The present building was complete by about 1400, and has several notable features, including an early set of Misericords, an Astronomical Clock and the longest uninterrupted Mediæval Stone Vaulted Ceiling in the World.
A Saxon Minster, already existing within the Town, (and Dedicated to Saint Mary and Saint Peter) was used by Leofric as his Seat, but Services were often held out-of-doors, close to the site of the present Cathedral building.
In 1107, William Warelwast was appointed to the See, and this was the catalyst for the building of a new Cathedral in the Norman Style. Its official Foundation was in 1133, during Warelwast’s time, but it took many more years to complete.[3]
Following the appointment of Walter Bronescombe as Bishop in 1258, the building was already recognised as outmoded, and it was rebuilt in the DecoratedGothic Style, following the example of Salisbury. However, much of the Norman building was kept, including the two massive square Towers and part of the Walls.
The beloved Disciple, John, comes before us again, today. This time, he pays his delighted homage to the glorious Conqueror of Death and Hell.
Like Saint Philip and Saint James the Less, he is clad in the Scarlet Robe of Martyrdom.
The month of May, so rich in Saints, was to be graced with the Palm of Saint John.
Salome, one day, presented her two sons to Jesus, and, with a mother’s ambition, asked Him to grant them the highest places in His Kingdom.
The Saviour, in His reply, spoke of the Chalice which He, Himself, had to drink, and foretold that these two Disciples would also drink of it.
The elder, James the Great, was the first Martyr to give his Master this proof of his love; we shall celebrate his victory when the Sun is in Leo: It was today that John, the younger brother, offered his life in testimony of Jesus’s Divinity.
But the Martyrdom of such an Apostle called for a scene worthy of the event. Asia Minor, which his zeal had evangelised, was not a sufficiently glorious land for such a combat.
Rome, whither Peter had transferred his Chair and where he died on his Cross, and where Paul had bowed down his venerable head beneath the sword, Rome, alone, deserved the honour of seeing the Beloved Disciple march on to Martyrdom, with that dignity and sweetness which are the characteristics of this veteran of the Apostolic College.
Domitian was then the Roman Emperor — a tyrant over Rome and the World. Whether it were that John undertook this journey of his own free choice, and from a wish to visit the Mother Church, or that he was led thither bound with chains, in obedience to an Imperial edict — John, the august Founder of the seven Churches of Asia Minor, appeared before the tribunal of pagan Rome.
He was convicted of having propagated, in a vast Province of the Empire, the worship of a Jew Who had been Crucified under Pontius Pilate.
He was a superstitious and rebellious old man, and it was time to rid Asia of his presence. He was, therefore, sentenced to an ignominious and cruel death.
He had somehow escaped Nero’s power: But he should not elude the vengeance of Cæsar Dimitian !!!
A huge cauldron of boiling oil is prepared in front of the Latin Gate. The sentence orders that the Preacher of Christ be plunged into this bath.
The hour is come for the second son of Salome to partake of his Master’s Chalice.
John’s heart leaps with joy at the thought that he — the most dear to Jesus, and yet the only Apostle that has not suffered death for Him — is at last permitted to give Him this earnest offering of his love.
After cruelly scourging him, the executioners seize the old man, and throw him into the cauldron; but, Lo !!! The boiling liquid has lost all its heat; the Apostle feels no scalding; on the contrary, when they take him out again, he feels all the vigour of his youthful years restored to him.
The Prætor’s cruelty is foiled, and John, a Martyr in desire, is to be left to The Church for some few years longer. [Editor: “Prætor” was a Roman Magistrate.]
An Imperial Decree banishes him to the rugged Isle of Patmos, where God reveals to him the future of The Church, even to the end of time.
The Church of Rome, which counts among her most glorious memories the abode and Martyrdom of Saint John, has marked his noble testimony to the Christian Faith.
This Basilica stands near the Latin Gate, and gives a Title to one of the Cardinals.
The following Text is form Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,
According to Tertullian, as quoted by Saint Jerome, in 92 A.D., Saint John the Evangelist survived Martyrdom at Rome, under the Emperor Domitian, by being immersed in a vat of boiling oil, from which he emerged unharmed. He was later exiled to the island of Patmos.
