Editing St John's College, Cambridge (section)

==Traditions and legends==
===Shield and arms===
St John's College and [[Christ's College, Cambridge]] both bear the arms of Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby, mother of [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]]. These arms are recorded in the College of Arms as being borne by right, and are described as ''Quarterly: 1 and 4 azure three fleurs-de-lis gold (France, Modern); 2 and 3 gules three lions passant gardant or (England); all within a border compony silver and azure''. In addition, both foundations use the Beaufort crest, ''an eagle displayed arising out of a coronet of roses and fleurs-de-lis all gold'', but their title to this is more doubtful. When displayed in their full achievement, the arms are flanked by mythical [[yale (mythical creature)|yales]].
[[File:Lady Margaret Hall Talbot.jpg|alt=Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University shares its motto with the college having been founded to honour the legacy of the foundress|thumb|upright=1.77|[[Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford]] shares its motto with the college, having been founded to honour the legacy of the foundress]]

===Motto===
The college motto is the [[Old French]] ''souvent me souvient'' of Lady Margaret Beaufort. It is inscribed over gates, lintels and within [[tympanum (architecture)|tympana]] throughout the college, functioning as a triple pun. It means "often I remember", "think of me often" and, when spoken (exploiting the homonym ''souvent me sous vient''), "I often pass beneath it" (referring to the inscriptions). St John's shares its motto with Christ's College, Cambridge and [[Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford]], which also honour Lady Margaret Beaufort.

=== Prayer ===
The College Prayer is spoken at the end of chapel services. It alludes to the gospel of John in which it is presumed the author mentions himself anonymously as the disciple Jesus loved:<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bible Gateway passage: John 20:2 - New International Version|url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+20%3A2&version=NIV|access-date=2020-07-13|website=Bible Gateway|language=en}}</ref>"Bless, O Lord, the work of this College, which is called by the name of thy beloved disciple; and grant that love of the brethren and all sound learning may ever grow and prosper here, to thy honour and glory, and to the good of thy people, who, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, livest and reignest, one God, world without end. Amen."<ref>{{Cite web|title=St John's College Chapel, Evensong, Friday 26th April 2019|url=https://www.sjcchoir.co.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/26_april_2019.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831081634/https://www.sjcchoir.co.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/26_april_2019.pdf |archive-date=2021-08-31|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Grace===
The college grace is customarily said before and after dinner in the hall. The reading of grace before dinner (''ante prandium'') is usually the duty of a scholar of the college; grace after dinner (''post prandium'') is said by the president or the senior fellow dining. The graces used in St John's have been in continuous use for some centuries and it is known that the ''ante prandium'' is based upon mediaeval monastic models. The grace is said shortly after the fellows enter the hall, signalled by the sounding of a gong, and accompanied by the ringing of the college's Grace Bell. The ''ante prandium'' is read after the fellows have entered, and the ''post prandium'' after they have finished dining:

{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Grace !! Latin !! English
|-
!''Ante Prandium''<br />(Before Dinner)
|''Oculi omnium in te sperant, Domine, et tu das illis cibum in tempore, aperis manum tuam, et imples omne animal benedictione. Benedic, Domine, nos et dona tua, quae de tua largitate sumus sumpturi, et concede ut illis salubriter nutriti, tibi debitum obsequium praestare valeamus, per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum.''
|The eyes of all wait upon thee, O Lord: and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand: and fillest all things living with plenteousness. Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts which out of thine abundance we are about to receive, and grant that by their saving nourishment we may have the power to fulfil the obedience due to thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
|-
!''Post Prandium''<br />(After Dinner)
|''Infunde, quaesumus, Domine Deus, gratiam tuam in mentes nostras, ut his donis datis a Margareta Fundatrice nostra aliisque Benefactoribus ad tuam gloriam utamur; et cum omnibus qui in fide Christi decesserunt ad caelestem vitam resurgamus, per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum. Deus pro sua infinita clementia Ecclesiae suae pacem et unitatem concedat, augustissimum Regem nostrum Carolum conservet, et pacem universo Regno et omnibus Christianis largiatur.''
|Pour forth, we beseech thee, Lord God, thy grace into our minds, that we may use these gifts, given by Margaret our Foundress and other Benefactors, to thy glory, and together with all who have died in the faith of Christ rise again to life in heaven, through Jesus Christ our Lord. May God, of his infinite mercy, grant his Church unity and peace, preserve our most august king, King Charles, and grant peace to the whole Realm and to all Christians.
|}

