Solemnity - The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

Then what did you go out for? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet:
he is the one of whom scripture says: Look, I am going to send my messenger in front of you to prepare your way before you.
'In truth I tell you, of all the children born to women, there has never been anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.
Since John the Baptist came, up to this present time, the kingdom of Heaven has been subjected to violence and the violent are taking it by storm.
Because it was towards John that all the prophecies of the prophets and of the Law were leading;
and he, if you will believe me, is the Elijah who was to return.  -Matthew 11:9-14

Saint John the Baptist has always held a special place in my heart, because well... today is my birthday. His story is unique and important. In fact, the importance of his feast day, as a Nativity tells exactly how important he is.

In the breviary St. Augustine explains the reason for today's observance in the following words:


"Apart from the most holy solemnity commemorating our Savior's birth, the Church keeps the birthday of no other person except that of John the Baptist. (The feasts of the Immaculate Conception and of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin had not yet been introduced.) In the case of other saints or of God's chosen ones, the Church, as you know, solemnizes the day on which they were reborn to everlasting beatitude after ending the trials of this life and gloriously triumphing over the world.


"For all these the final day of their lives, the day on which they completed their earthly service is honored. But for John the day of his birth, the day on which he began this mortal life is likewise sacred. The reason for this is, of course, that the Lord willed to announce to men His own coming through the Baptist, lest if He appeared suddenly, they would fail to recognize Him. John represented the Old Covenant and the Law. Therefore he preceded the Redeemer, even as the Law preceded and heralded the new dispensation of grace."

Saint John the Baptist has been thought to have been cleansed of Original Sin in the womb of his mother Elizabeth. Now, this is not an official "teaching" of the Church in the sense that it has been formulated in some Dogmatic way, but instead is what has been called a "pious probable belief." Similar to the way we think about purgatory. What this means, is that based on what has been written about him in scripture, and the way that Catholic teachings explain original sin, sin, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and Concupiscence, one can logically come to the conclusion that John was born, freed from Original Sin, not born immaculate as was Mary. We start first with Luke 1:13-15, where we are told that John will be "filled with the Holy Spirit, even in his mother's womb." Because we know that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit can only occur, or does occur only in the absence of sin, we can deduce that a form of "baptism" must have occurred.

What this means is that he still retained the marks or "stains from (not of)" Original Sin, or in other words Concupiscence. This means, that the tendency to sin, or the "scars" left behind from Original Sin remained on his soul. In other words, the temporal consequences are left behind, from the Original Sin or again what we as Catholics know as Concupiscence. This aligns itself with Matthew 11:11 where Christ proclaims that of those born of women, none are greater, but the least in heaven is greater than he is. This fits logically with the idea, that even if John was born freed from Original Sin, the scars of sin, or the temporal consequences remained which placed him below those in heaven, in essence that heaven was not "assured" for him, as it was in the same way for Mary. Mary was different in that she was "immaculate" or conceived without Original Sin, and therefore free from any scar of sin and was assured heaven; which we learn later meant full Assumption.

Now again, this is not laid out anywhere in a succinct form, but it can be gleamed from various teachings, and logically deduced. Therefore, we can take these ideas as "pious probability" and be fairly certain that this is the case. Of course, we can be wrong... but it is our job as faithful to try and understand these things, because they ultimately lead to the Glory of God.

A Note:
N.B.: When Jesus (in Matt. 11:11) says that John is the greatest born of women, this does not place him higher above either Mary or Himself. In fact, Raban in the Catena Aurea has this to say about that subject:

RABAN; As much as to say; What need to recount one by one the praises of John the Baptist; I say verily to you, Among them that are born of women &c. He says women, not virgins. If the same word mulier, which denotes a married person, is any where in the Gospels applied to Mary, it should be known that the translator has there used 'mulier' for 'femina'; as in that, Woman, behold your son!