This event was traditionally said to have occurred at the Latin Gate (located on the Southern portion of the Roman Wall).
The nearby Chapel of San Giovanni in Oleo is said to be on the very spot where Saint John suffered.
The event was referred to in the Roman Martyrology, which was begun in the 7th-Century A.D., though the event was celebrated before then.
A Feast in the Roman Calendar also celebrated the event until 1960, when Pope Saint John XXIII removed most of the secondary Feasts for a Saint.[1]
The Black-Letter Day of “S. John Evang. ante portam Latinam” is still marked in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer on 6 May 6.
Jesus had promised James and John, sons of Zebedee, that they should drink the Chalice of His Passion, so as to participate in the triumph of His Resurrection (Gospel).
The Emperor Domitian caused John to be brought to Rome and condemned him to be plunged into a cauldron of boiling oil.
But Saint John, by a striking miracle, came forth from this torment more healthy and vigorous than before. A Sanctuary was built on this spot near the Latin Gate and Dedicated to the Holy Apostle. There is held The Station on Passion Saturday.
Mass: Protexisti. Creed: Is said. Preface: Of The Apostles.
The Nave, Saint John before the Latin Gate, Rome.
Nef de l’église San Giovanni a Porta Latina à Rome
The following Text and Illustrations from RORATE CÆLI, unless stated otherwise.
The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) Ordained Twenty Deacons this Spring: Eight in Nebraska and twelve in Bavaria (see, below).
Twelve FSSP Deacons were Ordained (above and below).
Abbey Basilica of Ottobeuren, Bavaria, 2 May 2026.
From the FSSP Wigratzbad Blog:
Once again, our faithful friend, Bishop Wolfgang Haas, Archbishop Emeritus of Vaduz, did us the honour of conferring Holy Orders on our Seminarians.
On Saturday, 2 May 2026, we Celebrated Our Lady, Patroness of Bavaria, in the magnificent Baroque Nave of the Abbey Basilica of Ottobeuren.
Our community thus has twelve new Deacons, who were definitively incorporated into the FSSP the day before, in the presence of our Vicar General, Fr. Hubert Bizard. (source, in French).
The Web-Site of Ottobeuren Abbey can be found HERE
Zephyrinus will be Posting an Article on
Our Lady, Patroness of Bavaria, on her Feast Day on 14 May (sample, below).
Liturgical Text and Illustrations, unless stated otherwise, are taken from MISSALE ROMANO-SERAPHICUM PRO TRIBUS ORDINIBUS SANCTI FRANCISCI PATRIS NOSTRI. 1879.
For part of its history, Ottobeuren Abbey was one of the approximately forty, self-ruling, Imperial Abbeys of the Holy Roman Empire, and, as such, was a virtually Independent State.
At the time of its Dissolution in 1802, the Imperial Abbey covered 266 square kilometers (102 square miles) and had about 10,000 subjects.
We have already met with the names of several Pontiffs on the Paschal Calendar. They form a brilliant constellation around our Risen Jesus, Who, during the period between His Resurrection and Ascension, gave to Saint Peter, their predecessor, the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Anicetus, Soter, Caius, Cletus, Marcellinus. All these Pontiffs held in their hands the Palm of Martyrdom: Pope Leo I (“The Great”) was the only one who did not shed his blood in the cause of his Divine Master.
The following two paragraphs are from Wikipedia.
Pope Leo I (Italian: Leone I) (391 A.D. – 461 A.D.), also known as Leo the Great (Latin: Leo Magnus; Italian: Leone Magno; Greek: Léon o Megás), [1] was Bishop of Rome[2] from 29 September 440 A.D. until his death on 10 November 461 A.D.
Today, there comes before us a Holy Pope who governed
The Church in these latter times; he is worthy to stand
amidst the Easter group of Pontiffs. Like Leo I, Pius V was zealous in combating heresy; like Leo I, he saved his people from the Barbarian yoke.
The whole life of Pius V was combat. His Pontificate existed during those troubled times when Protestantism was leading whole Countries into Apostasy.
