Tag: St John’s Wort

Midsummer Yellow

St John’s Wort at Fairacres. Photo by Julia Sheffield.

A few days ago we celebrated the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. (June 24th,) – Midsummer’s Day.
John has two festivals though I suspect the one this week was preferable to him than the other which commemorates his beheading!

Just before celebrating his Nativity, I visited the Convent of the Incarnation, the home of the Sisters of the Love of God at Fairacres in Oxford. By the entrance there was a profusion of yellow flowers filling a bush of welcome.
I was reminded that the birth of St John the Baptist and this flowering bush are connected. In horticultural parlance it is known by the name Hypericum but it also has a name in religion – that of St. John’s Wort. It flowers mainly in June and usually around the time of St. John’s birthday.

The word ’Wort’ comes from the Old English word, ‘Wyrt’, meaning a plant or a herb or root. It is associated by some with folk medicine and is said to have healing properties in the treatment of mild depression. However, it can affect other medicines adversely so it’s always wisest to consult professional people.

Gardeners know it as a herb with woody roots which the Royal Horticultural Society tells of it bearing yellow flowers mark by black glands and leaves that appear perforated due to translucent glands producing copious seed per plant.

From a religious point of view, it is noted that the flowers have five petals which represent a halo. When cut there is red liquid which becomes a symbol of St. John the Baptist’s beheading.

Religious folklore adds that the plant traditionally wards off evil spirits and demons linking this with St John as a spiritual protector. In medieval Europe people hung sprigs of the plant above doorways to protect homes. During midsummer celebrations the plant was placed in fields and burned in bonfires. This was to protect people, livestock, homes and crops against evil forces.

Oddly, in an age when evil and malice prevail more than ever, we neglect these helpful ceremonies and symbols!

That was certainly not true for Saint Columba. According to Gaelic tradition, Columba always carried a piece of St. John’s Wort not only because of his great regard for St. John but also for its protective and healing qualities.

This is one of the many examples how nature and spirituality are intertwined  as God’s great design of Creation of which we are but a part. Living in harmony, care and love for God’s creation which defines us, is something we need to re-discover and put into practice.
May St. John’s Wort remind us of that.

Breath of Summer ~ a prayer

Creator God
who breathed this world into being,
who is discernible within
the harmony of nature,
the perfection of a butterfly’s wing,
the grandeur of a mountain range,
the soaring eagle and humming bird,
thank you for this world
which you have created.
Thank you for summer sun,
which reminds us
that your creative breath
is still alive and active.
Thank you for the warmth of your love,
sustaining this world,
your garden

Prayer from Xavier University Cincinnati #Jesuitresource.org is developed by The Center for Mission and Identity at Xavier University with support from the Conway Institute for Jesuit Education. 

[Mr G. 27th June 2026]

Mid-Summer Wort

Today, the Christian church keeps the festival day of St. John the Baptist.
There is another feast day later in the year when we mark his beheading at the hands of King Herod. Today, however, it is a joyful day, possibly helped by the fact that in the Northern Hemisphere it is Mid-Summer!

One of the things that marks this as a special time for all sorts of people is that it is also associated with a special flower, The Hypericum, or to give it its posh name, Hypericum perforatum. A native of Europe but now flowering in many other places worldwide (except for Siberia and other cold extremes),it is a bright flower marking bright summer. The dominant colour is vivid yellow, its petals often decorated with black dots. It generally has five petals with five smaller leaf-like sepals below them.

Hypericum is made up of two words from Greek – Hyper  meaning above and eikon meaning picture. This may well date back to a custom, in earlier times, of hanging the flower over an Icon (sacred picture) in the home.

This really introduces us the other name for this plant which is St John’s Wort.There is a direct association with St John the Baptist in the flower itself. It has been suggested that the five petals form a halo, a symbol of saintliness. The red juice which is released when the stem is crushed, represents the blood of the martyred saint.

St John’s Wort is also known for its healing properties and in various forms is a wort or salve (0intment). In earlier times it was used, therefore to ward off evil spirits; safeguard against sickness, protect against the bad things in life. This made the plant special in the nature of healing and it is still  offered as an alternative medicine. It is however toxic to some animals and even humans so should be used carefully and advisedly.
Its power and that of St John the Baptist, is, however feted in an anonymous 14th Century Old English poem:

St Johns wort doth charm all the witches away.
If gathered at midnight on the Saints holy day.
And devils and witches have no power to harm
Those that do gather the plant for a charm.
Rub the lintels and post with that red juicy flower
No thunder nor tempest will then have the power.

The ministry of healing,  offered by John the Baptist to the people who heard his message was a more powerful salve. He was known in the Gospel as the Forerunner the one who prepared the way of Salvation through God’s Son, Jesus.This Salvation is God’s healing of a broken and unloving world and Jesus his beloved Son His Salve,  is the ointment of God’s Saving Love.
John the Baptist led the way to Jesus through his baptism of Repentance, a Baptism which Jesus enhanced through his own life and ministry, death and resurrection. It is possible to say that it is in Baptism that we receive the Healing of God, the Salve which invites us to partake of the Salve of eternal life.

Another title by which St John the Baptist is known is that of Friend of the Bridegroom.
He knew Jesus through a life lived in friendship with God. Friendship brings its own healing and when we are in friendship with God we are touched by the salve or Wort of his love and friendship for us.

Often when we visit friends we take them flowers. Receiving flowers can brighten and change the direction of our day and even our life. Giving them is even better! The love behind them is better still.

St John the Baptist offers us not St John’s Wort but the love and friendship of the  giver, the Lord, our SALVE-ation, who loved us a into being created us to be bright with His image.

[Mr G. Nativity of St John the Baptist. 2025]