unless otherwise stated.
The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist.
Feast Day 29 August.
Greater-Double.
Red Vestments.
"The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist".
Artist: Caravaggio (1571–1610).
Date: 1608.
Current location: Altarpiece in The Oratory,
Saint John's Co-Cathedral, Valletta, Malta.
Source/Photographer: The Yorck Project:
10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei.
DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN 3936122202.
Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH.
Permission: Wikide-I / 10.000 Gemälde für Commons
(Wikimedia Commons)
After having Solemnised on 24 June the joyous birth of Saint John the Baptist, The Church, today, honours his glorious birth in Heaven. Excepting The Blessed Virgin, he is the only Saint whose temporal birthday is observed. Saint John the Baptist holds in the worship of The Church The First Rank after The Angels.
John the Precursor, who had passed thirty years in the desert, where he had flourished like the Palm Tree, and grown like The Cedar of Libanus (Gradual), had the courage openly to reproach Herod with the scandal of his illegitimate union with Herodias, his sister-in-law, whose husband, Philip, was still alive (Introit, Epistle, Gospel).
“It is against the law,” he said to the King, “for you to take the wife of your brother.” Herodias forced Herod to imprison him and used an unexpected opportunity to obtain through her daughter, Salome, the beheading of the Saint who thwarted her criminal passion.
On this day, Saint John completes his mission, adding to the testimony he gave to Christ at His Baptism, the testimony of his Martyrdom. He was put to death towards the Passover, one year before The Passion of Jesus; but the Anniversary is Solemnised on the day when his Venerable head was found at Emesa, in Syria, in 453 A.D.
It is related in ancient legends that, on a Winter's day, when Salome was dancing on a frozen river, the ice broke and, closing again, cut off the head of the immodest dancer.
Mass: Loquébar.
Commemoration: Saint Sabina. Martyr.
This solemn occasion, August 29th, of the martyrdom of S. John the Baptist as noted by Dom Gaspar Lefebvre, one priest observed in a sermon recently, shows also how the Gospels are actual historical accounts, and not fabulous ancient legends of a god-hero so common to the Greco-Roman world: Because “..When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place,” (Matt. 14:13, Douai-Rheims). Although Son of God, Jesus, evidently grieved, just as any one of us ordinary humans would when a family member is tragically killed. It is an ordinary human detail that a storyteller of legends would not likely include in his epic poems, which are usually burnished and polished with extraordinary superhuman feats distinguishing the hero from common humanity.
ReplyDeleteJust something to consider in this age of self-congratulatory skepticism of anything spiritual, particularly doubt of anything of the Christian Gospel tradition. —Note by Dante P.
A most apposite Comment from Dante P, for which we are most grateful.
DeleteIndeed, Jesus Christ, as Man, did grieve. As Dante P mentions, above, he grieved privately. We also know that “Jesus wept”, when hearing about the death of Lazarus, his friend. He also wept “over Jerusalem”.
Our Saviour was a “man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:5). This is more than mere emotionalism or shallow sentimentality – it is a reminder that He cares and that He carries our burdens.
There are three times in Scripture that Jesus wept (John 11:35; Luke 19:41; Hebrews 5:7-9). Each is near the end of His life and each reveals what matters most to our loving God. He truly is “touched with the feeling of our infirmities” (Hebrews 4:15). His tears are a reminder that He loves sinners and cares for every Soul.