Italy was not a prey that could be taken by violence:
Artifice was therefore used, in order to undermine the Apostolic See and, thus, develop the whole Christian World
in the darkness of heresy.
Pius V defended the Peninsula [Editor: Italy] with
untiring devotedness from the danger that threatend her.
Even before he was raised to the Papal Throne, he frequently exposed his life by his zeal in opposing the preaching of False Doctrines. Like Peter the Martyr, he braved every danger and was the dread of the emissaries of heresy.
When seated on the Chair of Peter, he kept the innovators in check by fear, roused the Sovereigns of Italy to energy and, by measures of moderate severity, drove back beyond the Alps the torrent that would have swept Christianity from Europe had not the Southern States thus opposed it.
We repeat it: This heresy would have laid all Europe waste, had it not been for the vigilance of the Pastor who animated the Defenders of Truth to resist it where it already existed, and who set himself as a wall of brass against its invasion in the Country where he, himself, was the master.
Another enemy, taking advantage of the confusion
caused in the West by Protestantism, organised
an expedition against Europe.
Italy was to be its first prey. The Ottoman fleet started
from the Bosphorus. This, again, would have meant
the ruin of Christendom but for the energy of the
Roman Pontiff, our Saint.
He gave the alarm, and called the Christian Princes to arms. Germany and France, torn by domestic factions that had been caused by heresy, turned a deaf ear to the call.
Spain, alone, together with Venice and the little Papal fleet, answered the summons of the Pontiff.
The Cross and the Crescent were soon face to face at Lepanto.
The Prayers of Pius V decided the victory in favour of
the Christians, whose forces were inferior to the Turks.
We shall return to this important event when we
come to the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary of
The Blessed Virgin Mary, on 7 October.
But we cannot omit to mention the prediction uttered by the Holy Pope, on the evening of the great day of 7 October, 1571.
The battle between the Christian and Turkish fleets
lasted from early morning until late afternoon.
Towards evening, the Pontiff suddenly looked up towards Heaven, and gazed upon it in silence for a few seconds.
Then, turning to his attendants, he exclaimed: “Let us give thanks to God ! The Christians have gained the victory !”.
The news soon arrived at Rome; and, thus,
Europe once more owed her salvation to a Pope !
The defeat at Lepanto was a blow from which the Ottoman Empire never recovered: Its fall dates from that glorious day.
The zeal of this Holy Pope for the reformation of
Christian morals, his establishment of the observance
of the laws of discipline prescribed by the Council of Trent,
and his publication of the new Breviary and Missal,
have made his six years’ Pontificate to be one of the
richest periods of The Church’s history.
Protestants have frequently expressed their admiration
of this vigorous opponent of the so-called “Reformation”.
“I am surprised”, said Bacon, “that the Church
of Rome has not yet Canonised this great man”.
Pius V did not receive this honour till about a hundred
and thirty years after his death; so impartial is The Church, when she has to adjudicate this highest of Earthly honours even to her most revered Pastors !
Of the many Miracles which attested the merits of this Holy Pontiff, ever during his life, we select the two following: As he was one day crossing the Vatican piazza, which is on the site of the ancient Circus of Nero, he was overcome with a sentiment of enthusiasm for the glory and courage of the Martyrs who had suffered on that very spot in the first persecutions.
Stooping down, he took up a handful of dust from the hallowed ground, which had been trodden by so many generations of the Christian people since the Peace of Constantine.
He put the dust into a cloth, which the Ambassador of Poland, who was with him, held out to receive it. When the Ambassador opened the cloth, after returning to his house, he found it saturated with blood, as fresh as though it had been that moment shed: The dust had disappeared.
The Faith of the Pontiff had evoked the Blood of the
Martyrs, which thus gave testimony against the heretics that the Roman Church, in the 16th-Century, was identically the same as that for which those brave heroes and heroines laid down their lives in the days of Nero.
The heretics attempted more than once to destroy a life
which baffled all their hopes of perverting the Faith of Italy.
By a base and sacrilegious stratagem, aided by treachery,
they put a deadly poison on to the Feet of Christ on the Crucifix which the Saint kept in his Oratory, and which he was frequently seen to kiss with great devotion.
