Augsberg Antiphonal, c. 1580

A commentary on today’s feast can be found in the Liturgical Year, “The Beloved Disciple John, whom we saw standing near the Crib of the Babe of Bethlehem, comes before us again to-day ; and this time, he is paying his delighted homage to the glorious Conqueror of death and hell. Like Philip and James, he too is clad in the scarlet robe of Martyrdom. The Month of May, so rich in Saints, was to be graced with the Palm of St. John.” [..] “A huge cauldron of boiling oil is prepared in front of the Latin Gate. The sentence orders that the preacher of Christ be plunged into this bath. The hour is come for the second son of Salome to partake of his Master’s Chalice. John’s heart leaps with joy, at the thought that he, — the most dear to Jesus, and yet the only Apostle that has not suffered death for him, — is, at last, permitted to give him this earnest of his love. After cruelly scourging him, the executioners seize the old man, and throw him into the cauldron ; but, lo ! the boiling liquid has lost all its heat ; the Apostle feels no scalding ; on the contrary, when they take him out agan, he feels all the vigour of his youthful years restored to him. The Praetor’s cruelty is foiled, and John, the Martyr in desire, is to be left to the Church for some few years longer. An imperial decree banishes him to the rugged Isle of Patmos, where God reveals to him the future of the Church, even to the end of time.“

St John is also celebrated on the 27th December, we wrote about that feast here, St John the Apostle.

Below is UVOC style Propers sheet, with the Proper texts of the Mass in Latin and English from the St Andrew daily Missal.

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Our first Hymn De patre verbum prodiens (Cantus Link) Originally from a 10/11th c. Veronense manuscript, and is found in the Analecta Hymnica Vol. 51 pg. 185. According to Cantus it is used as a Matins or Vespers Hymn. Our version is from the 16th century c. 1580 Augsberg Antiphonal. Below is the melody used for the Feast of St John before the Latin gate (May 6th), we have also set it to the modern version of this melody. This hymn is also used on December 27th using a Christmas Hymn melody. In the book, The blessed Virgin Mary in early Christian poetry, the hymn is given as an example of the presence of Mary at the foot of the Cross. A recording of this hymn to a delightful melody can be found here, De Patre Verbum prodiens.

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de-patre-verbum-luDownload
Cistercian antiphoner (dated c. 1295) from Lubiąż

Our Second Hymn is the Amore Christi nobilis (Cantus link). It is found in The Liturgical Year “The following Hymn, which we have taken from the Milan Liturgy, is attributed to St. Ambrose ; it certainly bears a resemblance to his style — sublime thoughts, majestically told.” According to Cantus it is used as a Vespers or Matins Hymn and on both the December and May Feasts. The fifth verse is as follows,

In principio erat Verbum, Et Verbum erat apud Deum ;
Et Deus erat Verbum : Hoc erat in principio apud Deum.

This of course does not fit the meter of our Hymn melody. We have used the setting of this verse from the Cistercian antiphoner (above) as our guide to how best to modify the words or music to fit the melody. It is found in the Salzinnes Antiphonal, and a Cistercian antiphoner (dated c. 1295) from Lubiąż. We have set this Hymn below,

Salzinnes Antiphonal, 1554-5
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The Ambrosian breviary does not have this feast but does have a proper Hymn for our Saint,

Audi Beata Seraphim, Ambrosian Hymn