London-on-Sea: A mother and her two children enjoy a beach picnic on the River Thames, near Tower Bridge, London, in 1955. Photograph: John Drysdale/Getty Images.
Thee two brothers, John and Paul, were Romans and in the service of Constantia, daughter of Emperor Constantine. Julian the Apostate, having invited them to be among his familiar friends, they refused, so as to remain faithful to Jesus.
Ten days were allowed for them to deliberate, and they used them in distributing all they possessed to the Poor. They were then arrested and "without fearing those who can only kill the body, and beyond that can do nothing more" (Gospel), they became, in 362 A.D., brothers more than ever, by the same Faith and the same Martyrdom (Collect, Gradual, Alleluia).
The Church compares them "to the two olive-trees and to the two candle-sticks, mentioned in The Apocalypse, which shine before the Lord." [Response at Matins.]
"These Just Men," she adds, "have stood before The Lord and have not been separated from one another." [Antiphon at The Magnificat.] Wherefore, both their names, mentioned in The Canon of The Mass (First List), pass on from generation to generation, while their bodies rest in peace (Epistle) in the ancient Church erected in their honour on Mount Coelius at Rome. It is there that The Station is held on the Friday after Ash Wednesday.
Let us enjoy today, with The Church, the double triumph of Saints John and Paul (Collect) and let us, like them, courageously confess Jesus before Men, so that He may recognise us for His own before His Angels (Gospel).
Mass: Multae tribulatiónes.
Commemoration of The Octave of Saint John the Baptist.
English: Basilica of The Holy Martyrs, John and Paul, Rome, Italy.
The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.
John and Paul were Saints in the Roman Empire. They were Martyred at Rome on 26 June. They should not be confused with the famous Apostles of the same names (see Saint Paul; Saint John the Apostle). The year of their Martyrdom is uncertain according to their Acts; it occurred under Julian the Apostate (361 A.D. – 363 A.D.).
In the second half of the 4th-Century A.D., Byzantius, the Roman Senator, and Saint Pammachius, his son, fashioned their house on The Cælian Hill into a Christian Basilica. In the 5th-Century A.D., the Presbyteri Tituli Byzantii (Priests of The Church of Byzantius) are mentioned in an Inscription and among the signatures of The Roman Council of 499 A.D. The Church was also called the Titulus Pammachii, after Byzantius's son, the pious friend of Saint Jerome.
In the ancient apartments on the ground-floor of the house of Byzantius, which were still retained under the Basilica, the tomb of two Roman Martyrs, John and Paul, was the object of Veneration as early as the 5th-Century A.D.
The Sacramentarium Leonianum already indicates, in the Preface to The Feast of the Saints, that they rested within the City walls ("Sacr. Leon.", ed. Feltoe, Cambridge, 1896, 34), while, in one of the early itineraries to the tombs of the Roman Martyrs, their grave is assigned to the Church on the Cælian (De rossi, "Roma sotterrania", I, 138, 175).
The Titulus Byzantii, or Pammachii, was consequently known at a very early date by the names of the two Martyrs (Titulus SS. Joannis et Pauli). That the two Saints are Martyrs of The Roman Church is historically certain; as to how and when their bodies found a resting-place in the house of Pammachius, under the Basilica, we only know that it certainly occurred in the 4th-Century A.D. The year and circumstances of their Martyrdom are likewise unknown.
According to their Acts, the Martyrs were eunuchs of Constantina, daughter of Constantine the Great, and became acquainted with a certain Gallicanus, who built a Church in Ostia. At the command of Julian the Apostate, they were beheaded secretly by Terentianus in their house on the Caelian Hill, where their Church was subsequently erected, and where they themselves were buried.
The rooms on the ground-floor, of the above-mentioned house of Pammachius, were rediscovered under the Basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Rome. They are decorated with important and interesting frescoes, while the original tomb (Confessio) of Saints John and Paul is covered with paintings, of which the Martyrs are the subject. The rooms and the tomb form one of the most important Early-Christian Memorials in Rome.
English: Frescoes in the original Roman house
below the present-day Basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Rome, Italy.
Since the erection of the Basilica, the two Saints have been greatly Venerated, and their names have been inserted in The Canon of the Mass. Their Feast Day is kept on 26 June.
The Lueneberg Manuscript (circa 1440–1450) mentions "The Day of John and Paul" in an early German account of The Pied Piper of Hamelin.
A small village next to Caiazzo, in the Campania region of Italy, is named Santi Giovanni e Paolo, in honour of these Martyrs. Many residents of this village bear the family name "San Giovanni," as do the descendants of immigrants to the United States from this village (in particular, in Michigan, New York, and Florida).
All Saints, Margaret Street, is a Grade I ListedAnglican Church in London. The Church was designed by the architect William Butterfield and built between 1850 and 1859. It has been hailed as Butterfield's masterpiece, and a pioneering building of The High Victorian Gothic Style that would characterise British architecture from around 1850 to 1870.
