Summer is here, and it’s ordinary time. There are many powerful saints to celebrate and learn about through the period in the liturigcal calendar. The Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist is June 24. He is one of only 2 others (Our Blessed Mother and Jesus) whose birth (nativity) that we officially celebrate in the Church, and, in fact, his nativity is a Solemnity. His other feast day is August 29th, when we celebrate his martyrdom.
Birth of St. John the Baptist
Nativity of St. John the Baptist – June 24th
Patron of:
- Baptism
Virtues
Fortitude, Perseverance, Courage, Temperance, Piety
About St. John the Baptist
St. John the Baptist was the cousin of Jesus. He is the son of Elizabeth and Jecchariah. He leapt in his mother’s womb when Our Blessed Mother visited her cousin, Elizabeth, and they were both pregnant. He also baptized many people, and he baptized his cousin, Jesus. You can read about his birth in Luke 1:5-25.
How to Celebrate the Feast
- Attend Mass and encourage students to attend.
- Choose one or more of the readings from Mass to discuss in class.
- Pray the Divine Office (or, part of it) with your students. The Divine Office linked will also have many ideas for appropriate hymns to play today.
- Talk about what virtues St. John the Baptist embodied. Some examples are Fortitude, Perseverance, Courage, Temperance, Piety. Discuss how you and your students could have these virtues in different scenarios.
- More discussion questions:
- What do you think a day in the life of this saint was like?
- What difficulties or challenges did this saint face? How did he or she overcome them?
- How did the saint exhibit virtue in his or her life? How can we work to imitate this virtue?
- What else can this saint teach us about living a good life and how to grow closer to Christ?
Conclude with a prayer from the Divine Office.
For more ways and ideas to create saint lesson plans for your classroom, be sure to read this post: How to Create Simple Saint Lesson Plans for your Classrooom