JOHN (St), the BAPTIST, the fore-runner of Jesus Christ, was the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth. He retired into a desert, where he lived on locusts and wild honey; and about the year 29 began to preach repentance, and to declare the coming of the Messiah. He baptized his disciples, and the following year Christ himself was baptized by him, in the river Jordan. Some time after, having reproved Herod Antipas, who had a criminal correspondence with Herodias his brother Philip's wife, he was cast into prison, where he was beheaded. His head was brought to Herodias, who, according to St Jerome, pierced his tongue with the bodkin she used to fasten up her hair, to revenge herself after his death for the freedom of his reproofs.