Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.
Saint John.
Apostle and Evangelist.
Feast Day 27 December.
Station at Saint Mary Major.
Indulgence of 30 Years and 30 Quarantines.
Double of The Second-Class
with Simple Octave.
White Vestments.
Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist.
Illustration: UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY
Artist: René de Cramer.
"Copyright Brunelmar/Ghent/Belgium".
Used with Permission.
Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist.
Available on YouTube at
The Station was held at Saint Mary Major in honour of her to whom Jesus, on The Cross, entrusted Saint John: "Woman, behold thy son".
It is God Whom we Adore at Bethlehem (Editor: In Hebrew, Bethlehem means "House of Bread"] during Christmastide. Thus, it was natural that Saint John, the chief Evangelist of The Divinity of Christ, should be found beside The Crib, to disclose The Greatness of The Infant Who reposes therein.
It is to him that Jesus wishes to entrust His Mother, when Joseph will have passed away. The Liturgy, therefore, loves to show together, beside The Child and His Mother, him whom the Gospel calls the Apostle "The Just Man" ["Joseph, her husband, being a Just Man." (Matt. i. 19.)], and whom The Church today honours with the same Title (Offertory).
The Infant God in The Crib gathers around Him pure Souls: Mary is The Blessed Virgin; Joseph The Chaste Spouse; Saint Stephen The First Martyr who washes his robe in The Blood of The Lamb. Now behold Saint John, The Virgin Apostle. Crowned with the halo of those who knew how to conquer their flesh, for this reason he became "The Disciple whom Jesus loved, and who also leaned on His breast at Supper" (Gospel).
Thanks to his Angelic Purity, he imbibed that wholesome wisdom of which the Epistle speaks and which won for him the halo of Doctor. The Introit of his Mass is the one The Church uses in "The Common of Doctors".
It is to Saint John , who wrote a Gospel, three Epistles, and The Apocalypse, that we owe the most beautiful pages on The Divinity of The Word Made Flesh; and it is for this reason that he is symbolised by The Eagle, which soars in the heights.
Finally, he received the halo of Martyr, since he only escaped a violent death by that special protection of which the Gospel speaks and which made many believe that The Beloved Disciple would not die. Actually, he did not depart this life until all the other Apostles had passed away.
His name is mentioned with their names in The Canon of The Mass (First List).
The desire to connect the great Saints with The Feast of The Nativity was the cause of Celebrating on this day, except at Rome, The Feast of Saint James, brother of Saint John, and, on 28 December, that of Saint Peter and Saint Paul.
“On this day, wine offered by The Faithful is Blessed in remembrance and in honour of Saint John, who, without any ill effects, drank a cup of poisoned wine” (Roman Ritual).
Every Parish Priest Celebrates Mass for the people of his Parish.
Mass: In médio Ecclésiæ.
Second Collect: Of The Octave Of The Nativity of Our Lord.
Credo: Is Said or Sung.
Preface: For Christmas.
Communicantes: For Christmas.
Preface: For Christmas.
Communicantes: For Christmas.
“The Mass Of The Foundation Of The Trinitarian Order”.
Artist: Juan Carreño de Miranda.
Illustration: LOUVRE
THE SAINT ANDREW DAILY MISSAL
THE SAINT ANDREW DAILY MISSAL
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Another thought-stimulating focus by Zephyrinus and Dom Gaspar Lefebvre, OSB, author of the S. Andrew’s Missal. So this journeyman observer decided to review his life (we usually hear of the travels of S.Paul: not S. John.).
ReplyDeleteSo, as Zephyrinus and others reading this blog know, after S. John traveled to Galilee and after seeing the Risen Christ by the lake shore, tradition and Acts of the Apostles places S. John in Jerusalem with S. Peter (he travels to Samaria with Peter to impose hands on new converts in Acts 8:14ff).
