In Decollatione Sancti Joannis Baptistæ.

Verba Jeremíæ fílii Helcíæ, de sacerdótibus, qui fuérunt in Anathoth, in Terra Bénjamin. Quod factum est verbum Dómini ad eum in diébus Josíæ fílii Amon regis Juda, in tertiodécimo anno regni ejus. Et factum est in diébus Jóakim fílii Josíæ regis Juda, usque ad consummatiónem undécimi anni Sedecíæ fílii Josíæ regis Juda, usque ad transmigratiónem Jerúsalem, in mense quinto. Et factum est verbum Dómini ad me, dicens: Priúsquam te formárem in útero, novi te: et ántequam exíres de vulva, sanctificávi te, et Prophétam in Géntibus dedi te.
Tu autem Dómine miserére nobis.
℟. Deo grátias.

The words of Jeremias the son of Helcias, of the priests that were in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin. The word of the Lord which came to him in the days of Josias the son of Amon king of Juda, in the thirteenth year of his reign. And which came to him in the days of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, unto the end of the eleventh year of Sedecias the son of Josias king of Juda, even unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive, in the fifth month. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Before I formed thee in the bowels of thy mother, I knew thee: and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and made thee a prophet unto the nations.
But Thou, O Lord, have mercy on us.
℟. Thanks be to God.

Quóniam beáti Joánnis Baptístæ non strictim prætereúnda est recordátio, ínterest ut quis, et a quibus, et quam ob causam, quo modo, et quo témpore sit occísus, advértere debeámus. Ab adúlteris justus occíditur, et a reis in júdicem capitális scéleris pœna convértitur. Deínde prǽmium saltatrícis, mors est prophétæ. Postrémo (quod étiam omnes bárbari horrére consuevérunt) inter épulas atque convívia consummándæ crudelitátis profértur edíctum: et a convívio ad cárcerem: de cárcere ad convívium ferális flagítii circumfértur obséquium. Quanta in uno facínore sunt crímina!
Tu autem Dómine miserére nobis.
℟. Deo grátias.

We must not hurry past the record of blessed Baptist John. We must ask what he was; by whom he was slain; and why and how. He was a righteous man, murdered for his righteousness by adulterers. He was a judge, who suffered condemnation to death by the guilty ones because he had justly judged their guilt. He was the prophet whose death was a fee paid to a dancing-girl for a lascivious dance. And lastly a thing from which even savages would shrink his head was served up as a dish at a banquet. For the order to commit the atrocity was given amid the merriment of a dinner-party; and the servants of the murderer introduced the murder amid the courses of the meal, running from banquet to prison, and from prison to banquet! See how many infamies are contained in this one crime.
But Thou, O Lord, have mercy on us.
℟. Thanks be to God.

Cum sanctum Evangélium legerétur, crudéle spectáculum ante óculos nostros constitútum est: caput sancti Joánnis in disco, ferális missus crudelitátis propter ódium veritátis. Puélla saltat, et sævit mater: et inter lascívias et delícias convivántium témere jurátur, et ímpie quod jurátur, implétur. Factum est Joánni, quod ipse prædíxerat. De Dómino enim Jesu Christo díxerat: Illum opórtet créscere, me autem mínui. Iste minútus est in cápite, ille crevit in cruce. Odium péperit véritas. Non pótuit æquo ánimo tolerári, quod homo Dei sanctus monébat: qui útique salútem eórum quærébat, quos sic monébat. Respondérunt illi mala pro bonis.
Tu autem Dómine miserére nobis.
℟. Deo grátias.

The reading of the Holy Gospel hath set a scene of cruelty before our eyes even the head of St. John in a charger; a message of death sent forth to discharge the bloody commands of one that hateth the truth; a damsel dancing, and a mother rabid; a rash oath sworn in the midst of uncleanness and the revels of a supper, and a wicked fulfillment of the oath so sworn. It befell unto John according to his own saying. For he had said concerning the Lord Jesus Christ: He must increase, but I must decrease (John iii. 30,) so John decreased by an head, and Christ's height was made higher upon the Cross. The truth drew hatred. It could not be borne in patience that the holy man of God should utter a rebuke, albeit he sought by his rebuke nothing but the soul's health of them to whom he addressed it. They repaid him evil for good.
But Thou, O Lord, have mercy on us.
℟. Thanks be to God.

