a plain-string
-    // `label` (nocturnReadingPart's own `r.source` attribution) — that
-    // shape difference, not label presence/absence, is what distinguishes
-    // them since 2026-09-03.
-    const lessons = ordo.parts.filter((p) => p.kind === 'lesson' && typeof p.label !== 'string');
+    // Filtered to the user's own bible-plan lessons only, by the one thing
+    // that's unique to them: a real citation. Since the temporal-cycle
+    // nocturn-readings sweep authored advent-1.yml (2026-08), this same
+    // date's Nocturn 2/3 pool also gains two labeled (patristic) lesson
+    // entries alongside the user's own bible-plan readings — a real,
+    // separate content source this test isn't about. (A label-shape filter
+    // no longer distinguishes them: since 2026-09-03 an uncited
+    // hagiographic/vita reading also gets a plain-string fallback label —
+    // see matins.ts's fallbackHagiographicLabel — same shape as a
+    // patristic reading's own `source` attribution.)
+    const lessons = ordo.parts.filter(
+      (p) => p.kind === 'lesson' && (p as { text: { citation?: { en?: string } } }).text.citation?.en !== undefined,
+    ) as { text: { citation?: { en?: string }; status: { en?: string } } }[];
     // Plain 2 bible-plan readings on this particular clean ferial (no
     // commemorated saint here) — see the next test for the 3-reading case.
     expect(lessons).toHaveLength(2);
-    const citations = lessons.map((l) => (l as { text: { citation?: { en?: string } } }).text.citation?.en);
+    const citations = lessons.map((l) => l.text.citation?.en);
     expect(citations).toEqual(['Isa 6-7', 'Sap 2']);
     // The Vulgate/Douay-Rheims bulk import (2026-09-03) landed the real
     // text for these passages.
-    expect((lessons[0] as { text: { status: { en?: string } } }).text.status.en).toBe('verified');
+    expect(lessons[0]?.text.status.en).toBe('verified');
   });
 
   it("adds a 3rd reading for a commemorated saint, generously surfaced per the 'commemorations get their own reading' design (see hours/matins.ts's own header)", () => {
@@ -103,13 +105,23 @@ describe('resolveOrdo("matins", ...) ferial (1-nocturn) branch', () => {
     // Semiduplex threshold). 2025-12-02, a Tuesday, keeps the same 9-psalm
     // ferial shape as the other tests in this block.
     const commemoratedOrdo = resolveOrdo('matins', '2025-12-02');
-    // Same bible-plan-lesson filter as the test above — advent-1.yml's
-    // patristic content also pools into this date.
-    const lessons = commemoratedOrdo.parts.filter((p) => p.kind === 'lesson' && typeof p.label !== 'string');
-    expect(lessons).toHaveLength(3);
-    const citations = lessons.map((l) => (l as { text: { citation?: { en?: string } } }).text.citation?.en);
-    expect(citations).toEqual(['Isa 6-7', 'Sap 2', undefined]);
-    expect((lessons[0] as { text: { status: { en?: string } } }).text.status.en).toBe('verified');
+    const lessons = commemoratedOrdo.parts.filter((p) => p.kind === 'lesson') as {
+      text: { citation?: { en?: string }; status: { en?: string } };
+      label?: string | Record<string, string>;
+    }[];
+    // Same citation-based bible-plan filter as the test above —
+    // advent-1.yml's patristic content also pools into this date.
+    const bookLessons = lessons.filter((l) => l.text.citation?.en !== undefined);
+    expect(bookLessons).toHaveLength(2);
+    expect(bookLessons.map((l) => l.text.citation?.en)).toEqual(['Isa 6-7', 'Sap 2']);
+    expect(bookLessons[0]?.text.status.en).toBe('verified');
+    // St. Bibiana's own proper reading (no citation of her own — it's a
+    // continuous vita, not a scripture pericope) — the actual 3rd reading
+    // this test is about. She carries no authored `source` either, so she
+    // gets the "On St. Bibiana..." fallback label.
+    const bibiana = lessons.find((l) => typeof l.label === 'string' && l.label.includes('Bibiana'));
+    expect(bibiana).toBeDefined();
+    expect(bibiana?.text.citation).toBeUndefined();
   });
 
   it("matches the first reading (Isaiah) against the seeded per-book responsory pool", () => {