Feast Of The Sacred Heart Of Jesus. The Friday After The Octave Of Corpus Christi.

Text taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal or, where indicated, 
      Abbot Gueranger's "The Liturgical Year".

Images from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
      unless otherwise stated.

Feast of The Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi.

Double of the First Class with Privileged Octave of the Third Order.

White Vestments.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus

with Saint Ignatius of Loyola and 

Saint Louis Gonzaga (circa 1770).

Artist: José de Páez, Mexico, 1727-1790.

Source: http://arttattler.com/archivelatinamerica.html.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Annum Sacrum

Annum Sacrum (meaning Holy Year) is an encyclical by Pope Leo XIII on the consecration of the entire world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was delivered in Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome on the 25th day of May, 1899, the twenty-second year of his pontificate.

The consecration in the encyclical entered new theological territory by consecrating non-Christians. The encyclical, and the consecration, were influenced by two letters written to the Pope by Sister Mary of the Divine Heart, who stated that, in visions of Jesus Christ, she had been told to request the consecration.

The encyclical includes the Prayer of Consecration to the Sacred Heart, composed by Leo XIII.

English: Coat-of-Arms of Pope Leo XIII.

Français: Armoiries du pape Léon XIII : D'azur au cyprès de sinople planté sur une plaine de même accompagné au francs quartier d'une comête d'or et en pointe de deux flaurs de lys d'argent, à la fasce d'argent brochant sur le tout.

Date: 11 August 2008.

Source: Own work.

Author: Odejea.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Protestantism, in the 16th-Century, and Jansenism, in the 17th-Century, had attempted to spoil one of the essential dogmas of Christianity, namely, the love of God for all men.

It became necessary that the Spirit of Love, which directs the Church, should by some new means counteract the spreading heresy, in order that the Spouse of Christ, far from seeing her love for Jesus diminish, should feel it always increasing.

This was made manifest in Catholic worship, which is the sure rule of our faith, by the institution of the Feast of The Sacred Heart.

Yet, in early-Middle-Ages, the Doctors and Saints used to see, in the wound of Jesus' side, the source of all graces. Saint Bonaventure invites us "to enter this wound and to dwell in the quiet of this Heart" (Third Nocturn).

English: Saint John Eudes, 1673.

Nederlands: Portret Jean Eudes ca. 1673 -

publiek domein, ouderdom.

Source: Transferred from nl.wikipedia

Author: Original uploader was Besednjak at nl.wikipedia

(Wikimedia Commons)

Jean Eudes (14 November 1601 - 19 August 1680) was a French missionary, founder of the Congregation of Jesus and Mary and of the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge, and author of the Propers for Mass and the Divine Office of The Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

The two Benedictine Virgins, Saint Gertrude and Saint Mechtilde, in the 13th-Century, had a clear vision of the grandeur of the devotion to The Sacred Heart. Saint John the Evangelist, appearing to Saint Gertrude, announced to her that "the meaning of the blessed beating of the Heart of Jesus, which he had heard whilst his head rested on His breast, was reserved for the latter times, when the world, grown old and cold in Divine Love, would require to have its fervour renewed by means of this mystery of burning love".

English: 

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque

contemplating the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Italiano: 

Santa Margherita Maria Alacoque

Contempla il Sacro Cuore di Gesù.

Polski: 

Św. Małgorzata Maria Alacoque adoruje Najświętsze Serce Jezusa.

Artist: Giaquito Corrado.

Date: 1765.

Source: Lib-Art.com

(Wikimedia Commons)

This Heart, say these two Saints, is an altar on which Christ offers Himself to the Father as a perfect and most acceptable victim. It is a golden censer from which rise, towards the Father, as many clouds of incense as there are kinds of men for whom Christ suffered.

In this Heart, the praise and thanks we give to God and all our good works are ennobled and become acceptable to the Father.

But, in order to make this worship public and recognised, Providence first raised up Saint John Eudes, who, in 1670, composed an Office and a Mass of The Sacred Heart for the so-called Congregation of the Eudists.

