To Saint John the Baptist, Precursor of the Savior
John the Baptist’s mission was to announce the coming of the promised Savior to the earth and to prepare the people by preaching prayer and penance. Martyrdom sealed his life and won him immortal glory in Heaven.
O Saint John the Baptist,
illustrious forerunner of the Messiah, you whom the Saviour proclaimed
the greatest among the children of men,
and that Our Holy Father Pope Pius X…
gave French Canadians as a special patron;
you have prepared marvelously,
by your austere, penitent, angelic life,
the ways to the Reign of the Redeeming Lamb.
We beseech you, deign to obtain for us the grace
to walk in your glorious footsteps,
to keep the faith of our fathers,
to zealously defend the interests of the Holy Catholic Church,
and to realize the purposes of Divine Providence…
on each of us, so that after the exile of this life,
we may meet again in the Heavenly Fatherland,
to sing the praises of the Eternal King of all peoples,
for centuries and centuries.
Amen.
