E02417: Augustine of Hippo preaches in Latin a sermon on the feast of the birthday (nativitas) of *John the Baptist (S00020). He emphasises that it is the only earthly birthday of a man other than Christ which the Church celebrates, and explains why it falls on the summer solstice. Sermon 288, preached probably in AD 401 in Carthage (North Africa).

Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 288

1. Diei hodiernae festiuitas anniuersario reditu memoriam renouat, natum esse Domini praecursorem ante mirabilem mirabiliter; cuius natiuitatem considerare nos et laudare maxime hodie conuenit. Ad hoc enim et dies anniuersarius huic miraculo dedicatus est, ut beneficia Dei et excelsi magnalia non deleat obliuio de cordibus nostris.

'Today's feast reminds us, as it comes round every year, that the Lord's forerunner was born in a wonderful way before the Wonderful one. Today especially it is fitting for us to reflect and to praise his birth. The reason, after all, why this anniversary is dedicated to this miracle, is to ensure that forgetfulness does not erase from our hearts the benefits of God and the might works of the Most High.'

What follows presents John the Baptist's role as the Voice in relation to that of Christ, the Word. At the end Augustine emphasises that the feast of John the Baptist falls on the summer solstice as a sign of John's humility, since from this day on the days get shorter.

Text: Patrologia Latina 38, 1302. Translation: Hill 1994, 110. Summary: Robert Wiśniewski.