TWO ST. JOHNS: EVANGELIST AND BAPTIST

TWO ST JOHNS: EVANGELIST AND BAPTIST

by Joan K. Yanni

(Editor's Note: Our new statue of Saint James (94.49), recently installed in the Fountain Court, calls for an explanation of the Pilgrimage Route.  Maureen Basil has written one for us.)

Both John the Evangelist and John the Baptist figure prominently in MAG—and in all Christian—art.  Who are they and why are they so important?

John the Evangelist was one of the apostles of Jesus, said to be the most loved and the only one of the twelve who did not forsake Jesus during his trial and death.  John is often pictured standing sorrowfully at the foot of the cross, where the dying Jesus asked him to be the guardian of his mother Mary.  John wrote the fourth gospel, three epistles, and the book of the Apocalypse.  He lived to an extreme old age, surviving all his fellow apostles, and died in Asia Minor about the year 100.

Remember the symbols on the baptismal font in the Fountain Court?  They represent the four evangelists.  The angel is St. Matthew; the lion is St. Mark; the ox, St. Luke; and the eagle, St. John. (Use the mnemonic ALOE to remember.)

John the Baptist has a longer history.  He was the son of Zachariah, the figure in the MAG 14th-century fresco, and his wife Elizabeth.  John was said to be conceived miraculously in their old age. Elizabeth was the cousin of Mary, the mother of Jesus; and Jesus and John are often seen together as children with Mary in Renaissance and later paintings.  John's mission was to announce the coming of the Messiah, and he prepared for it by living in the desert and preaching.  He is usually pictured wearing a camel's hair shirt and often carries a staff or scroll with the words "Ecce Agnus Dei," (Behold the Lamb of God).”  Around the age of 30 John went into the country near the Jordan

River, where he preached penance and baptized penitents with water from the Jordan.  With the baptism of Jesus, John's mission was accomplished.  However, he continued to teach and incurred the anger of  Herod, the Judean ruler, when he denounced Herod for marrying Herodias, the wife of Herod’s half-brother.  Herod had John thrown into prison.  Herodias, fearing John, encouraged her daughter Salome to win Herod's favor by dancing for him and then to ask for the head of John in return.  John was beheaded about 27 AD.

The figure of John the Baptist in his camel hair shirt is prominent in our Nardo di Cione altarpiece and in our Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints.