June 24, 2026

Repeats yearly forever

Nativity of St. John the Baptist

St. John's Day

The feast day of a saint usually commemorates the day of the saint’s earthly death, known by the Church as the saint’s dies natalis, or birthday, into heaven. Only three earthly births are honored liturgically: that of Our Lord, on December 25th; that of Our Lady, on September 8th; and that of St. John the Baptist, the Forerunner of the Messiah. St. Elizabeth was six months pregnant at the time of the Annunciation, and thus John’s birth is honored exactly three months later, though on the 24th rather than the 25th because of the old Roman calculation of days. “Many shall rejoice in his nativity”, says the angel Gabriel to John’s father St. Zachary, and Our Lord Himself said that “there hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist.” Indeed, for most of Christian history, John almost universally took the highest place in any list of the saints, behind only the Blessed Virgin Mary and Michael the Archangel. The Vigil, St. John’s Eve, is celebrated throughout Christendom with blessed bonfires and other festivities, many of them intended to help ward off evil like the customs of All Hallow’s Eve. It is Midsummer, and from now until Christmas the days grow shorter, evoking John’s own words regarding Christ: “He must increase, but I must decrease”. The Beheading of St. John the Baptist is honored on August 29th.

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