Providence then chose one of the spiritual daughters of Saint Francis of Sales, Saint Margaret-Mary Alacoque, to whom Jesus showed His Heart at Paray-le-Monial, on 16 June 1675, the Sunday after Corpus Christi, and asked her to institute a Feast of The Sacred Heart on the Friday following the Octave of Corpus Christi.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus,

(Sacro cuore di Jesu),

painting on the Altar in the Northern Side Chapel

of Il Gesu, in Rome, circa 1767,

by Pompeo Batoni.

Source: http://www.enid.uib.no/texts/achen_l.htm

(Wikimedia Commons)

Lastly, God employed, for the propagation of this devotion, Blessed Claude de la Colombiere. He belonged to the Company of Jesus, "the whole of which inherited his zeal in the propagation of the devotion to The Sacred Heart" [the quoted portion is from Dom Gueranger's "The Liturgical Year, Volume 10, Book 1: The Feast of The Sacred Heart"].

[Dom Gueranger writes, in the above tome, on The Feast of The Sacred Heart of Jesus: "A new ray of light shines today in the heaven of Holy Church, and its light brings warmth. The Divine Master given to us by our Redeemer, that is, the Paraclete Spirit, who has come down into this world, continues His teachings to us in the Sacred Liturgy. The earliest of these, His Divine Teachings, was the Mystery of the Trinity; and we have worshipped the Blessed Three: We have been taught Whom God is, we know Him in His own nature, we have been admitted, by faith, into the sanctuary of the infinite Essence.

Image of Prosper Gueranger

by Claude-Ferdinand Gaillard (1874).

Date: 2007-05-07 (original upload date).

Source: Transfered from en.wikipedia

Author: Original uploader was Ikanreed at en.wikipedia

(Wikimedia Commons)

"Then, this Spirit, the mighty wind of Pentecost, opened to our Souls new aspects of the truth, which it is His mission to make the world remember; and His revelation left us prostrate before the Sacred Host, the Memorial which God Himself has left us of all His wonderful works.

"Today, it is the Sacred Heart of the Word made flesh that this Holy Spirit puts before us, that we may know and love and adore it."]

In 1765, Pope Clement XIII, gave his approbation to the Feast and the Office of The Sacred Heart, and, in 1856, Pope Pius IX, extended it to the universal Church. In 1929, Pope Pius XI composed a new Mass and Office for this Feast and gave it a Privileged Octave of the Third Order.

The Solemnity of The Sacred Heart sums up all the phases of the life of Jesus, recalled in the Liturgy from Advent to the Feast of Corpus Christi.

It constitutes an admirable triptych, giving us, in abridgment, all the Mysteries (Joyous, Sorrowful and Glorious) of the Saviour's Life devoted to the love of God and men. This Feast is, indeed, placed on a height from which may be contemplated the redeeming labours of the Saviour on Earth and the glorious victories He will, by the working of the Holy Ghost, achieve in Souls until the end of the world.

Pope Leo XIII

in 1880.

Source: 1880 book on Pope Leo XIII.

Author: Karl Benzinger.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Pope Leo XIII wrote the Encyclical, "Annum Sacrum", on the Consecration of the entire world to The Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was delivered in Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome on 25 May 1899.

Coming after the Feasts of Christ, this Feast completes them, concentrating them in one object, which is materially Jesus' Heart of flesh, and formally the unbounded charity symbolised by this Heart. This Solemnity, therefore, does not relate to a particular Mystery of the Saviour's Life, but embraces them all; indeed, the Devotion to The Sacred Heart celebrates all the favours we have received from Divine Charity during the year (Collect), and all the marvellous things that Jesus has done for us (Introit, Tract, Alleluia).

It is the Feast of the Love of God for men, a love which has made Jesus come down on Earth for all by His Incarnation (Epistle), which has raised Him on the Cross for the Redemption of all and which brings Him down every day on our Altars by Transubstantiation, in order to make us benefit by the merits of His Death on Calvary.

Deutsch: Schwester Maria Droste zu Vischering

English: Mary of the Divine Heart

Español: Beata María del Divino Corazón

Portrait of Blessed Sister Mary of the Divine Heart,

Countess of Droste zu Vischering

and Mother Superior of the Good Shepherd Convent

in Porto, Portugal.

Date: Circa 1890.

Source: KIRCHENSITE.DE

Author: Unknown.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Blessed Mary of The Divine Heart (1863 - 1899).

Born Maria Droste zu Vischering, she was a German Roman Catholic Nun, who was best known for influencing Pope Leo XIII's Consecration of the World to The Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Pope Leo XII called this Consecration "the greatest act of my Pontificate".

These three Mysteries, which manifest to us the Divine Charity in a more special way, sum up the spirit of the Feast of The Sacred Heart. It is "His love which forced Him to put on a mortal body" (Hymn at Matins). It is His love which willed that The Sacred Heart should be pierced on the Cross (Gospel and Communion), in order that, from the wound, should flow a spring (Preface) we might draw from, joyfully (Versicle at Second Vespers), whose water cleanses us from our sins in Baptism and whose blood nourishes our Souls in the Eucharist.

And, as the Eucharist is the continuation of the Incarnation and the Sacrifice of Calvary, Jesus asked that the Feast should be placed immediately after the Octave of Corpus Christi.

As these manifestations of Christ's Love only show the more the ingratitude of men, who only answer by coldness and indifference (Offertory), this Solemnity has a character of reparation (Collect) demanded of us by the Wounded Heart of Jesus and by His Immolation in the Crib, on the Cross and on the Altar.

Let us learn from the Heart of Jesus, whose gentle and humble Love turns no-one away, and in it we shall find rest for our Souls (Alleluia).

Nowhere, As In The Liturgy, Does There Exist Such A Complete, Simple, Orderly, And Deep Exposition Of All The Marvels Which God Has Performed For Our Sanctification . . .

The following Paragraph is taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.

Blessed Columba Marmion, born Joseph Aloysius Marmion (1 April 1858 – 30 January 1923) was an Irish Monk, and the third Abbot of Maredsous Abbey, in Belgium. Beatified by Pope Saint John Paul II on 3 September 2000, Blessed Marmion was one of the most popular and influential Catholic writers of the 20th-Century. His books are considered spiritual classics.

This Article can be found at VULTUS CHRISTI

Nowhere else, as in the liturgy.

Blessed Columba Marmion.

Illustration: VULTUS CHRISTI

Blessed Columba Marmion’s doctrine concerning the Liturgy is luminous and serene. His repetition of the phrase, “nowhere, as in the Liturgy”, affirms the teaching of Pope Saint Pius X that active participation in the Liturgy is the foremost and indispensable font of the true Christian spirit.

Filled as We are with a most ardent desire to see the true Christian spirit flourish in every respect and be preserved by all the Faithful, We deem it necessary to provide, before anything else, for the sanctity and dignity of the temple, in which the Faithful assemble for no other object than that of acquiring this spirit from its foremost and indispensable font, which is the active participation in the Most Holy Mysteries and in the public and Solemn Prayer of the Church.(Tra le sollecitidini, 22 November 1903)

It must be understood, of course, that when Blessed Marmion refers to the Liturgy in this Text, he is referring not only to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, but also, in a special way, to the Divine Office, and the full complement of rites contained in the Pontifical and the Roman Ritual.

Blessed Columba Marmion.

Date: 27 October 2009 (original upload date).

Source: Transferred from en.wikipedia.

Author: Original uploader was Tiergarten 4 at en.wikipedia.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Christ Set Before Our Eyes

From Advent to Pentecost, the Church unfolds before our gaze the whole life of her Divine Spouse, not merely as it is found in the Gospels, but illustrated, if I presume to say so, by the Prophecies, the Letters of Saint Paul, the Commentary of the Holy Doctors. The whole existence of Christ, integral and living, is re-enacted before our eyes; the Church offers for our contemplation, one by one, under their particular aspect of splendour, in characteristic relief and according to their sequence, all the Mysteries of Jesus; the Church presents therein, in its appropriate place, all that He said, all that He did, all that He realised in His Person, all that He willed for us.

