St. John the Baptist

Their story

John the Baptist is one of the few saints whose birth the Church celebrates, along with Jesus and Mary. His parents, the priest Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, a relative of Mary, were elderly and had no children. One day, while Zechariah was serving in the Temple, the angel Gabriel appeared and told him that Elizabeth would bear a son who would prepare the way for the Lord. Zechariah doubted and was struck mute. When the child was born and the family wanted to name him after his father, Zechariah wrote, "John is his name," and his voice returned. He burst into a hymn of praise, the Benedictus, still prayed by the Church every morning. Even before his birth, John leaped for joy in Elizabeth's womb when Mary came to visit, carrying Jesus. As a man he lived in the desert, wearing camel's hair and eating locusts and wild honey. He preached repentance and baptized crowds in the Jordan River, calling them to prepare for the one who was coming. When Jesus came to be baptized, John pointed to Him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." Then he stepped aside, saying, "He must increase; I must decrease." John boldly told King Herod Antipas that it was wrong for him to marry his brother's wife. Herod had him imprisoned and later beheaded, and the Church remembers his martyrdom on August 29. Jesus said that among those born of women there was none greater than John.