Head of Saint John the Baptist, alabaster, (c. 1470–1500); (Victoria and Albert Museum).
The Beheading of the Baptist used to be a big feast day at Saint John’s Abbey. John the Baptist is the patron of the abbey. Monday, 29 August 2016, the celebration had been reduced to a Memorial and was celebrated sparsely except for the elevated music at Mass.
Author: Richard
I grew up in Philadelphia where I graduated from La Salle University in 1968, the "Year of Revolting Students." I had changed my major from Philosophy to German to, finally, English (special interest: 1870-1914).
Having made solemn monastic vows as a Benedictine monk at Saint John's Abbey, I earned in Iowa City a masters of arts degree in Library and Information Science, 1974. A few years later I served as an intern in Special Collections at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, UK, 1979-80.
For almost five years I oversaw the microfilming of medieval manuscripts in Durham, UK, and several sites in Germany for the abbey's Hill Museum and Manuscript Library (www.hmml.org).
In August 2016 I completed seven years with the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, Silver Spring, MD. I returned to the monastery in central Minnesota in a red 2007 Toyota Corolla from the abbey fleet.
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