John the Baptist facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids John the Baptist
A painting of John the Baptist
Prophet
Born	Late 1st century BC Herodian Judea, the Levant
Died	28 – 36 AD Machaerus, Perea, the Levant
Venerated in	Christianity Islam Mandaeism
Canonized	Pre-Congregation
Major shrine	Church of St John the Baptist in Ein Karem, Jerusalem Shrine of Prophet Yahya, Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria Nabi Yahya Mosque in Sebastia, West Bank
Feast	24 June (Nativity), 29 August (Beheading), 7 January (Synaxis, Eastern Orthodox), 2 Thout (Coptic Orthodox Church)
Attributes	Red Martyr, Camel-skin robe, cross, lamb, scroll with words "Ecce Agnus Dei", platter with own head, pouring water from hands or scallop shell
Patronage	see #Commemoration

John the Baptist (also called John the Baptizer or Yahya the Baptizer) is viewed as a prophet by at least three religions: Christianity, Islam, and Mandaeanism. According to the New Testament, he was a preacher who baptized people.

John called people to turn to God and to prepare for the coming of the messiah (Jesus). He baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. People would go to him so that he would put them in the water to show that they have turned away from their sins, so that they could get into heaven.

John was the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, and a relative of Jesus. He was known for living in the wild, wearing clothes made from camel's hair, and eating locusts and honey. In Catholicism, his birthday is celebrated on June 24.

According to the New Testament, John anticipated a messianic figure greater than himself. Christians commonly refer to John as the precursor or forerunner of Jesus, since John announces Jesus' coming. John is also identified as the spiritual successor of the prophet Elijah.

According to the New Testament, John was sentenced to death and subsequently beheaded by Herod Antipas around AD 30 after John rebuked him for divorcing his wife Phasaelis and then unlawfully wedding Herodias, the wife of his brother Herod Philip I.

Commemoration
In art
Images for kids
See also

Commemoration

Treviso Cathedral - Saint John the Baptist by Alessandro Vittoria 1570

Saint John the Baptist is the patron saint of Jordan: his beheading is said to have taken place in Machaerus in central Jordan.

Saint John the Baptist is the patron saint of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and its capital city, San Juan.

He is also a patron saint of French Canada, and Newfoundland. The Canadian cities of St. John's, Newfoundland (1497) and Saint John, New Brunswick (1604) were both named in his honor. In the United Kingdom, Saint John is the patron of Penzance, Cornwall. His feast day of June 24, celebrated officially in Quebec as the Fête Nationale du Québec, and in Newfoundland as Discovery Day.

In Scotland, he is the patron saint of Perth, which used to be known as St. John's Toun of Perth. The main church in the city is still the medieval Kirk of St. John the Baptist and the city's professional football club is called St Johnstone F.C.

Also, on the night of June 23 on to the 24th, Saint John is celebrated as the patron saint of Porto, the second largest city in Portugal. An article from June 2004 in The Guardian remarked that "Porto's Festa de São João is one of Europe's liveliest street festivals, yet it is relatively unknown outside the country".

He is also patron of the Knights Hospitaller of Jerusalem, Malta, Florence, and Genoa, Italy. John is patron saint of Xewkija, Gozo, Malta, which remember him with a great feast on the Sunday nearest to June 24.

Calamba City, Laguna, Calumpit, Bulacan, Balayan and Lian in Batangas, and San Juan, Metro Manila are among several places in the Philippines that venerate John as the town or city patron. A common practise of many Filipino fiestas in his honour is bathing and the wetting of people in memory of John's iconic act. The custom is similar in form to Songkran and Holi, and serves as a playful rest from the intense tropical heat. While famed for the Black Nazarene it enshrines, Quiapo Church in Manila is actually dedicated to Saint John.

John the Baptist Church was erected by the Orthodox Church in honor of John the Baptist. The interior of the church contains many beautiful murals depicting the life events of Christ. The church is located just meters from the Jordan River

He is also patron of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston, which covers the whole of South Carolina in the United States.

The Baptistines are the name given to a number of religious orders dedicated to the memory of John the Baptist.

Along with John the Evangelist, John the Baptist is claimed as a patron saint by the fraternal society of Free and Accepted Masons (better known as the Freemasons).

In many Mediterranean countries, the summer solstice is dedicated to St. John. The associated ritual is very similar to Midsummer celebrations in the Anglo-Saxon tradition.

In art

Eastern Orthodox icon John the Baptist – the Angel of the Desert (Stroganov School, 1620s) Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Early Christian art

The earliest depictions of St John are found in the Baptism of Christ, one of the earliest scenes from the Life of Christ to be frequently depicted in Early Christian art, and John's tall, thin, even gaunt, and bearded figure is already established by the 5th century. Only he and Jesus are consistently shown with long hair from Early Christian times, when the apostles generally have trim classical cuts; in fact John is more consistently depicted in this way than Jesus.

