GEERTGEN tot Sint Jans John the Baptist in the Wilderness 1490-95

“ST. JOHN in the desert is a true picture of a penitential life; in fact his life was a long martyrdom, and he persevered in it until he was called forth to preach, and to prepare the way of the Lord. His food was locusts and wild honey, he slept on the bare earth, he did not, as St. Jerome says, even build for himself a hut to protect him from the severity of the weather. His occupation during these many years of solitude was uninterrupted prayer, and communion with God. Reflect a moment, my dear young people. St. John the Baptist, a saint you might say by birth, wished to do such severe penance, and we, who have committed terrible sins, are afraid of the least penance and mortification.”

— Fr. Raphael Frassinetti, 1900

Antra deserti

Thou, in thy childhood, to the desert caverns
Fleddest for refuge from the cities’ turmoil,
Where the world’s slander might not dim thy luster,
Lonely abiding.

Camel’s hair raiment clothed thy saintly members;
Leathern the girdle which thy loins encircled;
Locusts and honey, with the fountain-water,
Daily sustained thee.

Oft in past ages, seers with hearts expectant
Sang the far-distant advent of the Daystar;
Thine was the glory, as the world’s Redeemer
First to proclaim him.

Far as the wide world reacheth, born of woman,
Holier was there none than John the Baptist;
Meetly in water laving him who cleanseth
Man from pollution.

Praise to the Father, to the Sole-begotten,
And to the Spirit, equal power possessing,
One God whose glory, through the lapse of ages,
Ever resoundeth. Amen.

Alonso Cano, St John the Baptist; 1634

Hieronymus Bosch, St John the Baptist in the Wilderness
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Domenico Ghirlandaio; St John the Baptist in the Desert 1486-90

Giovanni Baglione, St John the Baptist in the Wilderness; 1610

Giovanni Di Paola, St John the Baptist Goes into the Wilderness; 1454

Dieric Bouts the Younger, St John the Baptist; c. 1470

— Comments —

David writes:

Thank you for the reminder of today’s feast day.

The Nativity of St. John the Baptist is the only birthday, outside of Our Lord’s and His Mother’s, which is celebrated in the liturgical calendar.

St. John the Baptist is the epitome of a penitential life.

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