True Brotherhood

Six months to Boxing Day... exactly half a year before the feast of St Stephen, Protomartyr, first of that white-robed army of those who bore witness to Our Lord usque ad mortem, in sincerest imitation of Him Who is the True and Faithful Witness, Who shed His Blood to save us all.

Fittingly, to-day is the feast of SS John and Paul, themselves holy Martyrs of Christ; last year on this feast I blogged a deal about them, but this year I wish to focus on their Collect, and also in passing to rejoice that I will, God willing, be in Rome come September staying not far at all from their church, the ancient basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo al Celio ("on the Caelian Hill"), where these brothers repose awaiting the Last Trump. (Very pleasingly, given the benefits I have received from the Passionist Fathers in their ministry in Hobart, it turns out that it is their Congregation that has charge of the basilica, and indeed their founder, St Paul of the Cross, is also buried therein.) There is a link to St Stephen, too: for another church on the Caelian is that of San Stefano Rotondo.

As to their Collect:

Quaesumus, omnipotens Deus, ut nos geminata laetitia hodierna festivitatis excipiat, quae de beatorum Joannis et Pauli glorificatione procedit, quos eadem fides et passio vere fecit esse germanos. Per...

(We beg, almighty God, that we obtain the twofold joy of today's feast, which proceeds from the glorification of blessed John and Paul, who were made true brothers by their joint faith and suffering. Through...)

San Zanipolo

This day I'm sick at home, after getting through the last few days of work feeling worse and worse...

To distract from coughing, it seems an idea to mention a bit about the two saints of yesterday, John and Paul - who give their joint name, strangely changed, to a church in Venice: "San Zanipolo"!

The Breviary Lesson(s) tell the tale of their martyrdom under Julian the Apostate: apparently the exact details of their suffering for Christ are uncertain, but their cultus in Rome dates from the 4th Century, and of course one splendid feature of this is their mention in the very Canon of the Mass, whereby at every altar they have been remembered for the past 1600 years, just before that other famous pair, SS Cosmas and Damian.

(Guéranger adds a nice though apocryphal detail: precisely a year to the day after compassing the deaths of John and Paul, the wicked Julian perished in misery, having been soundly trounced by the Persians; his last words being, "Thou hast conquered, O Galilean".)

An enjoyable if embroidered version of their history is given in the incomparable Golden Legend.

Their Office in the '62 Breviary, besides the proper Lesson (condensed from Lessons iv-vi of earlier editions), features also two proper responsories (equivalent to R/. iv and R/. v in earlier editions), proper psalm antiphons used for both Lauds and Vespers (5 in total) and proper Magnificat and Benedictus antiphons (earlier editions including one for 1st Vespers), and of course a proper Collect. The best I can do is refer the reader to all these on another website.

Their Mass, also, is at least partially proper; the Collect, Epistle, Offertory and Postcommunion are special to this Mass. However, the Introit, Gradual and Alleluia are shared by other proper Masses - the latter two being used for feasts of holy brothers. Similarly, the Gospel and Communion come from the Common Masses of Martyrs, while the Secret is a modified form of one of those for Martyr-Bishops.

It interests me how many of the Masses of the very ancient saints of the Roman Calendar are composed in this manner out of parts, some shared with other Masses, some proper.

Apparently the Leonine Sacramentary had a proper Preface for these saints, but I don't have this to hand at present!