SAINT JOHN BEFORE THE LATIN GATE

OUR PATRONAL FEAST

MAY 6^TH

Saint John, the patron saint of our Parish, is identified as the “disciple whom Jesus loved” and he clearly enjoyed a very special relationship with his Master, reclining close to Jesus at the Last Supper, receiving the care of His mother at the cross, and being the first to understand the truth of the empty tomb.

The principal feast of Saint John is observed on December 27^th, but a secondary feast is marked on May 6^th. On that day the liturgy commemorates the dedication of the Church of Saint John near the Porta Latina, the southeast gate of the city of Rome.

The story begins in the year 95, when Saint John, who was the only surviving apostle, and governed all the churches in Asia, was arrested at Ephesus, and sent as a prisoner to Rome. The Emperor Domitian did not relent at the sight of the venerable old man, but condemned him to be cast into a caldron of boiling oil. The martyr doubtless heard, with great joy, this barbarous sentence; the most cruel torments seemed to him light and most agreeable, because they would, he hoped, unite him forever to his divine Master and Saviour. But God accepted his will, and crowned his desire; He conferred on him the honor and merit of martyrdom, but suspended the operation of the fire, as He had formerly preserved the three children from hurt in the Babylonian furnace. The seething oil was changed into an invigorating bath, and Saint John came out more refreshed than when he had entered the caldron. This glorious triumph of Saint John happened outside the gate of Rome, called Latina. (A church which since has always borne this title was consecrated in the same place in memory of this miracle, under the first Christian Emperors.)

Domitian saw the miracle without drawing from it a lesson, but remained hardened in his iniquity. He contented himself after this with banishing the holy apostle to the island of Patmos. It was during that period of exile that Saint John experienced the visions recounted in the Book of Revelation.

Saint John returned to Ephesus, in the reign of Nerva, who during his short reign of one year and four months, labored to restore the faded lustre of the Roman Empire. It is probable that John died there. He alone of the Twelve is said to have lived to an extreme old age and to have been spared a martyr’s death.