vu/src/data/propers/nocturn-readings/decollation-of-st-john-baptist.yml

# Matins Nocturn 2-3 readings for the Decollation of St. John the
# Baptist (Aug 29) — SanctiM/08-29.txt inherits the whole day
# (`@Sancti/08-29`) with no Nocturn 2/3 override, so this feast's own
# proper content is sourced from the Tridentine track exactly as for a
# pre-1955 saint (see memory vu-matins-pre1955-saints,
# vu-matins-sanctim-saints).
# web/www/horas/Latin/Sancti/08-29.txt, English/Sancti/08-29.txt.
#
# Nocturn 2: Lectio4-6 (St. Ambrose's treatise On Virgins) combined
# into one reading, one continuous excerpt. Its closing responsory
# ([Responsory6], marked &Gloria) is genuine proper text, not a
# Commune reference, so it's authored below.
# Nocturn 3: Lectio7's Gospel citation (Mark 6:17-29) is a bare
# incipit ("Et réliqua") with no full pericope text given in this
# saint's own file, so only the homily portion was originally authored
# (not marked isGospel), combined with Lectio8 as one continuous
# excerpt of St. Augustine's sermon.
#
# Update (2026-09-05): the Gospel pericope itself is now authored too
# (isGospel: true, immediately before the homily) — this feast's own
# [Evangelium] carries the full pericope directly (not a redirect),
# sourced from missa/Latin/Sancti/08-29.txt, English/Sancti/08-29.txt,
# not guessed at.
# [Responsory4], [Responsory7], [Responsory8] are all genuine Commune
# references (@Commune/C2a:Responsory2/5/6 -- Common of a Martyr, per
# decollation-of-st-john-baptist.yml's own `common` field), so Nocturn
# 3 correctly has no proper responsory of its own.
id: decollation-of-st-john-baptist
readings:
  - nocturn: 2
    isGospel: false
    source: "St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, On Virgins, Bk. 3"
    text:
      la: >-
        Quóniam beáti Joánnis Baptistæ non strictim prætereunda est recordátio, interest ut
        quis et a quibus et quam ob causam, quo modo et quo témpore sit occisus, advertere
        debeamus. Ab adúlteris justus occíditur, et a reis in judicem capitális sceleris pœna
        convértitur. Deínde præmium saltatricis, mors est Prophetæ. Postremo (quod étiam
        omnes bárbari horrére consuevérunt) inter epulas atque convivia consummandæ
        crudelitátis profertur edictum; et a convívio ad carcerem, de carcere ad convivium
        feralis flagitii circumfertur obsequium. Quanta in uno facínore sunt crimina!


        Quis non, cum e convívio ad carcerem cursari vidéret, putaret Prophétam jussum esse
        dimitti? Quis, inquam, cum audísset natalem esse Herodis, solemne convivium, puellæ
        optiónem eligéndi quod vellet datam; missum ad Joánnem ob solutiónem non arbitrarétur?
        Quid crudelitáti cum deliciis? quid cum funéribus voluptati? Rápitur ad pœnam Prophéta
        convivali témpore, convivali præcépto, quo non cuperet vel absolvi: perímitur gládio,
        caput ejus affertur in disco. Hoc crudelitáti férculum debebátur, quo insatiáta épulis
        féritas vescerétur.


        Intuére, rex acerbíssime, tuo spectacula digna convivio. Pórrige déxteram, ne quid
        sævítiæ tuæ desit; ut inter digitos tuos rivi défluant sacri cruoris. Et, quóniam non
        exsaturari épulis fames, non restingui póculis pótuit inauditæ sævítiæ sitis; bibe
        sánguinem scaturiéntibus adhuc venis exsecti cápitis profluentem. Cerne óculos in ipsa
        morte sceleris tui testes, aversántes conspéctum deliciárum. Claudúntur lúmina non
        tam mortis necessitate quam horrore luxuriæ. Os aureum illud exsangue, cujus
        senténtiam ferre non poteras, conticescit, et adhuc timétur.
      en: >-
        We must not hurry by the record of the Blessed Baptist John. We must ask what he was,
        and by whom, and why, and how, and when he was slain. He was a righteous man murdered by
        adulterers. The guilty passed upon their judge the sentence of death. Moreover, the death
        of the Prophet was the fee of a dancing-girl. And lastly, there was a feature about it
        from which even savages shrink; the order for completing the atrocity was given amid the
        merriment of a dinner-party. From banquet to prison, from prison to banquet, that was the
        course run by the servants of the murderer. How many horrors does this simple crime
        embrace within its details?


