Octave Day of St. John the Evangelist

 

Coronation of the Virgin with St. Catherine of Alexandria, St. John the Evangelist, St. John the Baptist

Simple (1954 Calendar): January 3rd

Just as I mentioned yesterday on the Octave Day of St. Stephen, very little information is readily available on the Internet for the celebrations that were part of the Catholic Calendar before the 1950s, when changes to the Missal became more profound. 

This Octave is a Simple Octave, meaning with the reforms of 1911, that only the Feastday and the Octave Day itself was kept. The intra Octave days are not commemorated in the Mass or in the Breviary, which is a departure from the pre-1911 practice where they would have been commemorated in the intervening days. Those interested in the Breviary for the Octave Day of St. John as in place before the pre-1911 changes should click here.

Dom Gueranger writes in part concerning the Octave Day of St. John the Apostle:

"The Octave of the Beloved Disciple closes to-day: let us devoutly offer him our parting homage. We shall meet him again, during the year; for, on May 6, when the Resurrection of his Divine Master is gladdening the Church with the Easter joys, we shall have the Feast of our Apostle's Confession made before the Latin Gate: but his grand Feast ends to-day, and he has done too much on our behalf this Christmas for us to allow this Octave Day to pass without returning him our warmest thanks. Let us begin by exciting ourselves to a great reverence for our Saint; and to this end, let us continue the considerations we were making this day week on the favours conferred upon him by Jesus."

Collect:

Shine upon thy Church, O Lord, in thy goodness, that, enlightened by the teachings of Blessed John, thy Apostle and Evangelist, she may attain to everlasting gifts. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen