St. John

Faithfulness to Christ when it cost everything.

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June 23 · Priest, Martyr

St. John

St. John

Faithfulness to Christ when it cost everything.

Traditional feast

June 23
1914 / pre-1969 calendar, per Baring-Gould (1897)

Current feast

August 29
Verified · General Roman Calendar

Represents

Priest
Martyr

Early life

The book says little or nothing about early life. This is how the account begins.

Thin entry · the 1897 book gives only 0 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.

What they represent

How they teach us to live

Drawn from themes in the original account

Learn from the kind of life it was. Faithfulness to Christ when it cost everything.

Keep their day. Remember them on June 23 with a short prayer, and ask for their help.

Read more

The full original · 0 words

Read Baring-Gould’s full account

Baring-Gould’s sources: Usuardus, Ado, Notker, &c. Roman Martyrology. The ancient Acts existed in the 9th cent., but are now lost.] This day, the vigil of S. John the Baptist, saw the martyrdom of a priest named John, at Rome, under the Emperor Julian. His head was struck off. The head was preserved in the church of S. Sylvester, at Rome, whence that church derived its name of Ad Caput, and the head was exhibited on this day. In course of time it was supposed that this was the head of S. John the Baptist, a mistake which Pope Martin IV. fell into, for he ordered a magnificent reliquary to be made for the head of “ the precursor of the Lord,” and Boniface VII. had inscribed thereon, “ Caput Sancti Joannis Baptistae.”

Feast days

Feast: August 29
Traditional: June 23

Nine days · Free

Pray the novena
with us.

One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from St. John's story, and a nudge to keep going.

Also on June 23
St. Felix

St. Felix

June 23 · Priest, Martyr
A

St. Agrippina

June 23 · Virgin, Martyr
Z

Sts. Zeno and Zenas

June 23 · Martyrs
← All 1726 saints in the library
Sources & notes

Feast-day sources

Sources

Credits

Image: Salome with the Head of John the Baptist-Caravaggio (1610).jpg · Caravaggio · Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain.

Image: Caravaggio, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain in the United States. Reproduced unedited, except for short bracketed notes in grey that we added to explain names and terms (“S.” is the old abbreviation for Saint). Some history and judgments reflect 19th-century scholarship.