The Virtue and Grace of All His Mysteries

Nowhere else, as in the Liturgy, can we become so well acquainted with the the gestures of Jesus Christ, the words which fell from His lips, the feelings of His Divine Heart; it is the Gospel relived at each stage of the Earthly life of Christ, Man–God, Saviour of the World, Head of His Mystical Body, and bringing with Him the Virtue and Grace of all His Mysteries for our Souls’ benefit.

The Liturgy: The Most Perfect Expression of Revelation

Nowhere, as in the Liturgy, does there exist such a complete, simple, orderly, and deep exposition of all the marvels which God has performed for our our sanctification and salvation; it is the most perfect expression of Revelation and that most adapted to our Souls’ needs, it is an exposition which appeals both to the eyes of the body and of the imagination and which moves the attentive Souls to its depths.

An Incomparable Source of Supernatural Light

The Liturgical Cycle is an incomparable source of Supernatural Light. Moreover — and this is an essential truth for our sanctification — we may derive from it the special fruit which Our Lord willed to attach to each of His Mysteries when, as our Head, He lived with them here below.

Blessed Columba Marmion
"Christ in His Mysteries", pp. 22 and following.

Christ

in His

Mysteries.

Available from

AMAZON

Vatican Sends Team To Canterbury (Where Else ?) To Sort Out Anglicans. Vatican Team Has No Plans For Maidens.

This Article can be found on CNA Catholic News Agency

A member of St. Peter's Cricket Club greets Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi

during a June 23, 2014 Press Conference announcing their Tour.

Vatican cricket team to play Church of England in first tour

VATICAN CITY, June 24 (CNA/EWTN News) .- St. Peter’s Cricket team begins their “Light of Faith Tour” this Fall, which includes a warm-up game against a team from the Royal Household and a final match against the Anglican Church at Canterbury.

“We’re very happy that we were able to organise a cricket match against the Anglican Communion,” Fr. Eamon O’Higgins told CNA during a June 24 press conference announcing the cricket team’s tour.

“The fact that it is a team of priests and seminarians, all of whom study here in Rome...is very significant for the Christian faith and we hope also the tour.”

Illustration: SFCREATE

Fr. O’Higgins is in charge of spiritual formation at Rome’s Maria Mater Ecclesiae college where the majority of the team members study, and also serves as the team manager for St. Peter’s Cricket Club, officially founded last fall.

Called the “Light of Faith Tour,” the team’s first season begins Sept. 12 when they leave for England, where they are slated to play a series of warm-up matches before their first major game against the Anglicans.

A first warm-up match against the Edinburgh Divines will take place Sept. 10 – 11 in Rome, after which the Vatican team will travel to Brighton for a Sept. 14 – 15 game, and will play their final warm-up match against a team composed of members from the Royal Household at Windsor Castle, an official residence of Queen Elizabeth II, Sept. 17.

Illustration: SFCREATE

The initial matches will culminate in a Sept. 19 game played against a team from the Church of England, the mother church of the whole Anglican community, on the grounds of Kent County Cricket Club at the Canterbury Cathedral.

“Canterbury was the first Christian see. That’s where the first Christians came to England, the famous cathedral, the cathedral of St. Thomas Beckett, and St Anselm, the great philosopher and the remains of St. Thomas More are there” Fr. O’Higgins explained.

“It’s the center of Christianity in England. So, a bigger place for Christians there isn’t!”

Serving as a moment of ecumenical encounter, several moments of prayer are being planned for the game, including a special prayer before the match begins, the recitation of evensong, or the singing of the psalms, the evening of Sept. 18 as well as a daily hour of Eucharistic adoration throughout the tour.

Illustration: SFCREATE

Referring to the name of the tour, Fr. O’Higgins observed that “we’ve called it the ‘Light of Faith Tour,’” to express the hope “that it will give the light of faith to people there.”

“The very fact of seeing priests, seminarians, boys training for the priesthood in a public atmosphere playing a cricket match, gives a sign to people” he said.

Noting how the sport serves as a point of dialogue between Christianity and secular culture, the priest stated that it shows the world “that God does call young men to the priesthood, young men do respond and that faith is something alive and active.”