        Who is there, that, on seeing the messenger hasten from the dinner-table to the prison,
        would not have forthwith concluded that he carried an order for the Prophet's release. If
        any one had heard that it was Herod's birth-day, and that he was giving a great feast,
        and that he had offered a damsel the choice of whatever she listed, and that thereupon a
        messenger had been sent to John's dungeon. If any one, I say, had heard this, what would
        he have supposed? He would have concluded that the damsel had asked and obtained John's
        freedom. What have executions in common with dinners, or death with gaiety? While the
        banquet was going on, the Prophet was hurried to death, by an order from the reveller
        whom he had not troubled even by a prayer for release. He was slain with the sword, and
        his head was served up in a plate. This was the new dish demanded by a cruelty which the
        Feast had been powerless to glut.


        Look, savage King, look at a decoration which suiteth well with thy banquet. Put out
        thine hand, so as to lose no part of the luxury of cruelty, and let the streams of the
        sacred blood run between thy fingers. Thine hunger the dinner hath been unable to
        satisfy, thy cups have not been able to quench thine inhuman thirst. Suck, suck the blood
        which the still palpitating veins are discharging from the place where the neck has been
        severed. Look at the eyes. Even in death they remain the eyes of a witness of thine
        uncleanness, but they are closing themselves upon the spectacle of thy pleasures. Those
        eyes indeed are shutting, but it seems not so much from the laws of natural death, as
        from horror at the scene of thine enjoyment. The golden mouth, whose bloodless lips are
        silent now, can repeat no more the denunciation which thou couldest not bear to hear, and
        still thou art afraid of it.
    status: { la: verified, en: verified }
    responsory:
      la: "R. Honéstum fecit illum Dóminus, et custodívit eum ab inimícis, et a seductóribus tutávit illum: * Et dedit illi claritátem ætérnam.\nV. Descendítque cum illo in fóveam, et in vínculis non derelíquit eum.\nR. Et dedit illi claritátem ætérnam."
      en: "R. The Lord made him honourable, and kept him from his enemies, and defended him from seducers: * and gave him everlasting glory.\nV. He went down with him into the pit, and left him not in bonds.\nR. And gave him everlasting glory."

