Portal:Catholic Church/Patron Archive/August 29

John the Baptist (c. 6 BC – c. AD 30) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early 1st century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist Christian traditions, and as the prophet Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyā (Arabic: النبي يحيى, An-Nabī Yaḥyā) in Islam. He is sometimes alternatively referred to as John the Baptiser.

John is mentioned by the Roman Jewish historian Josephus, and he is revered as a major religious figure in Christianity, Islam, the Baháʼí faith, the Druze faith, and Mandaeism; in the last of these he is considered to be the final and most vital prophet. He is considered to be a prophet of God by all of the aforementioned faiths, and is honoured as a saint in many Christian denominations. According to the New Testament, John anticipated a messianic figure greater than himself; in the Gospels, he is portrayed as the precursor or forerunner of Jesus. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus himself identifies John as "Elijah who is to come", which is a direct reference to the Book of Malachi (Malachi 4:5), as confirmed by the angel who announced John's birth to his father, Zechariah. According to the Gospel of Luke, John and Jesus were relatives. (Full article...)
Attributes: Cross, lamb, his own head
Patronage: patron saint of Quebec, Puerto Rico, Knights Hospitaller of Jerusalem, Florence, Genoa, many other places