E05320: Maximus of Turin composes three Latin sermons in Turin, northern Italy, between c. 390 and 408/423 in honour of *John (the Baptist, S00020).

Maximus of Turin, Sermons 5, 6, 88

Summary:

Sermon 5
Maximus opens the sermon with a statement that he is preaching ‘in praise of the holy and most blessed John the Baptist, whose birthday we celebrate today’ (in sancti ac beatissimi Iohannis Baptistae laudibus, cuius natalem hodie celebramus). He continues to praise both John’s birth – which announced the coming of Christ – and his death at the hands of Herod. He recounts how John was conceived although his mother was very old, and this conception was announced to his father by the angel Gabriel. Maximus identifies John as a ‘precursor and forerunner’ (praecursor et praeuius) of Christ. Maximus praises John’s joy in the womb as he identified Christ.

Sermon 6
Maximus states that he would like to be silent on John’s feast day (natalis), but John’s virtues force him to speak. He compares this to Zecheriah’s inability to speak after he refused to believe Gabriel’s prophecy regarding John’s birth. Zecheriah could only speak again after John’s birth when he named him. John is greater than any other individual who was birthed by a woman – a category which does not include Christ who was born of a virgin.

Sermon 88
Although he has died a martyr’s death, John continues to cry out against sin. Maximus states that the congregation can learn from John and imitate his fasting, humility, frugality and chastity. He refers John's death at the hands of a dancer and uses this opportunity to criticise extramarital sex.

Summary: Frances Trzeciak.