As Cardinal Mercier said : "When prudence is everywhere, courage is nowhere."                                                                                  From Cardinal Sarah : "In order to avoid hearing God's music, we have chosen to use all the devices of this world. But heaven's instruments will not stop playing just because some people are deaf."                                                                                              Saint John-Paul II wrote: "The fact that one can die for the faith shows that other demands of the faith can also be met."                                                 Cardinal Müller says, “For the real danger to today’s humanity is the greenhouse gases of sin and the global warming of unbelief and the decay of morality when no one knows and teaches the difference between good and evil.”                                                  St Catherine of Siena said, “We've had enough exhortations to be silent. Cry out with a thousand tongues - I see the world is rotten because of silence.”                                                  Chesterton said, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.”                                                Brethren, Wake up!

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.
Posted on Tuesday, August 29, 2017
Category (click to see all related):