Illustration: SFCREATE

“Perhaps culture at times tends to make us forget the presence of God. And this is going to be a very visible presence of God on a cricket field at Canterbury.”

Made up of 12 priests, deacons and seminarians, the team is two thirds Indian, with other members hailing from England, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

“I don’t know if you know (but) in India cricket is a passion like football or soccer is in Brazil or in Europe,” Fr. O’Higgins explained, referring to the large number of Indians who volunteered to be on the team.

“So playing cricket in India is a way of entering into the culture, in a peaceful way, in a way that proposes something positive to people who perhaps would not be exposed to Christian culture.”

“That’s the idea” he said, mentioning that “we don’t have any definite plans to go to India yet but we’re not going to stop anybody from inviting us.”

Illustration: SFCREATE

Saint John's Day.

As per the Good Wishes expressed at RORATE CAELI
Zephyrinus wishes all Blessings to all Readers on this
Feast Day of Saint John the Baptist.

Français: La voix dans le désert.

English: The Voice in the Desert.

Artist: James Tissot (1836-1902).

Date: Between 1886 and 1894.

Current location: Brooklyn Museum, New York City.

Credit line: Purchased by public subscription.

Source/Photographer: Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum;

Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2007, 00.159.44_PS1.jpg.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Nativity Of Saint John The Baptist. Feast Day 24 June.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.

The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist.
Feast Day 24 June.

Double of the First Class
with an Octave.

White Vestments.

Français: La voix dans le désert.

English: The Voice in the Desert.

Artist: James Tissot (1836-1902).

Date: Between 1886 and 1894.

Current location: Brooklyn Museum, New York City.

Credit line: Purchased by public subscription.

Source/Photographer: Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum;

Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2007, 00.159.44_PS1.jpg.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Deutsch: Im Innern der Probsteikirche in Königsberg.

English: Interior of Saint John the Baptist Church, 

Konigsberg.

Date: 1904.

Source: http://www.bildarchiv-ostpreussen.de/index.html

Author: Herausgeber: Landsmannschaft Ostpreußen e.V. Parkallee 84/86 20144 Hamburg HRA VR4551 Ust-ID-Nr.: DE118718969Bundesgeschäftsführer: Dr. Sebastian Husen.

(Wikimedia Commons)

"A Prophet of The Most High" (Alleluia), Saint John is pre-figured by Isaias and Jeremias (Introit, Epistle, Gospel); moreover, he was Consecrated before birth to announce Jesus (Secret) and to prepare Souls for His coming.

The Gospel narrates the prodigies which accompanied his birth. Zachary gives his child the name which Saint Gabriel has brought him from Heaven, which signifies: The Lord has pardoned. He immediately recovers his speech and, filled with the Holy Ghost, he foretells the greatness of his son: "He shall walk before the Face of the Lord to give unto the people the knowledge of salvation."

The Virgin and Child, with the Infant Saint John,

appearing to Saint Jerome and Saint Anthony.

Artist: Andrea Celesti (1637-1712).

Date: Circa 1700.

Current location: Santa Maria dei Derelitti,

Venice, Italy.

Source/Photographer: Web Gallery of Art.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Angel Gabriel had announced to Zachary that "many would rejoice in the birth of Saint John the Baptist". Indeed, not only "the neighbours and relations of Elizabeth" solemnised the event, but every year, on its anniversary, the whole Church invites her children to share in this Holy Joy. She knows that the Nativity "of this Prophet of The Most High", at this "Summer Christmas", is intimately connected with the Advent of the Messias.

After the Feast of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, the days become shorter, while, on the contrary, after the Nativity of the Saviour, of which this Feast is the prelude, the days become longer. The Precursor must efface himself before Jesus, Who is the True Light of Faith. "He must increase," says Saint John, "and I must decrease."

The Solstices were the occasion of pagan feasts, when fires were lighted to honour the orb which gives us light. The Church Christianised the Rites, seeing in them a symbol of Saint John, who was "a burning and brilliant lamp".

The beheading of Saint John the Baptist.

