24 June: St. John the Baptist

Today is the Feast of the one whom the Lord called the greatest man ever born of woman.

COLLECT:
Deus, qui beatum Ioannem Baptistam suscitasti,
ut perfectam plebem Christo Domino praepararet,
da populis tuis spiritalium gratiam gaudiorum,
et omnium fidelium mentes dirige
in viam salutis et pacis.

I like the sound of the ends of the clauses – suscitásti… praeparáret… gaudiórum and then a big change with salútis et pácis.   Remember!  These prayers are to be sung!   Suscitasti is as you now recognize a syncopated form, short for suscitavísti, which would have ruined that nice rhythmic coherence in the first three clauses.

LITERAL TRANSLATION:
O God, who raised up blessed John the Baptist,
so that he would prepare a perfect people for Christ the Lord,
grant to your peoples the grace of spiritual joys
and guide the minds of all the faithful into the way of salvation and peace.

This modern Collect of the 1970 Roman Missal is based on the Collect of olden days (as well as nowadays for those you who enjoy with your bishop’s permission the use of the 1962 Roman Missal:

Deus, qui praesentem diem honorabilem nobis in beati Ioannis nativitate fecisti: da populis tuis spiritualium gratiam gaudiorum; et omnium fidelium mentes dirige in viam salutis aeternae.

Perhaps the terrible wars of the 20th c., by far more bellicose than even the 16th c., drove the composers of the newer version to include the petition for peace.  One can hardly object.  The first part of the present Collect also is a bit more theological and significant.  All in all, it seems to me that the newer Collect represents an improvement over the older version: which we cannot always say when comparing old and new prayers.