Feast of the Birth of St John the Baptist

Saint John the Baptist
1476, Carlo Crivelli

In Nativitate S. Joannis Baptistæ

This image of Saint John the Baptist is part of an altarpiece made for the high altar of San Domenico in Ascoli Piceno, east central Italy.

Saint John is shown standing in a wilderness in garment of camels' hair with a leathern girdle about his loins. He holds a cross and points with his right finger to a scroll with the first four words of the  'ECCE AGNVS DEI QVI TOLLIT PECCATA MVNDI' ('Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world').

A bird with a flash of red is perched at near John's right leg. It is probably a goldfinch which is said to have acquired its characteristic red flash when it was splashed by Christ's blood as it tried to remove thorns from His crown during the passion


National Gallery, London. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

None born of women greater than John the Baptist

[11] Amen I say to you, there hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist: yet he that is the lesser in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Amen dico vobis, non surrexit inter natos mulierum major Joanne Baptista : qui autem minor est in regno caelorum, major est illo. [Matt 11]
[13] But the angel said to him: Fear not, Zachary, for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John:
Ait autem ad illum angelus : Ne timeas, Zacharia, quoniam exaudita est deprecatio tua : et uxor tua Elisabeth pariet tibi filium, et vocabis nomen ejus Joannem :
[14] And thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice in his nativity.
et erit gaudium tibi, et exsultatio, et multi in nativitate ejus gaudebunt :
[15] For he shall be great before the Lord; and shall drink no wine nor strong drink: and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.
erit enim magnus coram Domino : et vinum et siceram non bibet, et Spiritu Sancto replebitur adhuc ex utero matris suae :
[16] And he shall convert many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.
et multos filiorum Israel convertet ad Dominum Deum ipsorum :
[17] And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias; that he may turn the hearts of the fathers unto the children, and the incredulous to the wisdom of the just, to prepare unto the Lord a perfect people.
et ipse praecedet ante illum in spiritu et virtute Eliae : ut convertat corda patrum in filios, et incredulos ad prudentiam justorum, parare Domino plebem perfectam. [Luke 1]

Totus tuus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt.

Tecum tutus semper sum.

Ad Jesum per Mariam