De júvene illo resuscitáto gavísa est mater vídua: de homínibus in spíritu quotídie suscitátis gaudet mater Ecclésia. Ille quidem mórtuus erat córpore: illi autem mente. Illíus mors visíbilis visibíliter plangebátur: illórum mors invisíbilis nec quærebátur, nec videbátur. Quæsívit ille, qui nóverat mórtuos. Ille solus nóverat mórtuos, qui póterat fácere vivos. Nisi enim ad mórtuos suscitándos venísset, Apóstolus non díceret: Surge, qui dormis, et exsúrge a mórtuis, et illuminábit te Christus. ¶ Tres autem mórtuos invenímus a Dómino resuscitátos visibíliter, míllia invisibíliter. Quot autem mórtuos visibíliter suscitáverit, quis novit? Non enim ómnia, quæ fecit, scripta sunt. Joánnes hoc dixit: Multa ália fecit Jesus: quæ si scripta essent, árbitror totum mundum non posse libros cápere. Multi ergo sunt álii sine dúbio suscitáti, sed non tres frustra commemoráti. Dóminus enim noster Jesus Christus ea quæ faciébat corporáliter, étiam spiritáliter volébat intélligi. Neque enim tantum mirácula propter mirácula faciébat: sed ut illa, quæ faciébat, mira essent vidéntibus, vera essent intelligéntibus. ¶ Quemádmodum qui videt lítteras in códice óptime scripto, et non novit légere, laudat quidem antiquárii manum, admírans ápicum pulchritúdinem: sed quid sibi velint, quid índicent illi ápices, nescit, et est óculis laudátor, mente non cógnitor. Alius autem et laudat artifícium, et capit intelléctum: ille útique, qui non solum vidére quod commúne est ómnibus, potest, sed étiam légere; quod qui non dídicit, non potest. Ita qui vidérunt Christi mirácula, et non intellexérunt quid sibi vellent, et quid intelligéntibus quodámmodo innúerent, miráti sunt tantum quia facta sunt: álii vero et facta miráti, et intellécta assecúti. Tales nos in schola Christi esse debémus.
Tu autem Dómine miserére nobis.
℟. Deo grátias.

That her son was called again to life was the joy of that widowed mother; that souls of men are every day called to life is the joy of our Mother the Church. He was dead in body; they have been dead in mind. His death was outward, and was outwardly bewailed; their inward death hath been neither mourned for nor seen. But He hath sought for them, Who hath seen that they are dead, and He only hath seen that they are dead, Who hath been able to make them alive. If He had not come to raise the dead, the Apostle had not said: Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. ¶ We find written how the Lord raised from the dead three persons visibly, but thousands invisibly. But how many they may have been whom He raised visibly, who knoweth? For all the things which He did are not written. John saith thus: There are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. There were then, doubtless, many more raised to life, but it is not meaningless that three are recorded. For our Lord Jesus Christ hath willed that those things which He did carnally, we should understand also spiritually. He worked not miracles only for the sake of working wonders, but that His works might be at once wonderful to them that beheld, and true to them that understand them. ¶ Even as one that looketh upon a scroll right fairly written, and knoweth not how to read therein, praiseth the hand of the old scribe when he seeth the beauty of the points, but what it saith, what those points mean, he knoweth not, and praiseth by the eye, without understanding by the mind, and as, on the other hand, he that can not only gaze on it, as can all men, but also can read it, praiseth the penmanship, and catcheth the sense likewise, which the unlearned cannot do: even so, there were some that saw the miracles which Christ did, and understood not what they meant, nor what they, as it were, hinted to such as did understand them, and these only marvelled to see them wrought. And other some there were which saw the works, and marvelled, and understood them, and profited by them. And it is as these last that we ought to be in the school of Christ.
But Thou, O Lord, have mercy on us.
℟. Thanks be to God.