The 20th February is the Feast of the Dedication of the Conventual Church of Saint John of Jerusalem in Valetta, dedicated to our holy Patron, and built as the principal church of the Order by Grand Master Jean de la Cassière, of which we were deprived by the actions of the tyrant Napoleon, and now known as St John's Co-Cathedral, the seat of the Archbishop of Malta.
It is also kept here in London, by time-honoured custom in religious orders, as the feast of our own Conventual Church of Saint John of Jerusalem (above), which remains the seat of the Order in England, despite all the vicissitudes (which themselves form part of the Order's tradition, as these three churches shew!).
It was also the kept as the feast of our former eponymous church in Clerkenwell, of which we were deprived by the actions of the tyrant King Henry VIII. We include below Sir Ninian Comper's fanciful plans for its reconstruction after the Second World War.
"The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone!" Let us celebrate these three churches, and the memory of our glorious forebears who built them. It is celebrated as a Feast throughout the Order, and a Solemnity within the churches themselves. The prayers are given below.
It was also the kept as the feast of our former eponymous church in Clerkenwell, of which we were deprived by the actions of the tyrant King Henry VIII. We include below Sir Ninian Comper's fanciful plans for its reconstruction after the Second World War.
"The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone!" Let us celebrate these three churches, and the memory of our glorious forebears who built them. It is celebrated as a Feast throughout the Order, and a Solemnity within the churches themselves. The prayers are given below.
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Antiphon at I Vespers:
The Lord has sanctified his tabernacle; for this is the house of God wherein his name shall be invoked, of which it is written: "and my name shall be there," says the Lord.
V. This is the house of the Lord, strongly built.
R. It is well founded upon firm rock.
Collect
O GOD, who year by year renew for us the day when this your holy temple was consecrated, hear the prayers of your people and grant that in this place for you there may always be pure worship, and for us fullness of redemption. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Antiphon at Lauds
"Zaccaheus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay in your house." And he made haste and came down, and received him joyfully into his house. Today salvation has come to this house from God.
Antiphon at II Vespers
O how awesome is this place. Truly this is none other than the house of God and the gate of Heaven.
St John the Baptist, pray for us.
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