Stone & Incense Search
Start hereCurious, or no faithEvangelical, Pentecostal or ProtestantFrom another faithSomeone I love is CatholicBecoming CatholicI was Catholic once Today in the ChurchLibraryHard questionsVoices of the revivalTake the next stepAboutSources & methodSupport the site
The saints

St. John the Baptist

The wild prophet in camel hair who pointed away from himself, at Jesus.

Feast: 24 June · died about 30 · The early Church · Judea and the Jordan River

Read the story 1 min read
Painting of St. John the Baptist standing barefoot in the wilderness, pointing upward, a lamb at his feet.

Titian, 1540. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

Home / The saints / St. John the Baptist

The Jordan River

Crowds walk out into the desert to hear a man who eats locusts and wild honey.1

He tells soldiers, tax collectors and religious leaders the same thing: turn around.2

When Jesus comes to the river, John says he is not worthy to untie His sandals.

Patron of baptism2

01St. John the Baptist

Born for one job

His birth was announced to his father Zechariah in the Temple, and he leapt in his mother’s womb when Mary came near.3

The Church celebrates his birth on 24 June, one of very few saints whose birthday is a feast.2

02St. John the Baptist

He must increase

When his followers worried that people were leaving to follow Jesus, John said he must decrease.4

He told King Herod his marriage was wrong, and it cost him his head.5

Live it this week

Make someone else look good

John’s whole life said: not me, Him. This week, at work or at home, find one person whose good work nobody noticed and give them the credit out loud, in front of others.

Notes

How we know · 5 sources for this page
  1. Matthew 3:4, World English Bible. read the chapter
  2. Franciscan Media, Saint of the Day: “Nativity of Saint John the Baptist”. franciscanmedia.org. franciscanmedia.org
  3. Luke 1:41, World English Bible. read the chapter
  4. John 3:30, World English Bible. read the chapter
  5. Mark 6:27, World English Bible. read the chapter

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: World English Bible, Catholic edition (public domain); Verse numbers are modern, with Douay-Rheims numbers in brackets where they differ. Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an errorCorrections.