Feast of San Giovanni a Porta Latina

San Giovanni Apostolo ed Evangelista,
ora pro nobis!

May 6th is the Feast of St. John at the Latin Gate, a secondary feast to St. John the Apostle and Evangelist. Invoked against oil burns, poison and food poisoning, he is the patron saint of virgins, widows, theologians, writers, artists, armorers, alchemists, oil mills, and lamp oil. His principal feast is kept on September 26th.

According to tradition, an elderly St. John was arrested at Ephesus and brought to Rome in 95 AD. Emperor Domitian sentenced him to be boiled in a huge vat of oil outside the Porta Latina, but like the three children in the fiery furnace of Babylon, he miraculously emerged from the blistering cauldron cleansed and refreshed as if he took an invigorating bath. The Emperor seeing this had the holy man banished to the Isle of Patmos. Returning to Ephesus, St. John wrote his Gospel and three Epistles.

In celebration, we’re posting a prayer St. John at the Latin Gate. The accompanying photo of The Martyrdom of St. John the Evangelist by Charles le Brun (1641-42) is from the church of St. Nicholas du Chardonnet in Paris. Evviva San Giovanni Apostolo ed Evangelista!

Prayer St. John at the Latin Gate

O God, Which seest that sins and sufferings do on every side rise up to trouble us, grant, we beseech thee, that we may find a shield in time of need through the glorious intercession of thy blessed Apostle and Evangelist John. Through our Lord.