Masonic
Poster of the Patron Saints of Freemasonry
St. John the
Baptist and St. John the Evangelist
Saint John the
Baptist is one of the Patron Saints of Freemasonry, and at one time, indeed,
the only one, the name of Saint John the Evangelist having been introduced
subsequent to the sixteenth century. His festival occurs on the 24th of June,
and is very generally celebrated by the Masonic Fraternity. Dalcho (Ahiman
Rezon, page 150) says that "the stern integrity of Saint John the Baptist,
which induced him to to forego every minor consideration in discharging the
obligations he owed to God; the unshaken firmness with which he met martyrdom
rather than betray his duty to his Master; his steady reproval of vice, and
continued preaching of repentance and virtue, make him a fit patron of the
Masonic Institution." Illustrations:
Sts John (1)
Sts John (2)
Sts John (3)
Sts John (4)
Saint John the
Evangelist is the other Patron Saint of Freemasonry, whose Festival is
celebrated on the 27th of December. His constant admonition, in his Epistles,
to the cultivation of brotherly love, and the mystical nature of his Apocalyptic
visions, have been, perhaps, the principal reasons for the veneration paid to
him by the Craft.
