Commemoratio ad Laudes tantum: In Octava S. Joannis Baptistæ
Wed, 7/1/26:
Today is the feast of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ under the 1954 (double of the I class) and 1962 (I class) rubrics (formerly assigned to the 1st Sunday in July and reassigned to July 1 following the liturgical reforms of Pius X).
Mass: Proper Mass. Red. Gloria. Gradual/Alleluia. Credo. Preface of the Holy Cross. Ite. Under 1954, commemoration of the octave day of St. John the Baptist at low Mass only (if commemorated, celebrant bows his head at the mention of St. John the Baptist in the Canon). No commemorations or additional prayers under 1962. (LB236 on Twitter/X.)
Introitus
Apoc 5:9-10
Redemísti nos, Dómine, in sánguine tuo, ex omni tribu et lingua et pópulo et natióne: et fecísti nos Deo nostro regnum.
Ps 88:2
Misericórdias Dómini in ætérnum cantábo: in generatiónem et generatiónem annuntiábo veritátem tuam in ore meo.
℣. Glória Patri, …
Collect
℣. The Lord be with you.
℟. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
Almighty, eternal God, Who made Your only-begotten Son the Redeemer of the world, and willed to be reconciled by His Blood, grant us, we beseech You, so to worship in this sacred rite the price of our salvation, and to be so protected by its power against the evils of the present life on earth, that we may enjoy its everlasting fruit in heaven.
Through the same Jesus Christ, thy Son, Our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
℟. Amen.
Let us pray.
Commemoration Octave of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist
O God, Who made this a day most worthy of our celebration because of blessed John; grant Your people the grace of spiritual joys and direct the minds of all the faithful into the path of eternal salvation.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
℟. Amen.
From the Holy Gospel according to John
John 19:30-35
At that time: When Jesus had received the vinegar, He said: It is finished. And He bowed His Head, and gave up the ghost. And so on.
Homily by St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo
120th Tract on John
One of the soldiers with a spear pierced His Side, and forthwith came thereout Blood and Water. The Evangelist speaketh carefully. He saith not that he smote the Side, nor yet that he wounded It, nor yet anything else, but pierced It, to fling wide the entrance unto life, whence flow the Sacraments of the Church, those Sacraments without which there is no entrance unto the life which is life indeed. That Blood which was shed there was shed for the remission of sins, that Water is the water that mantleth in the cup of salvation. Therein are we washed, and thereof do we drink. Of this was it a type when it was said unto Noah: The door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof and of every living thing of all flesh shalt thou bring into the ark to keep them alive. Gen. vi. 16, 19. A figure this of the Church. Thus was it that the first woman was made from the side of her husband while he slept, and she was called (Eve, which is, being interpreted,) Life, because she was the mother of all living. Gen. iii. 20. This name set forth a great good, before it became associated with the bitter fruit of a great evil. And here we have the Second Adam bowing His Head, and the deep sleep of death falling upon Him upon the Cross, and He sleepeth, that the Lord God may take a thing out of His side, and may make thereof a wife for Him. O what a death was His, which quickeneth the dead! What is cleaner than His Blood? What more health-giving than His wounding?
Communion
Heb 9:28
Christ was offered once to take away the sins of many; the second time with no part in sin He will appear unto the salvation of those who await Him.
Post Communion
P. The Lord be with you.
S. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
Admitted to the sacred banquet, O Lord, we have drawn water in joy from the Saviour’s fountain; may His Blood, we beseech You, become for us a fountain of water springing up unto life everlasting.
Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end.
℟. Amen
Let us pray.
Commemoration Octave of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist
May Your Church, O God, rejoice at the birth of blessed John the Baptist, through whom she knew the author of her own rebirth, Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end.
℟. Amen


