The Memorial of the Passion of Saint John the Baptist complements the Solemnity of his birth, celebrated on 24 June
Today we celebrate the Memorial of the Passion of Saint John the Baptist. “The king promptly dispatched an executioner with orders to bring back his head. He went off and beheaded him in the prison. He brought in the head on a platter and gave it to the girl. The girl in turn gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb”.
John is the cousin of Jesus. He was conceived when his parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth, were elderly. Both his parents were descendants of priestly families. John’s birth took place about six months prior to that of Christ and coincides with the Gospel episode of the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth.
A woman played the primary role in his martyrdom. Herodias, the wife of Herod Antipas, was the former wife of his half-brother. John was arrested because he had denounced her illegal marriage. During the celebration of Herod’s birthday, Herodias’s daughter, Salome, performed a dance in honor of the king who remained enchanted and told her she could ask him for anything she wanted, even to half of his kingdom. After consulting her mother, Salome asked for the head of John the Baptist. Herod did not want to do it, but could not refuse: he had, after all, made a promise.
The king “believed John the Baptist was a prophet”. Initially, he protected John and “liked to listen” to him. But he kept him in prison. He was indecisive because John had accused him of the sin of adultery. Herod “heard God’s voice” in the prophet, “telling him to ‘change your life’. But he did not succeed in doing that. The king was corrupt. It is difficult to get out of corruption”. His corruption led him to attempt to strike a “diplomatic balance” between his own life, which was not only adulterous, but also “filled with many injustices that he kept going ahead with”. He was also aware of the “holiness of the prophet that was before him”. But he did not succeed in untying the knot.
The liturgical celebration of his martyrdom, which occurred between 31 and 32, has ancient origins. It was already celebrated in France in the 5th century, and in Rome the following century and can be traced to the dedication of a small basilica that dates back to the 5th century where he was buried in Sabaste in Samaria. Tradition holds it was on this day that his head was found. Pope Innocent II had it later transferred to Rome to the Church of Saint Sylvester in Capite.
Today, let’s remember the Passion of Saint John the Baptist as Pope Francis concluded: “John, the greatest man born of a woman died alone in a cell because of the whim of a vain dancer, the hatred of a diabolical woman and the corruption of an indecisive King”.
Heaven is our goal.
Sources: Memorial of the Passion of Saint John the Baptist – Vatican News