John, meaning "Jehovah has been gracious" in Hebrew, is the name of the two great patrons of Masonry, St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist. The feast days for the Holy Saints John were established around the solstices, traditional festival dates for several ancient deities. June 24, about the time of the summer solstice, was selected to honor St. John the Baptist. December 27, about the time of the winter solstice, was set to honor St. John the Evangelist. Exactly how these dates were selected—by the church,  stonemasons guilds, or other—is not known, nor, of course, was either saint a Freemason.

After spending time in the desert in prayer and meditation, John the Baptist began a ministry which preached reformation. Reformers today generally speak of reforming institutions or society. John the Baptist preached reformation of the individual, thereby reforming society one person at a time. As a sign of new life, initiates of this philosophy were given a ritual bath or baptism. John the Baptist preceded and baptized Jesus. In the middle of a desert, purification by cooling water must have held a special significance. This ceremony, combined with a commitment to change one's life, had to be personally and spiritually uplifting.

We know John the Evangelist from his writings, one Gospel and three letters. His message is that to know and love God is to obey His law, that the essential mark of grace is brotherly love, and that the ideal life is to live in a community or fellowship with others of like mind and spirit. In short, God is love, and he who dwells in love, dwells in God, and God in him.

The assignment of the feast of St. John the Evangelist on the winter solstice is also symbolically interesting since that day has the least amount of sunlight, but is followed by increasingly longer days of light. The date represents a rebirth, seasonal and personal, following long darkness. Since the goal of Freemasonry is to make good men better, its two great patrons are, appropriately, the Holy Saints John, but it is also intriguing that the Fraternity selected them rather than St. Thomas, who is generally considered the patron saint of architects and builders.