Artist: Caravaggio (1573-1610).

Date: 1608.

Current location: St. Johns Co-Cathedral,

Valletta, Malta.

Source/Photographer: The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. DVD-ROM, 2002.

ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Indeed, "she encouraged this kind of manifestation, which corresponds so well with the character of the Feast. The Saint John bonfires happily completed the Liturgical Solemnity: They showed the Church and the Earthly city united in one thought." [The Liturgical Year by Dom Guéranger: The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist.]

The name of the Precursor is inscribed in the Canon of the Mass at the head of the Second List.

Formerly, on his Feast Day, three Masses were celebrated in his honour, and numerous Churches were dedicated to him. Parents loved to give his name to their children.

Gregorian Chant.

The Life of Saint John the Baptist.

Available on YouTube at

http://youtu.be/XPxh8_my0F8.

Paul the Deacon, a Monk of Monte Cassino and a friend of Charlemagne, had composed, in honour of Saint John the Baptist, the Hymn: "Ut queant laxis." In the 13th-Century, the Benedictine Monk, Guy of Arezzo, noticed that the notes, sung on the first syllabes, formed the sequence of the first six degrees of the scale. He named each degree by the corresponding syllable: "Ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si" and thereby greatly facilitated the study of musical intervals.

Ut queant laxis resonare fibris [Do - Re]
Mira gestorum famuli tuorum [Mi - Fa]
Solve polluti labii reatum [Sol - La]
Sancte Johannes [Si] (S J makes Si)

Unloose, great Baptist, our sin-fettered lips;
That with enfranchis'd voice we may proclaim,
The Miracles of thy transcendent life,
Thy deeds of matchless fame.

"That thy servants may sing with full voice the marvels of thy works, purify their sullied lips, O Saint John."

Immediately Zachary made signs that he wished to call his son "John", he recovered his speech; and lo !, a Hymn composed in honour of the Prophet, whose voice resounds in the desert, becomes the occasion of a new progress in music.

Every Parish Priest celebrates Mass for the people of his Parish.

Magyar: A barokk stílusú Szent János és Pál kápolna Szekszárdon.

Esperanto: Kapelo Sanktaj Johano kaj Paŭlo en Szekszárd, Hungario.

English: The Chapel of Saint John and Saint Paul in Szekszárd, Hungary.

Photo: 4 October 2010.

Source: Hungarian Wikipedia, file hu:file:SzentJanos esPal.jpg.

Author: Pásztörperc.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Corpus Christi Photographs From Blackfen Now Published By Mulier Fortis.

Illustration from UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY
which carries this Credit Statement: "Illustrations taken from St. Andrew's Daily Missal, 1952 edition,
with the kind permission of St. Bonaventure Press".

Feast of Corpus Christ.

Double of the First-Class 

with a Privileged Octave of the Second Order.

White Vestments.

(Indulgence of 400 days for those who attend Mass or Vespers.)

THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENT.

MULIER FORTIS

has now published a fine set of photos from the

Usus Antiquior Missa Cantata at Blackfen

for the Feast of Corpus Christi.

The Vigil Of Saint John The Baptist. 23 June.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.

23 June.
The Vigil of Saint John the Baptist.

Violet Vestments.

Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

The Sermon of Saint John the Baptist (detail).

Artist: Pieter Breughel the Elder (1526-1569).

Date: 1566.

Current location: Szépművészeti Múzeum (Museum of Fine Arts),

Budapest, Hungary.

Source: Own work.

Author: Yelkrokoyade. Taken on 20 July 2013.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Infant Jesus and John the Baptist.

Artist: Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682).

Date: 1600s.

Source: http://www.1st-art-gallery.com/Bartolome-Esteban-Murillo/

Infant-Christ-Offering-A-Drink-Of-Water-To-St-John-1675-80.html.

(Wikimedia Commons)

In the Gospel of 25 March, we read that the Angel Gabriel announced to Mary that, three months later, Elizabeth, in virtue of a Divine Miracle, would have a son.

This is why the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist is celebrated towards the end of June.

This important Feast is preceded by a Vigil.