In the calendar of the Catholic Church, we only celebrate three birthdays: Jesus', Mary's and John the Baptist. Today we remember the birth of the one who prepared the way for Christ, the one who was "unworthy to unloosen the sandals on his feet." John the Baptist's birthday is 6 months before Jesus'. We read this in Scripture too, when Mary Visited Elizabeth and John leaped in her womb. John began his ministry around the age 27, wore a leather belt and a hunic of camel hair, ate locusts and wild honey. He preached of repentance to the people of Jerusalem. He was imprisoned by King Herod and died around the year 30 as the victim of vengeance of the jealous Herodias and was beheaded and his head brought on a platter. His body was buried by his disciples. His relics are in Rome and France..
"John is born of an old woman who is barren; Christ is born of a young woman who is a virgin. That John will be born is not believed, and his father is struck dumb; that Christ will be born is believed, and he is conceived by faith." -Saint Augustine on the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
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