Sacred Calendar
The Roman year ordered for memory, penance, feasts, saints, and the daily pilgrimage of the faithful.
Calendar standard
Pre-1955 Roman usage
The calendar follows the universal Roman year under the rubrics of Pope St. Pius X, with the Roman Martyrology preserved as a distinct daily witness.
The day is presented for prayer, recollection, study, and perseverance in the City.
Daily observance
Today in the City of God
The Church keeps this day in holy time. The Pilgrim's Companion gathers the feast, daily quote, Martyrology, meditation, prayer, and related chapters into one daily path through the City.
Choose a date
Daily observance
St. John, Apostle and Evangelist
Sunday, December 27, 2026
Season: Christmastide
The day is set within the Roman year so its feast, Martyrology, daily quote, prayer, and reading path may be received together without blurring their proper sources.
Today's pilgrimage
St. John, Apostle and Evangelist
Rank: Double of the Second Class
Color: white
Octave: Within the Privileged Octave of the Nativity (Privileged Octave of the Third Order).
Quote for the day
St. John
“That which we have seen and have heard, we declare unto you.”
1 John 1:3, Douay-Rheims
Roman Martyrology
Roman Martyrology - December 27
At Ephesus, the birthday of St. John, apostle and evangelist, who, after writing his gospel, and after enduring exile and writing the divine Apocalypse, lived till the time of the emperor Trajan, and founded and governed the churches of all Asia. Worn out with age, he died in the sixty-eighth year after the passion of our Lord, and was buried near Ephesus. — At Alexandria, St. Maximus, bishop, who became a renowned and distinguished confessor of the faith. — At Constantinople, the holy confessors Theodore and Theophanes, brothers, who were brought up from their childhood in the monastery of St. Sabbas. Afterwards, combating bravely for the worship of holy images against Leo the Armenian, they were scourged by his command and banished. After his death, they again firmly opposed the emperor Theophilus, who was imbued with the same impiety, and were scourged a second time and driven into exile, where Theodore expired in prison. Theophanes, after peace had at length been restored to the Church, was made bishop of Mcsea and rested in the Lord. — In the same city, St. Niceras, virgin, who was renowned for sanctity, in the time of the emperor Arcadius.
Highlighted saint
St. John
Apostle, Evangelist, and witness of charity and truth.
St. John stood near the Cross, received the Mother of God into his care, and gave the Church the Gospel that opens with the eternal Word.
His witness is not soft sentiment. He teaches charity in truth, fidelity beneath the Cross, hatred of falsehood, and perseverance in the doctrine received from Christ.
Virtue to practice
Charity governed by truth.
Error to resist
The sentimentality that speaks of love while tolerating falsehood about Christ.
For the pilgrim in exile
Let St. John keep charity exact and tender. The disciple of love is also the witness who tests spirits and remains near the Cross.
Imitate today
- Remain near the Cross when others flee.
- Love Our Lady and the Church with filial fidelity.
- Reject false doctrine while keeping charity.
Sources
- John 1:1-14; John 19:25-27; 1 John 4:1-6, Douay-Rheims.
- Roman Martyrology, 1916 Baltimore edition, December 27.
From Matins
The Evangelist who rose to the Word.
Matins - Second Nocturn - St. John, Apostle and Evangelist
St. Jerome, Priest, Commentary on St. Matthew
“He was loved more by the Lord, because his maidenhood had chosen him to be loved.”
Doctrine taught
- The Breviary honors St. John as apostle, evangelist, beloved disciple, witness, and virgin.
- St. Jerome teaches that John received special love from the Lord and care of the Virgin Mother, and that his Gospel rises above the earth to the eternal Word.
- His feast keeps Christmas contemplative: the Child in the crib is the Word who was with God and was God.
For the pilgrim in exile
Ask St. John for clean contemplation and exact witness. The soul that leans near Christ must also confess the Word made flesh without dilution.
Sources
- The Roman Breviary, translated by John, Marquess of Bute, 1908, vol. I, Winter, Second Nocturn for St. John, lessons iv-vi.
- Bute 1908 is used here as an accessible pre-Pius X Breviary witness and is cited distinctly from the 1936-1937 Benziger / Burns Oates edition.
Breviary Witness
The beloved disciple who gives true testimony.
Matins - St. John
Breviary witness
- The Breviary honors St. John as apostle and evangelist, witness of the eternal Word and disciple standing near the Cross.
- His witness joins charity to truth, contemplation to testimony, and filial love for Our Lady to fidelity to Christ.
For the pilgrim in exile
Let charity become more truthful, not softer. St. John teaches love that adores the Word and rejects falsehood about Him.
Sources
- Roman Breviary, Matins lessons for December 27, St. John.
- John 1:1-14; 1 John 4:1-6, Douay-Rheims.
Gospel of the day
This is that disciple who giveth testimony.
St. John, Apostle and Evangelist - John 21:19-24
“This is that disciple who giveth testimony of these things, and hath written these things.”
What Our Lord teaches
- St. John bears witness to what he has seen and heard from Christ.
- The beloved disciple teaches the Church contemplative fidelity and truthful testimony.
Virtue to practice
Bear witness without curiosity about another's path.
Error to resist
The distraction that asks, 'What about this man?' instead of following Christ.
For the pilgrim in exile
Follow the path given to you. St. John teaches that love can be both tender and exact in testimony.
Sources
- John 21:19-24, Douay-Rheims.
- Traditional Roman Gospel for St. John.
Meditation
Apostolic Fidelity
Today the Church turns the pilgrim toward apostolic order: the faith received, guarded, preached, and suffered for. In exile this is not an abstraction. The faithful must love the visible form Christ gave His Church without confusing office, truth, and fidelity.
Related paths
Walk the day through the City.
Today's chapters
Read with the feast.
Prayer
The day should become prayer.
O Lord, recollect my scattered thoughts, govern my words, and teach me to return to Thee before the noise of the day rules my soul.
Thought for the pilgrim
Prayer keeps the day from becoming self-ruled.
Practice
The day should become obedience.
Pause at midday for a brief act of faith, hope, charity, and contrition.
Source notes
Universal Roman Calendar under the rubrics of Pope St. Pius X
Fasting and abstinence according to the laws observed in 1952
Daily quotations and pilgrimage excerpts should come from Scripture, Fathers, Doctors, saints, traditional popes before 1958, traditional catechisms, approved devotional works, or received liturgical texts.
The Roman Martyrology, Baltimore, 1916, published by John Murphy Company; the local 1916 text is displayed and traceable to its source lines.
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, Liturgical Calendar, pp. xvii–xxviii.
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, Division of the Ecclesiastical Year, p. ix.