FEAST OF THE DECOLLATION OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST

Domine mi rex, da mihi in disco caput Ioannis Baptistæ.

O my lord king, I want you to give me on a dish the head of John the Baptist. (Antiphon of the second psalm of the Office)

Today is the second feast of our blessed Patron, in which we commemorate his beheading at the hands of Herodias and Salome.

Saint John died defending Marriage, denouncing the adulterous union between Herod and Herodias, wife of his brother Philip.

In our day there can be no stronger intercessor than Saint John for the defence of the Sacrament of Marriage so threatened in our civic society, as well as within the Church by those prelates whose eyes are turned to the secular world.

During this week you are all very earnestly encouraged to pray to Saint John the Baptist to defend Christian marriage, and to take this Truth out into the world where amongst even our closest friends we find error. We must not shy away from engaging in this debate.

Pray also that Holy Mother Church may be moved to declare Saint John the Baptist as patron saint of Marriage.

The collect of the Mass is particular to our Order which bears his holy name, and which is a clarion call to Tuitio Fidei.

Deus, qui beatum Ioannem Baptistam et nascentis et morietis Filii tui Præcusorem voluisti, concede, ut, sic ille veritatis et iustitiæ martyr occubuit, ita et nos in Ordine illi dicato militantes tuæ confessione doctrinæ strenue certemus. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum. Amen. 

O God, who called John the Baptist to be the herald of your Son’s birth and death, grant that, as he gave his life in witness to truth and justice, even so we in the Order which bears his name may strive unerring to defend your doctrine. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Shrine in San Silvestro in capita, Rome

The reliquary in Amiens

The relic in Constantinople

The photographs show the three heads venerated in Rome, Amiens and Constantinople as those of the Precursor.  As many will know, our beloved Order had in its care the Saint’s right hand, which was preserved in Russia following the fall of Malta, only to be lost during the Second World War.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.