The Church is situated on the North Side of Margaret Street, in Fitzrovia, near Oxford Street, London, within a small Courtyard. Two other buildings face onto this Courtyard: One is the Vicarage and the other (formerly a Choir School) now houses the Parish Room and Flats for Assistant Priests.
All Saints is noted for its architecture, style of worship and musical tradition.
All Saints had its origins in the Margaret Street Chapel, which had stood on the site since the 1760s. The Chapel had "proceeded upwards through the various gradations of Dissent and Low-Church-ism" until 1829, when the Tractarian, William Dodsworth, became its incumbent. Dodsworth later converted to Roman Catholicism, as did one of his successors, Frederick Oakeley. Before his resignation from the Post, Oakeley, who was later to describe the Chapel as "a complete paragon of ugliness", had conceived the idea of rebuilding it in what he considered a correct Ecclesiastical Style, and had collected a sum of almost £30,000 for the purpose. He was succeeded at the Chapel by his assistant, William Upton Richards, who decided to carry on with the scheme.
In 1845, Alexander Beresford Hope realised that this scheme could be combined with the project of The Cambridge Camden Society to found a Model Church. His proposal met with the approval of Upton Richards, George Chandler, Rector of All Souls, and Charles Blomfield, the Bishop of London. It was decided that the architectural and Ecclesiological aspects of the project would be put entirely under the control of The Cambridge Camden Society, who appointed Sir Stephen Glynne and Beresford Hope to oversee the work. In the event, Glynne was unable to take an active part, and the other appointee, Beresford Hope, took sole charge.
The Chancel, All Saints Church, Margaret Street, London W1.
William Butterfield was selected as the architect, and the site, in Margaret Street, purchased for £14,500. The last Service at the old Chapel was held on Easter Monday, 1850, and the Foundation Stone of the new building was laid on All Saints' Day of that year by Edward Bouverie Pusey. Services were held in a Temporary Chapel in Titchfield Street for the next nine years, until the new Church was finally Consecrated on 28 May 1859. The total cost of the Church, including the site and endowments, was around £70,000; several large individual donations helped to fund it.
All Saints marked a new stage in the development of The Gothic Revival in English architecture. Simon Jenkins called All Saints "architecturally, England's most celebrated Victorian Church". In 2014, Simon Thurley, the Chief Executive of English Heritage, listed All Saints as one of the ten most important buildings in the Country.
The design of the Church showed Butterfield (in Sir John Betjeman's words) "going on from where The Middle Ages left off", as a neo-Gothic architect. Previous architecture of the 19th-Century Gothic Revival had copied Mediaeval buildings. But Butterfield departed considerably from Medieval Gothic practice, especially by using new materials, like brick.
The Lady Chapel, All Saints Church, Margaret Street, London W1.
The Lady Chapel (1911), situated at the East End of the North Aisle, was designed by
Sir Ninian Comper in Late-Gothic Style, and was enlarged in 1971 by Ian Grant as a Memorial
to Kenneth Ross (1908-1970), eighth Vicar of All Saints (1957-1969). The Reredos is of Caen stone and alabaster, and shows The Virgin and Child surrounded by Angels and Saints. It was restored by Peter Larkworthy in 1978-1980.
Charles Locke Eastlake, the 19th-Century architect and writer, wrote that Butterfield's design was "a bold and magnificent endeavour to shake off the trammels of antiquarian precedent, which had long fettered the progress of The Revival, to create, not a new style, but a development of previous styles". The Victorian critic John Ruskin wrote, after seeing All Saints: "Having done this, we may do anything . . . and I believe it to be possible for us, not only to equal, but far to surpass, in some respects, any Gothic yet seen in Northern Countries."
The Baptistry's Marble Tiling.
The designs that adorn the Walls and Pillars owe much to Ruskin, who, in "The Seven Lamps of Architecture" (1849), advocated the use of Chequers, Zig-Zags, Stripes and Geometrical Colour Mosaic. Matthew Digby Wyatt's "Specimans of Geometrical Mosaic of The Middle Ages" may also have influenced some of the detailing. However, both of these favoured stone and marble, rather than tile, making the Interior patterning of All Saints very much Butterfield's own work. Ruskin, in fact, did not 'altogether like the arrangements of colour in the brickwork'.
Butterfield's use of building materials was innovative. All Saints is built of Red Brick. By contrast, Gothic Revival Churches of the 1840s had typically been built of Grey Kentish Ragstone. Red Brick had previously been used to build cheap Churches. But, at All Saints, it was chosen specially by Butterfield, who felt a mission to "give dignity to brick", and the quality of the brick he chose made it more expensive than stone. The Red Brick of All Saints is banded and patterned with Black Brick, and the Spire is banded with stone. The decoration of the Exterior of All Saints consists, then, of the patterns made by the different colours of the bricks used in building the Church. Decoration is built into the structure. This made All Saints the first example of 'structural polychromy' in London.