  - nocturn: 3
    isGospel: true
    citation: { la: "Marc 6:17-29", en: "Mark 6:17-29" }
    text:
      la: >-
        In illo témpore: Misit Heródes, ac ténuit Joánnem, et vinxit eum in cárcere propter
        Herodíadem, uxórem Philíppi fratris sui, quia dúxerat eam. Dicébat enim Joánnes Heródi:
        Non licet tibi habére uxórem fratris tui. Heródias autem insidiabátur illi, et volébat
        occídere eum, nec póterat. Heródes enim metuébat Joánnem, sciens eum virum justum et
        sanctum: et custodiébat eum, et audíto eo multa faciébat, et libénter eum audiébat. Et
        cum dies opportúnus accidísset, Heródes natális sui cœnam fecit princípibus et tribúnis
        et primis Galilææ. Cumque introísset fília ipsíus Herodíadis, et saltásset, et
        placuísset Heródi simúlque recumbéntibus; rex ait puéllæ: Pete a me, quod vis, et dabo
        tibi. Et jurávit illi: Quia quidquid petiéris dabo tibi, licet dimídium regni mei. Quæ
        cum exiísset, dixit matri suæ: Quid petam? At illa dixit: Caput Joánnis Baptístæ.
        Cumque introísset statim cum festinatióne ad regem, petívit dicens: Volo, ut protínus
        des mihi in disco caput Joánnis Baptístæ. Et contristátus est rex: propter jusjurándum
        et propter simul discumbéntes nóluit eam contristáre: sed misso spiculatóre, præcépit
        afférri caput ejus in disco. Et decollávit eum in cárcere. Et áttulit caput ejus in
        disco: et dedit illud puéllæ, et puella dedit matri suæ. Quo audíto, discípuli ejus
        venérunt et tulérunt corpus ejus: et posuérunt illud in monuménto.
      en: >-
        At that time, Herod had sent and taken John, and bound him in prison, because of
        Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, whom he had married. For John had said to Herod,
        "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." But Herodias laid snares for
        him, and would have liked to put him to death, but she could not. For Herod feared
        John, knowing that he was a just and holy man, and protected him; and when he heard him
        talk, he did many things, and he liked to hear him. And a favorable day came when Herod
        on his birthday gave a banquet to the officials, tribunes and chief men of Galilee. And
        Herodias' own daughter having come in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And
        the king said to the girl, "Ask of me what you will, and I will give it to you." And he
        swore to her, "Whatever you ask, I will give you, even though it be the half of my
        kingdom." Then she went out and said to her mother, "What am I to ask for?" And she
        said, "The head of John the Baptist." And she came in at once with haste to the king,
        and asked, saying, "I want you right away to give me on a dish the head of John the
        Baptist." And grieved as he was, the king because of his oath and his guests, was
        unwilling to displease her. But sending an executioner, he commanded that his head be
        brought on a dish. Then he beheaded him in the prison, and brought his head on a dish,
        and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. His disciples, hearing of
        it, came and took away his body, and laid it in a tomb.
    status: { la: verified, en: verified }

  - nocturn: 3
    isGospel: false
    source: "St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, New Sermons (on Mark 6:17-29)"
    text:
      la: >-
        Cum sanctum Evangélium legerétur, crudele spectaculum ante óculos nostros constitutum
        est: caput sancti Joánnis in disco, feralis missus crudelitátis propter ódium
        veritátis. Puella saltat, et sævit mater; et inter lascivias et delicias convivántium
        témere jurátur, et ímpie, quod jurátur, implétur. Factum est Joánni, quod ipse
        prædixerat; de Dómino enim Jesu Christo dixerat: Illum oportet crescere, me autem
        minui. Iste minutus est in cápite, ille crevit in cruce. Odium péperit véritas. Non
        pótuit æquo animo tolerári quod homo Dei sanctus monebat; qui útique salútem eórum
        quærebat, quos sic monebat. Respondérunt illi mala pro bonis.


        Quid enim ille diceret, nisi quo plenus erat? et quid illi respondérent, nisi quo pleni
        erant? Ille tríticum seminávit, sed spinas invénit. Dicebat regi: Non licet tibi habere
        uxórem fratris tui. Vincebat enim regem libído: tenebat apud se prohíbitam uxórem
        fratris sui. Sed eum tamen sic libebat, ut non sæviret; honorábat eum, a quo verum
        audiebat. Sed mulier detestábilis ódium concipiebat, quod aliquándo dato témpore
        páreret. Quando autem parturiebat, péperit filiam, filiam saltántem.
      en: >-
        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; 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.


        For what could he say but that whereof he was full? And what could they answer him but
        that whereof they were full? He sowed wheat, and found thorns. He had said unto the
        King: It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife. Lust had got the better of
        the King, and he kept a woman whom it was not lawful for him to have, even his brother's
        wife. But she pleased him, so that his cruelty was lulled. He respected the Saint who had
        spoken the truth to him. But the horrible woman conceived hatred, and by-and-by brought
        it forth. When she brought forth, she brought forth a girl, a dancing-girl.
    status: { la: verified, en: verified }