Patron Saints of Freemasonry 

The Patron Saints of Freemasonry are both Saint John the Evangelist and Saint John the Baptist.

The Feast Day of Saint John the Baptist is 24 June.

The Feast Day of Saint John the Evangelist is 27 December.

The Scottish Freemasons consider Saint John the Evangelist to be their Patron Saint of Freemasonry, while most of the rest of the Freemasons of the world consider the Patron Saints of Freemasonry to be Saint John the Baptist, but not Pennsylvania for some reason unknown to the author of this website.

The Scottish Freemasons are said to have chosen Saint John the Evangelist as their Patron Saint of Freemasonry when, in 1475, they were granted a Seal of Cause by the leaders of Edinburgh, Scotland, which included the use of the Aisle of Saint John the Evangelist in Saint Giles Cathedral. (See "Cracking the Freemasons Code" by Cooper page 13)

This creates another question which as of 10 August 2009 I do not have an answer.

Why is it that in Pennsylvania, where Freemasonry is considered to be York Rite instead of Scottish Rite, do we use the Feast Day of Saint John the Evangelist as our start of the new Masonic Year?  If you know why please inform me.

Both of these Feast Days are very close to the Solstices.