All Saints is also notable for its Interior Decoration. The Interior is richly patterned, with inlays of marble and tile. The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner described the Interior as "dazzling, though in an eminently High Victorian ostentatiousness or obtrusiveness . . . No part of the walls is left undecorated. From everywhere, the praise of The Lord is drummed into you."
The Stained-Glass Windows are limited in All Saints, due to the density of buildings around the Church, and are mostly located in the Upper Part of the building. The original windows were designed by Alfred Gerente, but his work was not held in high regard and was subsequently replaced. The large West Window, which was originally fitted with glass by Gerente in 1853–1858, was replaced in 1877 with a design by Alexander Gibbs, based on The Tree of Jesse Window in Wells Cathedral. The glass in the Clerestory dates from 1853 and is the work of Michael O'Connor, who also designed the East Window of the South Chancel Aisle, which depicts Christ in Majesty with Saint Edward and Saint Augustine.
Interior of All Saints, Margaret Street, London.
Date: 8 March 2007.
Source: Transferred from en.wikipedia; transferred to Commons by
The Baptistery, in the South-West Corner of the Church, is noted for its Marble Tiling, which features an image of The Pelican in her Piety in the Ceiling Tiles, a symbol of The Fall and Redemption of Man.
The Church's Style of Worship is Anglo-Catholic, "The Catholic Faith as taught by The Church of England", offering members and visitors a Traditional Style of Liturgy, as advocated by The Oxford Movement of the Mid-19th-Century, including Ritual, Choir and Organ Music, Vestments and Incense. Fr Cyril Tomkinson (Vicar, 1943–1951), rebuking a visiting Priest, who asked for the use of The Roman Missal, said "the Rule here is music by Mozart, choreography by Fortescue, decor by Comper, but Libretto by Cranmer". Masses are now, generally, according to the Liturgy of Common Worship (with The High Mass on Sunday according to Order 1 in Traditional Language), while The Office is still Prayed according to The 1662 Book of Common Prayer.
The Pulpit, All Saints, Margaret Street, London W1.
Text is from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal, unless otherwise stated. Indulgenced Prayer of 300 days, each time. When said on The Feast of The Sacred Heart, to be Solemnly read 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.
English: Stained-Glass Window of The Sacred Heart,
Church of Saint Konrad and Vincent, Ravensburg, Germany.
Deutsch: Pfarrkirche St. Konrad und Vinzenz, Fronhofen,
Gemeinde Fronreute, Landkreis Ravensburg, Deutschland.
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 offenses 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 holidays, 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.
O Loving Jesus, through the intercession of The Blessed Virgin Mary, our model in reparation, deign to receive the voluntary offering 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.
English: The Estrela Basilica was built by order of Queen Maria I of Portugal,
as a fulfilled promise for giving birth to a son (José, Prince of Brazil).
Français: La basilique Estrela (en portugais: Basilica da Estrela) est une basilique de Lisbonne, au Portugal. Elle fut construite sous les ordres de la reine Maria I du Portugal, pour remplir la promesse de donner naissance à un fils (José, prinde du Brésil).
Heart of Jesus, formed in The Womb of The Virgin Mother by The Holy Ghost,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, united hypostatically to The Eternal Word,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, of Infinite Majesty,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Holy Temple of God,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Tabernacle of The Most High,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, House of God and Gate of Heaven,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Burning Furnace of Charity,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Vessel of Justice and Love,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Full of Goodness and Love,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Abyss of all Virtues,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Worthy of All Praise,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, King and Centre of All Hearts,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, in Which are All The Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, in Which dwelleth All The Fullness of The Divinity,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, in Which The Father is Well Pleased,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, of Whose Fullness we have all Received,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Desire of Eternal Hills,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Patient and Abounding in Mercy,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Rich unto all that Call upon Thee,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Fount of Life and Holiness,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Propitiation for our Offenses,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Overwhelmed with Reproaches,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Bruised for our Iniquities,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Obedient even unto Death,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Pierced with a Lance,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Source of all Consolation,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Our Life and Resurrection,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Our Peace and Reconciliation,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Victim for Our Sins,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who hope in Thee,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, hope of those who die in Thee,
have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, delight of all saints,
have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, Who Takest Away The Sins of The World,
spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who Takest Away The Sins of The World,
graciously Hear Us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who Takest Away The Sins of The World,
have mercy on us.
Jesus, Meek and Humble of Heart,
make our hearts like unto Thine.
Let us Pray.
Almighty and Eternal God, consider The Heart of Thy Well-Beloved Son and the Praises and Satisfaction He offers Thee in the name of sinners; appeased by worthy homage, pardon those who implore Thy mercy, in the name of the same Jesus Christ Thy Son, Who lives and reigns with Thee, World Without End.
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 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".
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.
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.
