St. John the Baptist

St. John the Baptist was the prophet and forerunner of Christ, born in the first century to the priest Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, a kinswoman of the Virgin Mary. The Gospels recount that his birth was foretold by the angel Gabriel and that he leaped in his mother's womb at Mary's visitation. Living as an ascetic in the wilderness of Judea, clothed in camel's hair, he preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins and prepared the way for the Messiah.

He baptized Jesus in the river Jordan, where the Spirit descended and the Father's voice was heard, and pointed him out as "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." He was imprisoned and beheaded by Herod Antipas for rebuking the king's unlawful marriage. Jesus called him the greatest born of women. He is unique in the calendar in that the Church celebrates his Nativity as a solemnity (24 June), and his martyrdom is remembered on 29 August.