Next, tradition tells us that he traveled at some point to Rome (according to Tertullian, d.220 AD), and was miraculous delivered from being martyred (“S. John Before the Latin Gate”, feast day May 6th, which a 5/6/2016 New Liturgical Movement article tells us dates from at least the 8th-century: hence the station at that church in Rome on the Saturday before Palm Sunday);
And from there, he travelled to Ephesus where he attended to the Blessed Virgin Mary until her Dormition and to which house the other surviving apostles and post-Apostolic disciples often visited. After this he was exiled by the emperor Domitian (reign, 81-96) to Patmos where we know he was the instrument of the writing of the Book of the Apocalypse, one of the most influential writings of all time, and spent his final days. What a fascinating life for the Beloved Disciple: imagine if we could have accompanied him. - Note by Dante P
Another thought-stimulating focus by Zephyrinus and Dom Gaspar Lefebvre, OSB, author of the S. Andrew’s Missal. So this journeyman observer decided to review his life (we usually hear of the travels of S.Paul: not S. John.).
ReplyDeleteSo, as Zephyrinus and others reading this blog know, after S. John traveled to Galilee and after seeing the Risen Christ by the lake shore, tradition and Acts of the Apostles places S. John in Jerusalem with S. Peter (he travels to Samaria with Peter to impose hands on new converts in Acts 8:14ff).
Next, tradition tells us that he traveled at some point to Rome (according to Tertullian, d.220 AD), and was miraculous delivered from being martyred (“S. John Before the Latin Gate”, feast day May 6th, which a 5/6/2016 New Liturgical Movement article tells us dates from at least the 8th-century: hence the station at that church in Rome on the Saturday before Palm Sunday);
And from there, he travelled to Ephesus where he attended to the Blessed Virgin Mary until her Dormition and to which house the other surviving apostles and post-Apostolic disciples often visited. After this he was exiled by the emperor Domitian (reign, 81-96) to Patmos where we know he was the instrument of the writing of the Book of the Apocalypse, one of the most influential writings of all time, and spent his final days. —Note by Dante P
#2: Now, the story of S John the Evangelist at Ephesus takes a fascinating “modern” era twist.
ReplyDeleteAs Zephyrinus no doubt knows, Anna Katerina Emmerich (d.1824), visionary and mystic, had her writings recorded, fortunately, by a German writer and poet, Clemens Brentano (d.1842), who experienced a later life conversion and returned to the Catholic faith. Brentano meticulously recorded the visions of Anna Katarina Emmerich and was convinced of her authenticity.
In 1881, a French priest, Abbe Julien Gouyet, overcoming
many great obstacles, relying on the very exact description provided by Emmerich, discovered a ruin overlooking the Aegean Sea, which he was certain was the house of S. John and the Blessed Virgin at Ephesus, and an area the local Turkish long had referred to as “The Spring of the Virgin Mary.”
However, although Abbe Gouyet carefully documented his findings, no one took him seriously and until in 1891, a nun at the French Naval Hospital, Sr. Mary Mandat de Grancey, reading his account, realized “something was there.” It was she who martialed further investigations—subsequent excavations verified the remaining stones of the foundation were from the Apostolic Age—until in 1896, P. Leo XIII recognized the site as worthy of Catholic pilgrimage.
It is amazing sometimes what we are so fortunate to find, likely the actual house of S. John, in this Last Era of the earth. -Note by Dante P
A fascinating, erudite, and most welcome contribution to this Article by Dante P. For which, Zephyrinus and all readers of this Blog are most grateful for this valuable addition to the history of Saint John the Evangelist. The mention of the house at Ephesus, where Saint John "attended to The Blessed Virgin Mary until her Dormition", is most apposite. For, in a few days' time (3 January 2023), Zephyrinus will be Posting on “The Translation Of The Holy House To Loreto”, the house in question being claimed as the house where The Blessed Virgin Mary received the Annunciation. Two houses, both being linked to The Blessed Virgin Mary.
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