===Rivalry with Trinity===
[[File:Bridge between John's and Trinity - geograph.org.uk - 742998.jpg|thumb|Bridge between St John's and Trinity]]
St John's remains a great rival of [[Trinity College, Cambridge|Trinity College]], which is its main competitor in sports and academia. The rivalry can be traced to [[Henry VIII]] founding Trinity after having ordered the execution of [[John Fisher]], whose efforts had ensured the foundation of St John's. Over the years, numerous anecdotes and myths have arisen, involving students and fellows of both colleges. The rivalry is often cited as the reason why the older courts of Trinity have no "J" staircases, despite including other letters in alphabetical order (it should be mentioned that a far more likely reason is the absence of the letter "J" in the Latin alphabet). There are also two small muzzle-loading cannons on Trinity's bowling green pointing in the direction of John's, though this orientation may be coincidental. Similarly, the eagle on top of the entrance to St John's New Court is said to have been sculptured so that it shuns even the sight of its neighbouring rival. Generally, however, the colleges maintain a cordial relationship with one other; compatriotism led to the splitting of the atomic nucleus in 1932 by [[Ernest Walton]] (Trinity) and [[John Cockcroft]] (St John's), for which they jointly received the 1951 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]].

===New Court's clock tower===
[[File:St John's College New Court 1, Cambridge, UK - Diliff.jpg|thumb|right|New Court and blank clock tower face]]
New Court's central [[cupola]] has four blank clock faces. These are subject to various apocryphal explanations. One legend maintains that a statute limiting the number of chiming clocks in Cambridge rendered the addition of a mechanism illegal. No such limitation is known to exist. More likely explanations include Hutchinson's fear that the installation of a clockface would spoil the building's symmetry and that the college's financial situation in the early 19th century made completion impossible.

Other legends explaining the absence of clockfaces claim that St John's and its neighbour, Trinity were engaged in a race to build the final (or tallest) clocktower in Cambridge. Supposedly, whichever was finished first (or was tallest) would be permitted to house the 'final' chiming clock in Cambridge. Trinity's Tower was finished first (or, in another version of the same story, was made taller overnight by the addition of a wooden cupola), and its clock was allowed to remain. In truth, the completion of the New Court and Trinity's Clock (which is in King Edward's Tower) was separated by nearly two centuries. Trinity's famous double-striking clock was installed in the 17th century by its then-Master, [[Richard Bentley]], a former student of St John's, who dictated that the clock chime once for Trinity, and once for his alma mater, St John's.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fletcher |first=Hilary |date=2023-03-24 |title=A brief history of time: a guide to Cambridge clocks |url=https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/brief-history-of-time |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=University of Cambridge |language=en}}</ref>

===Consumption of swan===
Supposedly, Fellows of St John's are the only people outside the royal family in the United Kingdom allowed to eat unmarked [[mute swan]]s.{{dubious|date=February 2022}} [[The Crown]] (the [[British monarch]]) retains the right to ownership of all unmarked mute swans in open water, but the King only exercises his ownership on certain stretches of the Thames and its surrounding tributaries. The ownership of swans in the Thames is shared equally among the Crown, the [[Worshipful Company of Vintners|Vintners' Company]] and the [[Worshipful Company of Dyers|Dyers' Company]], who were granted rights of ownership by the Crown in the 15th century.

===Ghosts===
According to popular legend, St John's is inhabited by some ghosts. In 1706, four fellows "exorcised" some ghosts from a house opposite the college by threatening to fire their pistols at the positions the moans and groans were coming from. The second court is supposedly haunted by the ghost of the former undergraduate and master, [[James Wood (mathematician)|James Wood]]. Wood was so poor that he could not afford to light his room, and would often do his work in the well-lit stairway.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://collegestuddedmarsh.com/St%20Johns.html |title=St. John's |access-date=11 April 2010 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305170835/http://collegestuddedmarsh.com/St%20Johns.html |archive-date=5 March 2012 }}</ref>{{better source needed|date=November 2022}}