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The New Testament describes John the Baptist as the last prophet
of the Old Testament and the precursor of the Messiah. The Roman
Catholic Missal declares St. John the greatest of all saints after
the Blessed Virgin. Information on St. John the Baptist appears
in each of the four gospels of the New Testament (Mark, Luke,
Matthew and John). Saint John is described as one preaching the
immediate coming of the Messiah.
Most often referred to as the precursor or forerunner of Jesus,
St. John was born to Zachariah and Elizabeth in the first century.
He was an only child because it was believed Elizabeth was barren.
His parents were well advanced in years when the Angel Gabriel
foretold his birth to Zachariah. Zachariah was struck speechless
because he did not believe the prophesy. His speech returned after
the birth of St. John the Baptist when Zachariah named his son
John as the angel Gabriel had instructed him to do.
St. Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist was a kinswoman to Mary
the mother of Jesus. While Mary was pregnant she went to visit
Elizabeth. According to the Gospel of Luke John the Baptizer was
born approximately six months before Jesus.
Whether or not the cave of John the Baptist existed, he is believed
to have lived as a hermit in the desert of Judea until the age
of twenty-seven. He was thirty when he began to preach on the
banks of the Jordon River. He spoke of evil times and called men
to do penance and to be baptized. He predicted Jesus' coming in
these often repeated words 'for the Kingdom of Heaven is close
at hand'. When Jesus came to him to be baptized, John immediately
recognized him as the Messiah even though he declared, "It
is I who should be baptized by you."
Herod Antipas (son of the Herrod who sought to murder Jesus
in his infancy) so feared John the Baptist's power over the people
he had John arrested and imprisoned. When John denounced Herrod's
adulterous and incestuous marriage with Herodias, the wife of
his half-brother, he had John beheaded. Scripture relates that
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St. John the Baptist preaching
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