[Rank]
S. Joannis Cantii Confessoris;;Duplex;;3;;vide C5

[RankNewcal]
S. Joannis Cantii Confessoris;;Duplex optional;;2;;vide C5

[Rule]
vide C5;
9 lectiones

[Hymnus Vespera]
v. O glory of the Polish race,
O splendour of the priestly band,
Whose lore did thy lyceum grace,
John, father of the fatherland.
_
The law of the supernal will
Thou teachest both in word and deed;
Knowledge is naught—we must fulfill
In works, not barren words, our creed!
_
On foot to apostolic Rome
thy pilgrim spirit joyful hied;
Oh, to our everlasting home
The path declare, the footstep guide!
_
Again, in Sion's holy street,
Anew thou wet'st with tearful flood
The pathway of the Saviour's feet
Erst wet with His redeeming blood.
_
O sweet and bitter wounds of Christ,
Deep in our hearts imprinted stay,
That the blest fruit the sacrificed
Redeemer gained, be ours for aye!

[Oratio]
Grant, we beseech thee, O Almighty God, that we may so follow after the ensample~
of thy blessed Confessor John in learning ever more and more the knowledge which~
maketh thy Saints, and in showing mercy to our neighbour, that Thou for the same~
thy servant's sake mayest forgive us our trespasses.
$Per Dominum.

[Hymnus Matutinum]
v. Long fasting hath thy body tamed,
With many cruel stripes it bleeds,
Though innocence exemption claimed
For thee from penitential deeds
_
Then let us follow in the path
Of John, our father and our guide;
Who follows him, his spirit hath
The power to curb all carnal pride.
_
In winter's frost thy loving care
Provides a garment for the poor;
For those who want thou dost prepare
Of meat and drink a copious store.
_
O thou who never didst deny
thine aid unto the suppliant's prayer,
Hear Christendom's and Poland's cry,
And save thy country from despair.
_
Now let us chant in glad refrain
Unto the Triune God our praise:
O may the prayers of John obtain
Blest joys for us in endless days.
Amen.

[Lectio4]
This John was the son of godly and respectable parents named Stanislaus and Anne,~
and was born (in the year of our Lord 1397,) in the town of Kenty, a place in~
the diocese of Crakow in Poland, from which he took the Latin name of Cantius.~
By his gentleness, innocency, and seriousness he gave great hopes even from his~
childhood. He studied Philosophy and Theology in the University of Crakow,~
wherein he rose step by step to be a Professor and teacher of those sciences~
wherein he lectured many years, not only enlightening the minds of his hearers,~
but stirring up in them all godliness, instructing them by ensample as well as~
by word. Having taken Priests' orders, he ceased not to busy himself with~
letters, but added thereto the striving after Christian perfection. He grieved~
exceedingly that God should be offended on all hands, and offered up to Him, day~
by day, not without many tears, the Unbloody Sacrifice for a propitiation for~
himself and for his people. He was for some years a faithful Parish Priest at~
Ilkusi, but after a while gave it up for fear of the danger of souls, and~
accepted the call of the University to take up again his Professorship.

[Lectio5]
What time was left him over from his work, he gave up partly to the profit of~
his neighbour, more especially in preaching, and partly in prayer, wherein he is~
said sometimes to have had heavenly visions and messages. The sufferings of~
Christ took such hold upon him, that he sometimes passed whole nights without~
sleep in thinking thereon, and that he might more keenly realize them, he made a~
pilgrimage to Jerusalem. There he was seized with such a passionate longing to~
be a martyr, that he preached Christ crucified even to the Turks. He went four~
times to Rome to the thresholds of the Apostles, on foot, and laden with a~
wallet, partly to do honour to the Apostolic See, for which he had a great~
reverence, and partly (to use his own expression) that he might clear off the~
pains of his own purgatory by use of the Pardons for sin which are there daily~
offered. In one of these journeys he was set upon by highway robbers, who~
plundered him, and having asked him if he had any more, whereto he answered, Nay,~
left him and fled. Then he remembered that he had some gold pieces sewn up in~
his clothes. So he ran after the robbers with shouts, and offered them these~
also, but they were so amazed at the simplicity and charity of the holy man,~
that they gave him back even that which they had already taken. To hinder~
scandal-mongering, he wrote up upon the walls, after the ensample of holy Austin,~
certain texts, to be an unceasing warning to himself and others. He gave his own~
bread to the hungry, and clothed the naked, not with bought raiment only, but by~
stripping himself of his own garments and shoes, himself meanwhile letting down~
his own cloak to trail upon the ground, lest any should see that he returned~
home barefoot.

[Lectio6]
He slept very little, and that upon the ground; his clothing was enough only to~
clothe his nakedness, and his food to keep him alive. He kept his virgin purity~
guarded like a lily among thorns by rough hair-cloth, scourging, and fasting.~
For about thirty-five years before his death he never tasted flesh- meat. At~
length, when he was full of days and good works, he felt that death was near,~
and made himself ready to meet it by a long and careful preparation, and to be~
the freer, he gave to the poor everything that was left in his house.~
Strengthened by the Sacraments of the Church, and having a desire to depart, and~
to be with Christ, he took flight to heaven upon the 24th day of December, (in~
the year of our Lord 1473.) He was famous for miracles both before and after his~
death. His body was carried into the University Church of St Anne, hard by his~
dwelling, and there honourably buried. The popular reverence and the crowds~
around his sepulchre grew greater day by day, till he hath come to be held in~
honour as one of the chiefest holy defenders of Poland and Lithuania. At the~
glory of more wonders, Pope Clement XIII., upon the 16th day of July, in the~
year 1767, with solemn pomp, enrolled his name among those of the Saints.

[Hymnus Laudes]
v. When thou dost pray thy mighty prayer,
Disorders flee, and plagues abate,
And bodies, wasting in disease,
Regain at once their healthful state.
_
When phthisis, fevers, ulcers dire,
Have brought men to their latest breath,
When they are mourned as victims doomed,
Thou tak'st them from the jaws of death.
_
Thou pray'st; and goods, which down the stream
Are hurried on at headlong pace,
Drawn by the mighty hand of God,
Float upwards, and their source retrace.
_
Do thou, who canst such wonders work,
Now from thy throne in heaven deign
To listen to our suppliant prayers,
That we may answering help obtain.
_
O Trinity forever One,
O Unity forever Trine,
That we may gain eternal joys,
To Cantius' prayer thine ear incline.
Amen.

[Lectio94]
John was born at Kenty, (whence the surname Cantius), a town in the diocese of Cracow. His parents Stanislaus and Anna, were devout honorable people. From his very infancy John gave promise of the greatest virtue by the sweetness and innocence of his way. After his ordination to the priesthood he redoubled his efforts to the Christian perfection. He administered the parish of Olkusz for several years with notable success, and then returned to teaching. Part of the time left him from this occupation he gave to the salvation of his neighbor, especially through preaching, and the rest to prayer. He came four times to the Apostolic See traveling on foot and carrying his own baggage, both to honor the Apostolic See, and as he said, to save himself from the punishments of purgatory, by the indulgences offered there daily. He watchfully preserved a virginal purity, and before his death he had abstained from meat for about thirty-five years. On Christmas Eve he went to teh heavenly reward. He was enrolled among the Saints by Pope Clement XIII, and is honored as one of the primary Patrons of Poland and Lithuania.
&teDeum
