Locusts and wild honey - Why John the Baptist gets a liturgical birthday party

A Pillar Explainer

The Church this week celebrates the Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist — the feast, effectively, of John the Baptist’s birthday.

“St. John the Baptist,” Raffaello Sanzio. 16th century. Public domain.

Like John the Baptist himself, there is a lot unusual about this feast. 

For example, in most places in the U.S. the solemnity will be celebrat…