Carissimi: Today’s Mass; The Nativity of St John the Baptist

The Nativity of St John the Baptist:Missa “De ventre matris“

The Precursor of Christ was filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother’s womb. After an austere life as a hermit, he announced the Advent of Christ, preached penitence, and baptized in the Jordan. He was beheaded during the reign of Herod. The day of the death of other saints is kept as their feast, and in the case of St. John the Baptist the day of his birth is celebrated, as having taken place amidst the outpouring of the gifts of the Paraclete. The feast is celebrated with great liturgical splendor, the stational Mass was celebrated In the Basilica of the Saviour. The grandeur of early devotion to the Baptist need cause no one to wonder, if we realize the eminent position which St. John holds In the history of the Incarnation. His seal of canonization…