In the fervour of Prayer, Pius was about to give this mark of love to the image of his Crucified Master, when, suddenly, the Feet of the Crucifix detached themselves from The Cross and eluded the proffered kiss of the venerable old man.
The Pontiff at once saw through the plot, whereby
his enemies would fain have turned the life-giving Tree
into an instrument of death.
In order to encourage the Faithful to follow
the Sacred Liturgy, we will select another interesting
example from the life of this great Saint.
When, lying on his bed of death, and just before
breathing his last, he took a parting look at The Church
on Earth, which he was leaving for that of Heaven, he wished to make a final Prayer for the Flock which he knew was surrounded by danger.
He, therefore, recited, but with a voice that was scarcely audible, the following stanza of the Paschal Hymn:
This Act of Reparation could be recited for the hundreds
of thousands of irreligious Holy Communions carried
out over the recent decades.
In addition, it could be recited for the millions of
Aborted Children, who have been denied existence
over the last sixty years.
Indulgence of 300 days each time recited.
On The Feast of The Sacred Heart
[Editor: The Friday after The Octave of Corpus Christi],
it is to be Solemnly recited with The Litany of
The Sacred Heart before The Blessed Sacrament Exposed:
Then, Seven Years and Seven Quarantines.
And a Plenary Indulgence,
supposing Confession and Communion.
O, Sweet Jesus, Whose overflowing charity for men is requited by so much forgetfulness, negligence, and contempt, behold
us prostrate before Thy Altar, eager to repair, by a special
Act of Homage, the cruel indifference and injuries,
to which Thy Loving Heart is everywhere subject.
Mindful, alas !, that we ourselves have had a share in such great indignities, which we now deplore from the depths of our hearts, we humbly ask Thy pardon and declare our readiness to atone by voluntary expiation, not only for our own personal offences, but, also, for the sins of those, who, straying far from the path of salvation, refuse in their obstinate infidelity to follow Thee, their Shepherd and Leader, or, renouncing the vows of their Baptism, have cast off the sweet yoke of Thy Law.
We are now resolved to expiate each and every deplorable outrage committed against Thee; we are determined to make amends for the manifold offences against Christian modesty in unbecoming dress and behaviour, for all the foul seductions laid to ensnare the feet of the innocent, for the frequent
violation of Sundays and Holy Days, and the shocking Blasphemies uttered against Thee and Thy Saints.
We wish also to make amends for the insults to which Thy Vicar on Earth and Thy Priests are subjected, for the profanation, by conscious neglect or terrible acts of Sacrilege, of the very Sacrament of Thy Divine Love; and, lastly, for the public crimes of Nations who resist The Rights and The Teaching Authority of The Church which Thou hast Founded.
Would, O, Divine Jesus, we were able to wash
away such abominations with our blood. We now offer,
in Reparation for these violations of Thy Divine Honour,
the satisfaction Thou didst once make to Thy Eternal Father
on The Cross and which Thou dost continue to renew
daily on our Altars.
We offer it in union with The Acts of Atonement of
Thy Virgin Mother and all The Saints and of the
pious Faithful on Earth; and we sincerely promise to
make Reparation, as far as we can, with the help of Thy Grace, for all neglect of Thy great love and for the sins we,
and others, have committed in the past.
Henceforth, we will live a life of unwavering Faith,
of purity of conduct, of perfect observance of the precepts of The Gospel, and especially that of Charity. We promise, to the best of our power, to prevent others from offending Thee
and to bring as many as possible to follow Thee.
Oh, Loving Jesus, through the intercession of
The Blessed Virgin Mary, our model in Reparation, deign to receive the voluntary offering that we make of this Act of Expiation; and, by the crowning gift of perseverance, keep us Faithful unto death in our duty and the allegiance we owe to Thee, so that we may all, one day, come to that happy home, where Thou, with The Father and The Holy Ghost, livest and reignest God, World without end.
Amen.
Due to the untold evils being perpetrated these days
all over the World, and also the devilish attacks on, and within, The Church, Zephyrinus respectfully offers this
Act of Reparation for consideration by the Faithful.
