Nearly every saint has a feast day on the calendar that marks the date of their death because that is the day on which they entered eternal life in heaven. Mary and John the Baptist are both exceptions to this rule. We have feast days for both their births and entry into eternal life because of their proximity to the most important events in human history—the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Today, we celebrate the birth of John the Baptist because he came to announce to the world the coming of our savior.

John the Baptist falls under many of the familiar categories of holiness that are found among the saints: he was a great teacher and a martyr; he was chaste for his whole life; he was also a prophet—the last prophet, in fact.

His birth was foretold to his father, Zachary, who was a priest, when an angel appeared to him while he was offering sacrifice and prayers before the altar. Though his wife, Elizabeth, was infertile, and they were both approaching old age, she conceived and bore a son and they named him John.

John became a hermit and lived in the desert, fasting and praying. When he was 30, he began preaching and encouraging people to repentance and conversion, and he used the ritual washing of baptism to symbolize spiritual cleansing.

When Jesus began his ministry, he came to John, who baptized him and submitted to his authority. John continued to preach as Jesus went through Galilee. When John spoke out against King Herod’s adultery, the king had him arrested, and he was eventually beheaded.

The feast of the birth of John the Baptist is one of the oldest feasts in the calendar. It falls just after the summer solstice, at a moment when the days start to get noticeably shorter (until the return of the sun at the birth of Jesus at Christmas). St. Augustine thought that this was appropriate because when John’s followers were disturbed that people were following Jesus instead of him, he replied, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

John the Baptist is often depicted with a lamb because he identified Jesus as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29). A number of relics of John the Baptist rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica, including a piece of the house he grew up in. He is depicted in the Basilica in this stained glass window and in a wall mural. He is also shown baptizing Jesus in a tapestry that hangs near the baptismal font in the Basilica.

St. John the Baptist, you pointed the world towards the coming of Jesus, our savior—pray for us!