Byzantine and Eastern Orthodox art

In Byzantine and later Eastern Orthodox art, John the Baptist and the Holy Virgin Mary often flank Jesus on either side. The composition of the Deesis came to be included in every Eastern Orthodox church, as remains the case to this day. Here John and the Theotokos (Mary the "God-bearer") flank a Christ Pantocrator and intercede for humanity.

In Orthodox icons, he often has angel's wings, since Mark 1:2 describes him as a messenger.

Western art

After the earliest images showing the Baptism of the Lord follow ones with St John shown as an ascetic wearing camel hair, with a staff and scroll inscribed (in Western art) "Ecce Agnus Dei", or bearing a book or dish with a lamb on it.

The Baptist is very often shown on altarpieces designed for churches dedicated to him, where the donor was named for him or where there was some other patronage connection. John the Baptist is the patron saint of Florence and has often been depicted in the art of that city, and also frequently appears in baptistries, which are very often dedicated to him. Major works depicting St John the Baptist can be found in the Florence Baptistery, including the mosaics on the vault, the bronze doors by Andrea Pisano, and the great silver altar now in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo.

John the Baptist (right) with the Christ Child, in The Holy Children with a Shell by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

A number of narrative scenes from his life were often shown on the predella of altarpieces dedicated to John, and other settings, notably in the frescoes by Giotto for the Peruzzi Chapel in the church of Santa Croce, the large series in grisaille fresco in the Chiostro dello Scalzo, which was Andrea del Sarto's largest work, and the frescoed Life by Domenico Ghirlandaio in the Tornabuoni Chapel, all in Florence. There is another important fresco cycle by Filippo Lippi in Prato Cathedral.

His birth, which unlike the Nativity of Jesus allowed a relatively wealthy domestic interior to be shown, became increasingly popular as a subject in the late Middle Ages, with depictions by Jan van Eyck in the Turin-Milan Hours and Ghirlandaio in the Tornabuoni Chapel being among the best known.

As a child (of varying age), he is sometimes shown from the 15th century in family scenes from the life of Christ such as the Holy Family, the Presentation of Christ, the Marriage of the Virgin and the Holy Kinship. In the Baptism of Christ his presence was obligatory. Leonardo da Vinci's two versions of the Virgin of the Rocks were influential in establishing a Renaissance fashion for variations on the Madonna and Child which included John. Raphael in particular painted many compositions of the subject, such as the Alba Madonna, La belle jardinière, the Garvagh Madonna, the Madonna della seggiola, and the Madonna dell'Impannata, which are among his best-known works.

St John (right) in Christ in the House of His Parents by John Everett Millais, 1849–50

John was also often shown by himself as an adolescent or adult, usually already wearing his distinctive dress and carrying a long thin wooden cross – another theme influenced by Leonardo, whose equivocal composition, with the camel-skin dress, was developed by Raphael, Titian and Guido Reni among many others. Often he is accompanied by a lamb, especially in the many Early Netherlandish paintings which needed this attribute as he wore normal clothes, or a red robe over a not very clearly indicated camel skin. Caravaggio painted an especially large number of works depicting John.

A remarkable Pre-Raphaelite portrayal is Christ in the House of His Parents by John Everett Millais. Here the Baptist is shown as a child, wearing a loin covering of animal skins, hurrying into Joseph's carpenter shop with a bowl of water to join Mary, Joseph, and Mary's mother Anne in soothing the injured hand of Jesus. Artistic interest enjoyed a considerable revival at the end of the 19th century with Symbolist painters such as Gustave Moreau and Puvis de Chavannes (National Gallery, London). Oscar Wilde's play Salome was illustrated by Aubrey Beardsley, giving rise to some of his most memorable images.

Images for kids

The Preaching of St. John the Baptist by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1566
St. John the Baptist Preaching, c. 1665, by Mattia Preti
The Baptism of Jesus Christ, by Piero della Francesca, c. 1448–50
Matthias Grünewald, detail of the Isenheim Altarpiece
Monastery of Saint John in the Wilderness
Shrine of John the Baptist in the Umayyad Mosque, which purportedly houses John the Baptist's head
A Kolkata Armenian kisses the hand of St John the Baptist at Chinsurah.
Saint Karapet Monastery, where Armenian tradition holds that his remains were laid to rest by Gregory the Illuminator
Tomb of Saint John the Baptist at a Coptic monastery in Lower Egypt. The bones of Saint John the Baptist were said to have been found here.
Birth of John the Baptist, Cappella Tornabuoni
Serbo-Byzantine fresco from Gračanica Monastery, Kosovo, c. 1235
The Druze Maqam al-Nabi Yahya (John the Baptist) in As-Suwayda Governorate.
John setting off into the desert, Giovanni di Paolo, 1454
Head of St. John the Baptist on a Plate, Southern Netherlands, c. 1430, oak
Catholic church at his traditional birthplace in Ein Kerem
Wooden statue. Pietro Paolo Azzopardi, 1845, Xewkija.
St. John the Baptist (c. 1513–1516), Leonardo da Vinci
John the Baptist in the desert (1577–1621), Cristofano Allori
John the Baptist (17th century), Michele Fabris